I am not a UH-1 expert and I have not tried to confirm the level of damage in the cross tube box. This forced the rear cross tube up into the box that holds it in place. My understanding from a few eye witnesses that saw it at the time, said that when it was unloaded from the rail car, by a tractor that was not large enough to handle the helicopter, it was dropped from about three feet onto its skids. It was transferred to the US Customs department after Davis Monthan for several years, so it likely sat in the US Customs yard in Texas waiting for them to place it in service (which never happened because it is still in moth ball mode).Īt some point after US Customs released it, it was transferred via a railroad flat car to a non-profit group in Texas. Someone contacted me and reported to me he thinks it was a gate guardian in Texas (I have zero reason to believe this because there are no indications of this on the helicopter mounting etc and it’s still in the wrapping from long term storage in Davis Monthan). At some point it was relocated to Ellington Air National Guard base in Texas for a period of time. It was placed in long term storage for later use as needed. This Helicopter was in Davis Monthan AFB in the 1980’s (I have a book showing it there).
I believe this Helicopter is most likely the last and only Bell TH-1F / UH-F still in moth ball mode all in original condition as equipped including bullet resistant plates on pilots seats, cargo hook, rear seats, etc. A few were used in the logging industry here in the USA and a few are still in service in that role. Some were shipped to Australia as fire fighters and loggers and are still in service today. These F models were the First Model helicopter the California Department of Forestry placed in service as Helitack Fire Fighting helicopters. When released from Davis Monthan these aircraft found many non-military uses. It was placed into moth ball storage mode and stored. Most aircraft are flown into the base from their assignment. In the early 1980’s the USAF released it into storage mode at Davis Monthan, AFB in AZ. Length of fuselage:Ĕ4’11” long 57’1” long with blades turning This gives the UH1-F models the distinctive side exhaust exit on the right rear! The engine sits in backwards in the HUEY F model compared to the way it was mounted in front of the rotors on the Jolly Roger (HH-3E). At the time the USAF had a large number of these engines in inventory for use on their Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Roger heavy helicopter. These F models were designed for use with the General Electric T58-GE-3 engine (that is in it). The trainers like this one came outfitted with every option available from Bell to provide training! The best I can tell is It has a total of around 7500 hours of use.
It likely served as a trainer during those 20 years. This is number 1 of 26 of the TH 1-F, built in 1966. An additional 26 were made as TH1-F’s variant the training version. 119 or 120 UH1-F’s were made depending on the source of information. Some also saw war time use in Vietnam during the war.
Originally, they were tasked with supporting the USAF Strategic AIR Command’s (SAC) ICBM Missile Bases. The UH1-F models were in service with our USAF from 1966 to the early 1980’s. This is a retired 1966 USAF TH-1F / UH1-F Bell HUEY helicopter that has been stored in Mothball mode from the mid 1980ʼs till present. 1966 BELL This is a retired 1966 USAF TH 1F UH1 F Bell HUEY helicopter that has been stored in.
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