Bell UH-1B Iroquois Royal Australian Air Force, Battle of Long Tan, 1966 (1:72)

There were 766 Bell UH-1C helicopters built in several equipment modified variants. One was the 'Frog' equipped with side-mounted XM-158 twin rocket pods each holding seven 2.75 inch rockets. The "M-5" fitted the gunship with a nose turret mounting an M-75 40 mm automatic anti-personnel grenade launcher that held 300 anti-personnel grenades. The crews referred to these as 'Chunkers' because of the sound when the grenades were fired. The infamous 'Shark' gunships were created in 1966 when permission was granted to use the fearsome looking 'Tiger Mouth' on the front of the Hueys.

RAAF A2-1020 is an UH-1B Iroquois was delivered to No 9 Squadron at RAAF Base Fairbairn in Canberra on December 12, 1962. A2-1020 joined No 9 Squadron at Vung Tau Vietnam in mid-1966 where it was used for medevac, troop insertion as well as extractions and re-supply. On August 17-18 1966 Australian troops were surrounded by overwhelming numbers of enemy troops. As night was falling they were running low on ammunition and the only method of re-supply was by helicopter. During a tropical storm and at tree-top level A2-1020 and A2-1022 managed to fly over enemy troops and find a smoke flare placed by the Australian troops. The 2 helicopters off-loaded their 520 kg of ammunition and successfully returned to base. This ammunition made it possible for the Australian troops to hold on until an artillery barrage and armoured vehicles arrived, driving the enemy soldiers into a retreat. A2-1020 is now on display at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, near Melbourne.

UH-1B Specifications

Dimensions
Length: 39 ft 7 in (12.0 m)
Height: 14 ft 7 in (4.4 m)
Main rotor diameter: 44 ft (13.4 m)
Empty Weight: 4,369 lb (1,981 kg)
Gross Weight: 8,500 lb (3,854 kg)

Propulsion
Engine: 1 X Lycoming turbine T53-L-11, 1,100 shp

Performance
Range: 260 mi (418 km)
Cruise Speed: 126 mph (202 km/h) (109 kt)
Max Speed: 147 mph (236 km/h) (127 kt)
Climb: 2,660 ft/min (810 m/min)
Ceiling: 16,900 ft (5,150 m)

Armament
"Heavy Hog" because it had an optional weapons configuration of "XM-3" that installed 2 24-round rocket packs and removed the door guns, "M-5" that installed an M-75 40 mm grenade-launcher carrying 150 grenades.