Before AH-1 Cobra, Army Huey gunships were UH-1B and UH-1C. Gunships armed with two M60 door guns, four M60 flex guns mounted outside along with 2.75-inch rocket pods were called Frog. Gunships with the automatic 40mm grenade launcher in the nose and large rocket pods outside were called Hog. AH-1's replaced Huey gunships in 1968 and 1969, I think. The most unusual callsign I heard was Tamale 6, an Air Force FAC pilot.
Hey SgtBob, I had a long explanation but hit the wrong key and it "went away." So, the short version: most 1ST AVN BDE and some divisional aviation battalion AHCs had a gun platoon of 8 UH-1 B/C/M models. Charlie and Mikes replaced the less capable Bravos. Most AHCs kept their UH-1 guns until deactivated (the 129th AHC was an exception as it picked up some worn AH-1Gs from D/1/10 Cav during the Easter Offensive of 1972 and stayed in country until the 1973 withdrawal). Lead UH-1 gun usually was a "heavy" or "hog" with the large capacity 2.75" FFAR pods. Wing was the minigun (XM-134) equipped UH-1 gunship that replaced the M-60 flex-gun gunship system (XM-60). If a "heavy" or "hog" had the "chunker" XM-5 grenade launcher, it was a "frog" or "hog/frog." The "chunker" could not be made to work with the XM-134 system because of wiring. The "chunker" was not supposed to be flown with full big pods but, oh well. So we had "hogs," "heavies," "frogs," and "hog/frogs." Hope this makes sense, regards, Alemaster
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A very accurate description. regards, Alemaster
ReplyDeleteBefore AH-1 Cobra, Army Huey gunships were UH-1B and UH-1C. Gunships armed with two M60 door guns, four M60 flex guns mounted outside along with 2.75-inch rocket pods were called Frog. Gunships with the automatic 40mm grenade launcher in the nose and large rocket pods outside were called Hog. AH-1's replaced Huey gunships in 1968 and 1969, I think. The most unusual callsign I heard was Tamale 6, an Air Force FAC pilot.
ReplyDeleteHey SgtBob, I had a long explanation but hit the wrong key and it "went away." So, the short version: most 1ST AVN BDE and some divisional aviation battalion AHCs had a gun platoon of 8 UH-1 B/C/M models. Charlie and Mikes replaced the less capable Bravos. Most AHCs kept their UH-1 guns until deactivated (the 129th AHC was an exception as it picked up some worn AH-1Gs from D/1/10 Cav during the Easter Offensive of 1972 and stayed in country until the 1973 withdrawal). Lead UH-1 gun usually was a "heavy" or "hog" with the large capacity 2.75" FFAR pods. Wing was the minigun (XM-134) equipped UH-1 gunship that replaced the M-60 flex-gun gunship system (XM-60). If a "heavy" or "hog" had the "chunker" XM-5 grenade launcher, it was a "frog" or "hog/frog." The "chunker" could not be made to work with the XM-134 system because of wiring. The "chunker" was not supposed to be flown with full big pods but, oh well. So we had "hogs," "heavies," "frogs," and "hog/frogs." Hope this makes sense, regards, Alemaster
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