Air America Huey Downs 2 Antonov An2s - 1968

[porter]

......The Huey overtook the AN-2’s a few miles inside North Vietnam, unknown to the AN-2’s as their rearward visibility is nil. The Huey flew over the rearmost AN-2 and the helicopter’s down-wash stalled out the upper wing of the AN-2.......

 

[cap]

Greg Reed ------- first of all, up until about 1967 the vast majority of Hueys that were in the AA stable were Hueys that were transferred over to AA from the USMC through a special 'arrangement' and that was also because the USMC were the first to acquire UH1D's & E's. That way, in the line of thinking at that time, no connection could be made between Bell, the American military and AA.

 

Some of the differences bwteen the civilian versions and the passed-on military versions are:

1) There are 'finger guides' around certain important switches such as Fuel "On/Off", Hydraulics, etc.

2) The forward bulkhead will be exactly .060 different in thickness compared to the same civilian bulkhead as 'Murdoch stated.

3) There will be no 'portholes' on the posts behind both the pilot/co-pilot's seats'. If spme purchases a Huey that does not have any, then MoT will make them add the 'portholes'. I have to assume that MoT feels that without them the a/c might fall from the sky perhaps.

4) If ex-military, they will have had the tail-boom baggage compartment added-on for the civilian life as military Hueys had none.

5) You will be able to go back just so far in their Jorney Logs and Tech Logs and at that point you will reach a sheet of paper with the logo of the US State Department at the top which will read (and I paraphrase here......bad memory after all these years )....."for further information or data concerning this aircraft please contact the US State Department, Washinton, DC, phone number ......"

 

Realize also that when AA was disbanded, they were the largest airline in the world with everything from large airliners all the way down to Bell 47's ("Yes" they actually did do regular airline flights and only part was clandestine in any way). The number of a/c reached approximate 4000 a/c and they didn't all just exist in the Far East because AA existed in many geographic areas and were used extensively in Central America, amongst other locales. Many of the large airliners remained in the Far East and flew later on in Laos and with other far eastern airlines, but you found ex-AA a/c of all types ending up in Australia, Greenland and about 12 Hawker Siddley airliners even got bought by a certain well-known Ontario regional. Nothing special about any of them....except if they could talk they'd keep you spell-bound for days.

 

 

**** TQN has contact (which she has mentioned already) with a certain friend of both of us (he was an engineer with me in years past) who was a flight engineer with AA, has lived in Canada for eons now, but refuses to contribute directly to this site. This I respect, but perhaps he'll share something more with TQN once again......the 'big dink' .

 

 

[transquebecniece]

I knew if I said anything stoopit (Army vs. Marines... ...would you expect anything less from an Army brat? ), that you'd be my editor! Always a well-spring of info, Sir! And did you just call him "the dink?" I hear him laughing already!