AOTW: yep, they seem to keep bouncing back, though I fear the end is nigh this time because they have never gone to the trouble to organise a farewell before. I expect you to be there too!! I know Duffy is going.
Capt Sousa: YOUR forces went through from B models, and were on to G model snakes when the Aussies realised they were more fun than slicks and so they modified what they had - which was the H model (and i think one or two of them were D models going into H upgrades). We just never progressed to Snakes, though we did have an order for 16 cancelled at the end of the Vietnam War by our new Labour Government (maybe THATS why the CIA ousted them a short time later
). Subsequently, we flew the H model as our frontline offensive helicopter up until this year - despite them being obsolete in US forces by 1970.
Being Aussies, we had to specially modify our gunships to an Oz-only design that saw the miniguns moved from the rocket hardpoints forward to the quarter door for Cof G reasons, and we removed the hydraulic tilt mechanism relying upon the pilot to position the fall of shot by "kentucky windage" as you yanks would call it. Same as the rockets.
