The Historical past Of The Military's Workhorse Huey Helicopter

One working change to the Huey in later order cycles was its powerplant. The early turbine engines produced 700 shaft horsepower, which Military pilots discovered to be just a little underpowered for battlefield situations. Bell’s reply was an ever-larger string of turbine engines starting from 960 horsepower as much as 1,400 horsepower in some fashions in the course of the late-Nineteen Sixties.

The Huey’s general function within the Vietnam Struggle began to morph, too. Now not only a medevac helicopter, some Hueys served as gunships with the addition of machine weapons, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers. However “dust-offs,” or medical missions, stay probably the most well-known among the many Huey’s makes use of. Over the course of the battle, roughly 900,000 sufferers have been rescued by Hueys and their crews.

Information present that Bell Helicopter constructed roughly 16,000 Hueys from its inception till 1975. Of these, roughly 7,000 noticed service in Vietnam. By some accounts, practically half of these 7,000 Hueys have been destroyed in the course of the course of the conflict.

The Military’s final Huey flew in December 2016. Immediately, solely a few dozen navy variations of the Huey are airworthy, largely flown at air exhibits or different exhibition occasions.