OT...1st cav museum

[txpete]

I took my nephew to the 1st cav museum last week.he had a blast and loved the helicopters,jeeps & tanks.he was always asking me about the cobra's so this was way kool.
it does make you feel a little old
pete

my mule

[JReed]

Cool looks like you had a good time. Man Cobras have come a long way since the originals.

[txpete]

ya think

[JReed]

This is the new Zulu model.


yes it has 4 blades

[txpete]

AH-1G this was the 1st snake.the marines had a AH-1J which was a twin engine.the "navy" requires aircraft that fly over water to have 2 engines.

[JReed]

Yep great birds. Not as fast as the AH-64 but they are perfect for Close Air Support which is why we (the Marines) are still using them.

[txpete]

shhhh the snake is a better bird.that 30mm chain gun stinks and I have rebuilt a bunch of them.
the M197 20mm cannon which is on "your" birds is the best cannon they ever hung on a helicopter.
pete

[JReed]

That is one bad gun. I have been to a couple of live fires always fun to watch.

[morgan in nm]

Great museum. I used to go there a lot. Did you get a chance to go down the road to the 4ID museum? I got the duty once to paint and service them.

[SmokeEater2]

I spent some quality time wandering around the 1st Cav and 2nd armored (4th ID moved in later) museums when I was stationed at dear old Fort Hood. Kinda' miss that place sometimes.

[Ysabel Kid]

Way cool! Thanks for sharing!!!

[donw]

dang...what a change! we had HU-1A's with .30 cal brownings in the doors and 2.75 rockets with .30 cal brownings above the rocket tubes.

our "mules" some times had 90mm recoiless rifles or MA-2 mounted...

the ONTOS...six 106mm recoiless mounted on tracks...

the SCORPION...a track mounted 90mm arty piece that was air deliverable (parachute delivery)

25th inf early in the VN war.

is that located at Ft hood? i was there after coming back from the VN ruckus...i was with 2ad..the 1st (old ironsides) and 2d (hell on wheels) and 18 Abn were at ft hood when i was there.

[txpete]

dang...what a change! we had HU-1A's with .30 cal brownings in the doors and 2.75 rockets with .30 cal brownings above the rocket tubes.

our "mules" some times had 90mm recoiless rifles or MA-2 mounted...

the ONTOS...six 90mm recoiless mounted on tracks...

the SCORPION...a track mounted 90mm arty piece that was air deliverable (parachute delivery)

25th inf early in the VN war.

is that located at Ft hood? i was there after coming back from the VN ruckus...i was with 2ad..the 1st (old ironsides) and 2d (hell on wheels) and 18 Abn were at ft hood when i was there.

yes don it is at ft hood and it is free anyone can see it.I was here at hood when the 2nd ad was here.I was in B trp 7/17 cav back then.2nd ad had a few G models attached to them and it was called the snake pit.2nd ad is long gone now they deployed for desert storm then stuck their colors when they came back.
I came back to hood in 90 and retired out of first cav in 94.it was a hoot.
pete

[Otto]

JReed,

Whatever happened to the USMC variant of the Apache they were developing back in the early-mid 90's? Are there any plans for the eventual Cobra replacement?

[jeepnik]

[quote="txpete"]shhhh the snake is a better bird.that 30mm chain gun stinks and I have rebuilt a bunch of them.
the M197 20mm cannon which is on "your" birds is the best cannon they ever hung on a helicopter.
pete

Hey Pete. My oldest things Apaches are pretty good. His platoon got stuck below some nasties in Afghanistan. They couldn't get an angle on them and were pinned. A couple of Apaches were close by. They unloaded on the top of the cliff. Problem solved. So, Marines while they may make noise about other services, don't care where the air support comes from when they need it. Then again, I never cared where the fast movers were Air Force or not. When you need alot or ordanance on target in a hurry, you'll take all comers.

[txpete]

jeep when that chain gun works its good.the problem is its linkless the ammo is carried down the side of the aircraft back to the mag by carriers.one bad carrier and its game over.also they use a hyd. turret on the apache.we got away from that on the ecas cobra and went to a elect turret.a much better turret and it doesn't screw up.
my first gunnery with the apache we were loading the 30mm and got the bird finished and gone.the hughes tech rep asked what I thought about the 64.I told him I could launch 4 cobra's in the time to took to rearm 1 apache.he knew it was true and just shook his head.to sum it up lots of hocus pocus high tech stuff and massive maintenance to keep it running.
pete

[piller]

The Marine Super Cobra seems to be a good piece of equipment to me. I remember training exercises at Camp Lejuene, and it seemed to be very effective. I may pick on the Marines, but they are good men. That First Cav museum looks like a worthwhile place to visit. Hope that young man had the time of his life. Curr Ahee! (1/506PIR response from the officers to the greeting "Stands Alone, Sir").

