"The sound of the Huey are music to my ears". Those are the words of an American G.I. during the Vietnam War. And in the years to come, his friends, thousands of which will come to say the same.
The "Huey" if the household name for the UH-1 Helicopter officially known as the "Iroquois" named after an American indian tribe. Bell designed the model in the 1950's after US Army initiatives and flew the first example in 1961. It went to action in the Vietnam War whose sight and sound were made familiar and famous. Because of its proven capabilities in those years, the UH-1 will served many air forces in the years to come.
The Philippine Air Force recieved over a hundred of these arriving in batches since delivery started in the mid-1970's. The emblem of the 205th Helicopter Wing based in Villamor Air Base, its parent unit were painted in their noses. Its mission to the PAF are countless such as air support, Medevac, Casevac, SAR, troop, assault and VIP transport, reconnaissance, salvage, training, test platforms, liason, counter-insurgency, specialized, gunship and so on. Its the jack of all trades, the mother of all air mobility. The PAF flies many variants such as the Bell 205A-1, 14 supplied in 1984 used by the 210th Helicopter Training Squadron for rotary wing instruction. The models 212 and 214 (UH-1N) for VIP transport and specialized missions. And the UH-1 model, the most numerous serving as SAR and the all important air support missions to the Philippine military. There is no doubt that the Huey is the most active aircraft in the air force in peacetime and in war. They have seen action everyday, throughout the land. In combat,in calamities, in public support, in rescues and in the hands of wrongly reformed pilots in coup "d" etat's. The helicopters itself has the bullet holes to show for. Their pilots and air crews have the scars and precious medals to prove it ("hindi na nabibilang ang mga medalya sa aming dibdib-we can't even count the medals hanging in our chest"). That's right, the 205th is the "blood and guts" unit of the air force. Her crew are not missing the action, they're at, where the action is, the fighting, the bleeding, the life saving rescues and extractions etc, etc, etc and sad to say, the accidents. Only those who served before them are missing the action. In the absence of aerial dogfigths, they're the "figthing airmen" of the PAF today.
There is a saying among the men and women who flies them, Good news travels by helicopter, good news travels with the 205th.Because of its reliability, the PAF and many other air arms will surely fly the Huey well ahead to the 21st century.
Its true, the whoop, whoop, whoop sound of the Huey are also music to the ears of the soldiers and citizens of the Philippines. Thanks to the men of the PAF that "brings" that soundtrack to them.
Design of the aircraft began in 1964 when Desmond Norman and the late John Britten entered the transport market to replace the de Havilland Dragon
Rapide. The first flight of the example was made on april 24, 1967. Their aim was to develop an easy to build aircraft with minimal maintenance to give
trouble free service. It adopted a simple and robust structure, high-wing configuration, wing-mounted engines, rectangular fuselage and a fixed
tricycle landng gear. It can accomodate a pilot and up to 9 passengers with 3 doors (2 in port, 1 in starboard).
The Philippine Air Force locally assembled their Islanders courtesy of PADC (Philippine Aircraft Development Corporation). The first recieved in march 1976, the second in april 1978 and the remaining 20 in 1980-81. They partner the Nomads in the 220th Airlift Wing with most wears drab comouflage, but at least one wears an all-black scheme and markings for the 15th Strike Wing based in Sangley. Some also serve under the 601st Laison Squadron. Their function are many; CASEVAC, internal security, logistic support, long range partol, SAR, troop transport, fishery protection, laison. The aircraft can perform offensive missions with installation of 4 underwing pylons with a capacity of 2,300 lbs of munitions.
The S-76 is a general-purpose all-weather helicopter intended as a 12-passenger twin-turbine machine suitable for air transport with first delivery made on 27 februaury 1979. It has a powerplant of 2 485-KW Allison 250-C30 turboshafts mounted above the cabin and driving a 4-blade main and tail rotor. The tail unit also incorporates an all-moving tailplane. Retractable landing gear is standard. It can accomodate a pilot and co-pilot and up to 12 passengers. It has optional VIP and air ambulance conversions.
The Philippine Air Force ordered 17 of these to serve in various squadrons. Twwelve of these variants were armed and served with the 20th Air Commando Squadron of the 15 Strike Wing based in Sangley Air Base, the remaining five were allocated for Search and Rescue operations but at least one wears the smart colours of the of the 252nd Helicopter Squadron based at Villamor for VIP transportation.
Another type and locally licensed built by the Philippine Aerospace and Development Corporation is the MBB BO-105C serving in a variety of missions to different government agencies such as the Philippine Navy, Philippine National Police and the Philippine Air Force some of which bearing civil markings and mainly stationed at Villamor Air Base in support of the 252nd Helicopter Airlift Wing.
The aircraft is a light twin-engine helicopter with a hingeless rotor system and suited for uprated performance. It can accomodate a pilot and up to 4 passengers and with a range of 564 miles. It has excellent accessibility to the cabin and cargo-hold due to high-set tail rotor fuselage sliding doors and rear clam-shell doors. The aircraft can operate at sub-arctic, hot and humid and tropical environmental conditions and can perform task such as SAR, off-shore transport, law enformcement and executive/utility missions.