Cool Cobra Gunship Mofo.
One of the sleekest combat helicopters around, the AH-1 Huey Cobra is a formidable war machine, as well as possessing sharp, menacing looks, it lives up to its Cobra name in action and appearance. Based on the powertrain of the UH-1 Iroquois, the ubiquitous 'Huey'; its engine, transmission gear box, main and tail rotor assemblies are roughly the same, the Bell 209 combined these items with an entirely new, smaller airframe to provide a heavily armed close support aircraft. Initially the close support gunship concept came about as a direct result of experience with the Huey troop carrier in the crucible of the Viet Nam war; unarmed UH-1s used tactically in the airborne cavalry role were vulnerable to ground fire, which necessitated heavily armed gunship variants of the basic UH-1 airframe, but Bell know they could do better. First flying on 7 September 1965, a mere eight months after given the go ahead by the US Army, the Bell 209's narrow fuselage cross section from front on, only 36 inches wide, stub wings with two hard points each and nose turret armed with a six barrel rotary Gatling gun and grenade launcher, combined with armour plating for its crew meant that it was definitely designed for a high threat environment. After an order for 110 was placed after a fly-off against competing designs, it was sent to Viet Nam. And the rest is history; the type proving its worth on the battlefield and by doing so introducing a new genre of combat aircraft into nations' military inventories; the purpose built, multi-role helicopter gunship. This particular example, the first rotorcraft to be featured on this site, is located within the excellent Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) hangar at Illawarra Airport at Albion Park, south of Sydney, Australia and is one of two there, arriving in 2009. Originally built as an AH-1S in 1976, this one, 76-22598 was modified to AH-1P standard by the fitting of flat plate canopy glazing and equipment for night flying; at some stage during its career it seems to have acquired the nickname Mofo!. Click on the image to go to the walkaround page.
