Who Is Bell UH-1 Huey Helicopter?

The purpose of this background paper is to inform the reader on the C-130 Hercules. The first paragraph will cover the mission and characteristics of the C-130. The second paragraph will delve into the role of the aircraft in current missions. The third paragraph will cover the role that the C-130 played in the Vietnam War.

(INTRODUCTION) In August 1964, Vietnamese DRV torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. President London B. Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Shortly after the incident, U.S. congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson war-making powers, and U.S. planes began regular bombing raids (Reference http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history ). In Vietnam, the US enjoyed virtual air supremacy. Nevertheless, Air Defense Artillery (ADA) units were able to distinguish themselves and prove their versatility by providing fire support to ground forces. ADA earned more than 450 medals for valor, receiving more than 1000 Purple Hearts, and one Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to SGT Mitchell Stout (Reference http://www.usc.edu/dept-00/dept/armyrotc/branches/air_defense.html ). Despite there being no confirmed aerial engagements, Air Defense Artillery played a vital role in the Vietnam War, and were at times crucial to battle success, proving their versatility, adaptability, flexibility.

With this new and improved anti-aircraft tank it became one of the perfect air defense weapon systems for potential low-altitude threats, with the M55 Quad 50 as its only rival in versatility. Known as the ‘Whispering Death’, the M55 Quad 50 consisted of four Browning M2 .50-caliber machine guns mounted in a power turret on a deuce and a half (2 ½) or 5 ton truck (“ADA Units in Vietnam”, n.d.). “Generally speaking…Quads could not go cross-country in support for maneuver units. But in operations away from established road nets where heavy machine-gun support was needed, it was possible to slingload the Quad with the CH-47 helicopter” (Charles E. Kirkpatrick, in “Arsenal”, Vietnam magazine,

The United States of America, one of the most powerful nations in the world at the time, was completely unprepared for the war that it had joined in Vietnam. The terrain was unlike any we had ever fought in. From mountains to jungles to rice paddies, it was wet, hot, cold, and completely unforgiving. To say that the political situation was tenuous would be a drastic understatement. Not only could officials not make up their minds, neither could the general populace. The media had an influence in this war that was heretofore unseen. All of these factors were a great obstacle in and of themselves and then we put into play the greatest obstacle of all: the enemy. This was an enemy like we had never seen. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong (VC) were fast, agile, adaptable, and extremely unpredictable. The VC hid among the common populace and fought like demons. The NVA were well supplied, well organized, and did not restrict themselves the way many large armies do. This forced us to have to rapidly adapt and develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in order to counter all of these obstacles. Due to these needs and the rapidly advancing technology and versatility of helicopters, the Air Cavalry was born. The Air Cav was composed of several types of airframes including transport aircraft, attack aircraft, and reconnaissance aircraft. The reconnaissance aircraft were also known as Aeroscouts and were known for their boldness, audacity,

Centuries before the Korean War, wars were long and painful events that any man could ever go through. Troops would match from countries to countries, crossing mountains, trial through the forest, and wander the desert to meet with their enemy in battle. The only problem with the troops traveling so far for so long is that before the war ever starts, the men were fatigued and casualty rates were higher than they should be. By the Korean War, an amazing machine was introduced to the military ranks, turning the tide in warfighting and troop survivability. UH-1 Huey Helicopter, or Utility Helicopter, was the one machine that was created by Bell that change the concept in warfighting and giving the United States the upper hand in war. On several

They carry three lightweight, Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter (“drash”) tents that can be attached to one another to form a 900-ft2 facility. Supplies to immediately resuscitate and operate on the wounded arrive in five backpacks: an ICU pack, a surgical-technician pack, an anesthesia pack, a general-surgery pack, and an orthopedic pack.” They have come up with new ways to check for certain problems without big, expensive, and heavy equipment. Instead of using radiography or angiography equipment, surgeons feel for fractures and if necessary use braces in an attempt to fixate the bones.