[jeepnik]

The Marine Super Cobra seems to be a good piece of equipment to me. I remember training exercises at Camp Lejuene, and it seemed to be very effective. I may pick on the Marines, but they are good men. That First Cav museum looks like a worthwhile place to visit. Hope that young man had the time of his life. Curr Ahee! (1/506PIR response from the officers to the greeting "Stands Alone, Sir").

piller, you might be able to answer a question for me. Years ago I read the book Curr Ahee by Donald Burgett. I recently found out he wrote three others and just finished reading all four. I was wondering if the 506th PIR was still in existance? Just from what I read of the unit in WWII, it wrote one heck of a history for itself.

[piller]

In 1988, after requesting an overseas assignment due to too many broken bones while on active jump status, I was sent from Fort Bragg, NC to Korea. I was placed in Combat Support Company with the First Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. They were no longer Airborne at the time. We were stationed at Camp Greaves and had a platoon at Camp Liberty Bell. I was cross trained as an 11HE9. I don't know how many people there are who can legitimately say they are 11B1P and 11HE9, but I am one of them. The 506th was the only Regiment with a Battalion permanently stationed North of the Imjin River. When the other units rotated North to stay at Warrior Base for 3 months, we were the ones who watched their backs. It was a good unit with a great history. We trained 6 days a week, and had little else to do. When I was there, I was in the best shape of my life. I also, was pretty average on the T.O.W.II with a score of holding on a target moving at 30 kph at 2500 meters for 60 seconds. The target was the size of a dollar bill, but the sights on a T.O.W. are awesome. I don't currently know what has become of the 506th, but we wore the Indian Head patch of the 2nd Infantry Division at the time. Major General Edwin Burba was our Commanding General. Lt. Col. Mitchell Zais was our Post Commander, and CSM Willie T. Williams was our post Sergeant Major. We never Officially did anything but train while there.

[BigSky56]

The most crash worthy bird in your pics is the OH6 loach Ive gone down in UH1's and a loach I prefer the later flying and crashing. The Air Calvary was the finest unit I ever served in, this topic brought to mind the Fiddler's Green poem. danny

[piller]

When I was at Ft. Campbell, the joke was that if you wanted a UH60 Blackhawk, all you had to do was buy some land near the post and wait for the some assembly required kit to be dropped on your doorstep. I don't remember hearing about the Cobras dropping out of the sky all on their own very often. Maybe things were built better a few years ago. Cool museum.

[txpete]

+1 on the LOH (oh-6) great helicopter and the 160th is still flying them.

when the oh-58 packed it in there wasn't much left.




acft 533 AH-1F





I got a E- ticket ride in the front seat of one of these.AH-1 mod S

[donw]

holy mackeral!!! piller...

edwin t. burba????

he was CO of 2ad div arty when i was in it at ft hood!!!!

dang...i'm sad the 2ad struck their colors...a very tough armored unit with a very good record. it wasn't called "hell on wheels" for nothing...

[txpete]

When I was at Ft. Campbell, the joke was that if you wanted a UH60 Blackhawk, all you had to do was buy some land near the post and wait for the some assembly required kit to be dropped on your doorstep. I don't remember hearing about the Cobras dropping out of the sky all on their own very often. Maybe things were built better a few years ago. Cool museum.

the first blackhawks had problems,we called them lawn darts.when the packed in thats what they looked like.
pete

[BigSky56]

nothing crashes like a tarhe (CH54) cant remember of one survivor suckers take on the flight characteristics of a rock so do pelosi hooks. I watch one sling a blade carrying 28 grunts + 4 crew going on a 3 day incountry R&R after that the only way I'd get on one is if I was in a bag besides that they leak hdy oil all over you the grunts use to put their ponchos on before they'd get on them. danny

[BlueStateSaint]

Txpete . . . I noticed that you had 2d ACR sabers there . . . When were you with them?

[txpete]

air troop 79-81

[JReed]

JReed,

Whatever happened to the USMC variant of the Apache they were developing back in the early-mid 90's? Are there any plans for the eventual Cobra replacement?

Nope no plans to replace. The only advantage the Apache has is speed. For us our Air Wings whole job is close air support. So that sort of speed is not needed. Plus a fully loaded snake is darn intimidating when it pops up over a hill fully loaded headed right at ya.

[txpete]

The most crash worthy bird in your pics is the OH6 loach Ive gone down in UH1's and a loach I prefer the later flying and crashing. The Air Calvary was the finest unit I ever served in, this topic brought to mind the Fiddler's Green poem. danny

just for you bigsky56


Halfway down the trail to Hell
In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead Troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen,
And this eternal resting place is
known as Fiddler's Green
Marching past straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green
Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene,
No Trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green
And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a sabre keen,
Or on roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean.
And the hostiles come to get your scalp
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddler's Green