Warbird Information Exchange

Does anyone know whose H-13's those were in the TV show. They used them a good bit through out the whole series. Any idea if any of them are still around? Also any one have pic of the real ones. Thanks in advance.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

I think this is one like them. This was seen at Camarillo last June.

That is the same type pf aircraft. I wonder if that one was used in the show?

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

The photos show a post Korean war Bell 47G (probably a G-3, 4 or 5 judging by the deeper fuel tanks).
(Note the 2 piece fuel tanks and "hump" at the canin door. Also Later models had longer tail booms and bigger canopies...and were wider).

The helicopters used in the opening credits were period correct Bell 47D-1 or H-13 D/Es.
Most of the helicopters used in the series were also 47D/H-13 D/Es....though occasionally a later model slipped in.
In one episode a Bell 47J Ranger was used...they were introducted in the mid-50s.

As far as who owned them...
When I was flying 47s at Zemlock helicopters out of Chino, the owner said his brother (or was it cousin?) did some of the flying for the series.
I don't believe he knew who owned them...but Zemlock himself did operate a pair of vintage D models that looked the part.

BTW: Many of the Ds were later modifed to "G" standard. Most of my flying was done in such a ship. It was externally identical to a later civilian "G" but was actually made in 1951 as a H-13E...and may have even served in Korea.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Lonny reid Owned Reid Helicopters and sold it to what is now Zemlock helicoipters ( Chino ) now. I learned to fly helicopters in the H-13 that were used in the final epsodes of MASH. The tail numbers were N11HU, N13137, N175K. I went to the shooting of the last epsode and they put the helicopter on a platform and ideled the a/c and shot the camera up thru the bubble. N11hu was the mash bird and he had another but it crashed before I attended the school .. P.S. I went to school with ray Stits

That is awsome. Thanks for this great info. I have flown in both the Bell47 and the H-13. They are just awsome aircraft.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

There is one listed at Courtesy Aircraft right now
http://www.courtesyaircraft.com/images/170HF%20BELL%20TH-13T%20Images/N170HF%20LARGE%20Images/170HF%20Exterior1_lrg.jpg

The Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum was restoring one as an interactive exhibit when I visited them last year for an article I did for Aircraft Illustrated. It was a civilian model, rather than a former military airframe. It had been involved in an accident, so only the center section was original IIRC. It was being restored back to its M*A*S*H condition, with an appropriate early model tail and wooden blades. Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Richard

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

When I drive and see the mountains in the backgrounds I always chuckle to myself. The mountains in the background of the MASH intro are the ountains just north of LA. And they do indeed look like the mountains in Korea-I humped a lot of them and can vouch for how real that intro really looks.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

i flew in the type 7 times as a teen in the 70's at the county fair. 15 bucks....... 15 minutes. man am i old!!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I flew in a Bell47 at Oshkosh. They only want like $40 bucks for about a 15 minute ride, but they take you down over the airshow. You can get great pics.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

My first flight ever was in a Bell 47 at the Southeastern Fair in Atlanta when I was a kid. They would sell rides during the day & at night they had a guy do a trapez act hanging underneath. Man that was a long time ago.
Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

I'm old enough to remember when Whirlybirds was new and still on TV and I really envy those of you who got rides at county fairs...
Because of Whirlybirds, I always wanted a 47 D/G ride.
I had plenty of rides on other helicopters, a 47J, a Jet Ranger, Hueys, HH-53s, but never got a chance until 1990 flying with Zemlock.

It was possibly the most exciting flight of my life.

Since then, I've flown a few....and aside from my solo, that first ride still stands out in my mind.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

I once said the most stupid thing you can say to a helicopter pilot:
"So, what'l this thing do?"

He showed me on a flight between Glastonbury & Filton & back again...which involved swerving to avoid a few cows, flying under some power lines & having to gain altitude to go over a fence...

After getting out I asked how many hours he had....

His reply:
"Not too many, during the week I fly Vulcans"

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

ZRX61 had an interesting experience there. You see we look at altitude differently than airplane drivers. As long as the skids have not hit the ground we are high enough.....

I got my Bell 47 to "settle with power" on the first trip into the back yard (accidentially of course). I may have had 2 hours of solo at that time and never been in settling with power (instructor and I tried to do it at 3000' and after about 20 minutes of trying simply could not make it settle). In the recovery I took it down to where the tips of the skids were in 4" of grass to get the maximum recovery before going around. I never touched the ground.

One snowy day I hovered around the airport in 3" of snow and went a lap around the 3400' runway without touching the ground or bringing the skids out of the snow.

Low is relative. Weather is relative too, but another story completly.....

Choppers are a heck of a lot of fun.....

Mark H