205 Dual Hydraulic Conversion

[downwash]

OK, TQN, what's that red 'smilie' all about? Don't want to give the yardbirds anything to gossip about.

 

And Cap, the lady's going to get her pictures. You ought to know I didn't need any additional urging.

[cap]

Downwash ----- of course I knew that. I know that you are an "Ossifer and a gentleman" and have a weak spot for females......there was never any doubt. What I am wondering about though, is how you're going to shoot that photo so it's readible though the chin bubble glass.

 

Take the red smiley and "run with it" because they are few and far between these days for you and I and fading fast.

[transquebecniece]

In a perfect world: macro lens outfitted with a polarized filter and pressed directly against the glass. Or maybe DW will just fly it down south here and I'll shoot it myself (hint, hint)

[transquebecniece]

[Blackmac]

Also TQN the B205 has been souped up with a Cobra engine. Bell has modified the 205 into something else with even another engine.

 

And the beat goes on.

 

Cheers, Don

[transquebecniece]

A Cobra engine. Well that ought to give it some "get up and go!" You've probably already seen it, but Western Helicraft has a story of a 204>205 conversion with some good "during and after" pix:

 

http://www.westernhelicraft.com/repairsrebuilds/

 

http://www.westernhelicraft.com/repairsrebuilds/bell205.asp

 

On a side note, I once saw my car engine looking like that 204 and it was never the same when the guys put it all back together. I've no doubt that crews who repair and rebuild helicopters perform to much higher standards than those in the automotive industry. I should hope.

 

On an Air America side note, the last AA a/c crossed the border from Laos into Thailand on 3 June 1974. In all, 100 Air America personnel had died in Laos. My uncle was one of the lucky ones. Wonder if the number would've been lower had they more "get up and go" at their disposal. One can only speculate. The base at Udorn was shut down at the end of June. Operations in Vietnam continued until the fall of Saigon in April 1975. When plans for a new stay-behind company in Thailand, staffed by a select group of helicopter and transport pilots, fell through, all Air America personnel were discharged. And a number of them went to Canada for civvy jobs, as you know.

 

Hence my fascination with the UH-1s (or Bell 204s) and I LOVE to see what has become of the few of them that are still flying (hint: post pictures!). BTW, if I'm not mistaken, the 205s (UH-1H) weren't involved in SEA; they were manufactured later? Haven't had time to look it up. Does anyone know?

 

Finally, for anyone repairing or rebuilding one of the old reliable workhorses, Ebay's got some pieces/parts listed:

 

http://search.ebay.com/Bell-205-helicopter...QfkrZ1QQfromZR8

[transquebecniece]

Wonder how skeeterswatter's doing with his? He just up and disappeared.

[cap]

TQN ------that's a "Rodger" on AA having (1H's) 205's. The first ones were what was known as 205D's and showed up in mid '67. A lot of them came directly from Bell on lease or purchase. Some retrurned home to brokers and followed the earlier 204's down the same path. A large amount of them made their way to Australia and from there to Canada......I've flown a number of them. The only Bell Huey model from the same time-frame that they never had on their roster was the 212 or "1N".

 

I think if you tap into the "utdallas" website, you should be able to find a list there. I suspect they have a listing for ALL the a/c flown by Air America over their lifetime....and that list should be verrrrrry long as far as types go. If you got a problem on obtaining a list, let me know. They were a massive airline and there has been no airline around since then that compares in any way to their size at that time.

 

The first 204's hit the US Army in '64 en masse. Sikorsky was the "go to" company in 'Nam' just before I arrived and there were large proportion of small Bells (13's). The various 204 models were floating around since '59. The 205's showed up in the latter part of '67 and the 212 models for the Army shortly afterwards.

 

Speed and power don't help any when the idiot below, who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn normally, puts his weapon in "rock n roll" and just pointed it in some general direction and got some hits on a sensitive part of the a/c. Other than that, there were lots of holes through the a/c and the same for the blades and they kept right on truckin' enough to get you back home. You could hear the weird sounds that a hit made on the fuselage through your headphones. Depending on the weapon used, about every 5th round was a "tracer" and you could see it coming at night and a lot in the daytime too. That helped sometimes because you could tell from where and call in some fire if you had to stay in the area or give them "**** fire" in return. AA had no back-up and we did....that was the difference.

 

The 205's with the Cobra egines were called "Huey Tugs" and came about strictly on the Army end of things and not a Bell development. Getting the larger a/c to sling out damaged 4's/5's was sometimes a problem and necessitated some imagination at the maintenance end of things. Bell tried to put the "Tug" on the commericial market, but FAA shot them down and said "back to the drawing-boards guys"........ the result was the 214. It always made me chuckle because there was a large complement of maintenance staff who hailed from California and they brought a lot of their "hot-rodding George Barris ways" with them. They were continuously"tinkering" on items and "doodling" plans on things to improve on the manufactured item. Other than rivets on the a/c everything was "fair-game" with those guys.

[transquebecniece]

See how much "homework" you saved me? Gracias! And I haunt the UT Dallas website frequently with my endless bombardment of questions. This pest will take Erik to dinner next time I get to TX; we're on a first-name basis now.

 

I noticed on the newer Army helicopters, they have titanium surrounding the cockpit for added pilot protection and at other "critical hit" points. They had to develop special tools just to work with the titanium.

 

And I've only seen a photo of one helicopter slinging another; don't even remember where I saw it now. But it looked like a skillful feat! One pendulum swinging another. I imagine you'd have to go pretty slow for that!

[Skids Up]

Hence my fascination with the UH-1s (or Bell 204s) and I LOVE to see what has become of the few of them that are still flying (hint: post pictures!).

 

 

TQN,

 

Have a look on the VR website under general helicopter forum and under helicopters at work and go to page 20.

 

scroll down until you come to the 204 sitting on the beach (VEG #102-Ontario Fire Number).

 

This is one that Cap has been talking about - 24,000 hours plus and still going strong... :up: :up:

 

Also there, are the 205 and Long Ranger.