Roni, (and anyone else)
Please do not let me give the impression that I served in Vietnam. When I said "we" earlier, I was referring to our armed forces in general. In fact, I have not had the priveledge of serving (tried to join during the Clinton years).
Actually, I am a voracious reader of books on the subject, it has always fascinated me. My dad was an infantry Leutenant over there 71-72.
As far as Air Cav ops go, The TO&E for scout platoons operating the OH-6A included the minigun pod that mounted to the left side of the aircraft just above the skids. It was a neat arrangement in that the gun was on an electric adjustable mount that allowed the pilot to elevate or depress the gun through an arc of a few degrees. It had a teardrop shaped housing that covered the back end of the gun. Scout pilots who carried it generally did not use the supplied gun sight, but a grease pencil X on the plexiglass bubble.
Most Cav units had a standing policy of not using the minigun. The commanders felt that it prompted the scout pilot to want to stay and duel it out with the enemy, instead of mark the target and get away.
Some scout platoon leaders decided to mount the minigun anyway, and it saved the life of more than one scout pilot who was able to beat the enemy to the draw. The gun fired either 4000 or 6000 rounds per minute and depended on which "stop" the pilot pulled the trigger to. The first detent would fire the gun on low, or 4000rpm, and squeezing it all the way got you 6000rpm. The effect was incredible, see the movie Predator. That was not an exaggeration. Unfortunately, the gun fired so fast, it would be empty in a few seconds.
Most Scout platoons opted for a gunner with an M-60 mounted on a free hanging strap. Scout gunners were picked for their ability with the M-60, and Scout pilots would not fly with one who was a poor shot.
Like I said earlier, Scout pilots carried lots of smoke, and would string up a piece of aviation safety wire between the instrument panel and the left seat back (or wherever) with the wire going through the pin rings so that one needed only to be yanked off the wire and tossed out. I would think that they carried an average of a dozen grenades, not only smoke, but WP and frags too, for dropping in VC spider holes and bunkers.
Many Scout units flew with a gunner in the back, the pilot in the right seat, and an "observer" in the left front seat with an M-16 in one hand, and a red smoke grenade in the other, with the pin pulled. When the Scout took fire, the observer dropped the smoke grenade and then opened fire along with the machinegunner in the rear to cover the Loach's escape. Most scouts I read about flew with only pilot and gunner, though.
The OH-6A was in the opinion of many, the best scout helicopter ever made because of it's manuverability. Later in the war, it was phased out in favor of the newer OH-58 Kiowa, which was not as well liked. The Kiowa was chosen, it is rumored, because it was produced in President Johnson's home state of Texas, and the Hughes OH-6 was not.
In an interesting note, the OH-6 could not fly in a rainstorm for more than a few minutes, because the tailrotor (which was made of a composite material) would disintegrate.
I wish OFP was a little more realistic with the helo flight. For one, you cannot autorotate in a helo in OFP. Secondly, the tailrotor failure script is cool, but in real life, most tailrotor failures were recoverable by maintaining a certain speed of flight, and making a running landing. Having said all that, OFP is the best Helicopter sim I have ever seen.
Wow, I didn't mean to go on like that. Got carried away.
Probably more than anyone wanted to know about Scouts. If you're into reading, Low Level Hell By Hugh Mills is really good, and there are half a dozen others.
Topic: Adding smoke to a chopper (Read 2388 times)