Ambulances were further developed from the base model which already existed. The ambulance’s main purpose was to speedily take injured soldiers from the battlefield to the medicine and doctors in order to receive appropriate care. Jonathan Lettermen created the ambulance that was used for the Civil War; this ambulance could carry three injured people at a time along with all the supplies necessary. This ambulance was not the ideal ambulance, but worked for the occasion. The ride was extremely bumpy and unstable, but they accomplished their job of taking people from the battlefield to the hospital area. Incredibly, during the Civil War there was multiple “trains” of ambulances, each train consisted of forty ambulances, and there was always forty ambulances on call at a time (Frederick). They were stocked with supplies and stretchers for those unable to get in unaccompanied. The Ambulances were exceptionally helpful during the Civil War, the battle of Antietam was considered the bloodiest day of the Civil War. There were over twenty three thousand casualties during the Antietam War, and in twenty four hours the ambulance corps had all the dead men off the field. At the end of the war, the ambulance was widely recognized as a large lifesaver (Oshinsky

Ironically this helicopter saved Woodstock or the show might not have gone on. So the U.S. army saved the day for a crowd of people who were mostly anti-war.

The war promoted the development of health services in military situations. Vietnam was very dangerous because this was the first time that there were people sabotaging at any time. Whether nurses were on the planes, ships or battlefields, they witnessed and participated in an evolution in trauma and combat casualty care. Rapid evacuation, readily available blood, well-established hospitals, advanced surgical techniques, and nursing management all combined to keep the wounded from dying. More specifically, “the rapid evacuation system for the wounded saved many lives that would have been lost in previous wars. Causalities from the battlefield could arrive at hospital receiving wards within minutes of injury” [1]. For example, each air force nurse carried dozens of wounded soldiers through the aircraft doors on bloodied ponchos or litters. She checked the snugness of their dressings to make sure that no one hemorrhaged during the short flight. She joked with patients who reacted to their injuries [2]. Many nurses

Airlift of supplies and equipment for various landing zones in the region is one of their assignments. Pilots never known when they will be shut down, so their life in the sky is as dangerous as those soldiers in the woods. Being informed about the condition in the landing zone is one of the first thing needs to be done before taking off the helicopter for the cargo. Always have to be to look up for a Viet Cong activity, the enemy might shoot the helicopter down anytime.

The mobile medical units were made up of bandages, medicine, and supply enough for hundreds of operations. The function of the unit was to make medical workers closer to the front, in order that the wounded could be treated sooner. Owing to these medical inventions, casualty rate in the Spain Civil War were reduced speedily.

Both World War II (1939-1945) and the Vietnam War (1955-1975) were times where great advances were made in medical care, in fact the Vietnam War is said to have had the best medical care in the history of warfare. In particular, the evacuation techniques and medical treatments in both wars proved to have a substantial effect on the soldiers. Throughout this report we will be examining the techniques used throughout WWII in comparison to those in the Vietnam War, so that we can hopefully gain a better understanding of the medical differences and/or similarities used in the warfare.

While escorting three B-52s on April 2, 1972 United States Air Force EB-66 navigator Lt. Col. Iceal “Gene” Hambleton (call sign Bat 21) and crew were shot down by a volley of surface to air missiles (SAM). By this time in the war, the North Vietnamese had become proficient at downing American aircraft using Soviet Union equipment. As the only survivor of the EB-66 crew, Hambleton parachuted to relative safety behind North Vietnamese lines. Due to his rank and prior held positions, Hambleton had Top Secret information on Strategic Air Command operations and was an expert in surface to air missile countermeasures. Having this information made Hambleton a high value target for the North Vietnamese. Due to the large scale American operation to retrieve just one pilot, the North Vietnamese suspected whatever was in the jungle behind their lines must be of high value and tried just as hard to prevent the American’s from retrieving what was theirs. Hambleton’s rescue became what would be the “largest, longest, and most complex search and rescue operation during the Vietnam War.”1

In “Medicine on The Battlefield” from http://www.ncpedia.org/wwi-medicine-battlefield John Campbell describes modern techniques military hospitals use and medicine used today. Stretchers are used to transport the injured soldiers to the places they need to go. Lieutenant Andrew Green wrote to friends in Raleigh explaining the story of how the stretcher-bearers carried him over one mile through enemy

Visitors to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum can take a self-guided tour of an assortment of aircrafts, many of which come from war times ranging from World War I to the Vietnam War. While some are no longer airworthy, some can still be flown. The collection also includes many military vehicles.