Well, it's all over now.
The Huey Funship has been retired. I still have a hangover. The retirement night was great. Ascend, Arm OTW, and many others, were missed, but it was hard to catch up with those who did get there.
Of course we solved the world's gunship problems, invented new and diverse roles for the Huey gunship, and began every sentance with "There I was.......".
But I did get to speak at length with Brian Dirou (sp?) who put together the Aussie version of the Huey gunship in Vietnam. It was very intresting to hear so much about the thought processes behind the selection of it's configuration in preference to selection of the G model Cobra, dispelling the old Aussie legend that our Cobra order was cancelled by the Whitlam Government when it came to power.
And of course there was the rugby result to be celebrated.
A BIG thanks to Autorotate who, at his own cost, siezed the opportunity of photographing the aircraft despite the Defence
PR machine not having invited the world's premier helicopter photographer. He flew from NZ to Brisbane in the morning, drove to Oakey (2.5 hours NOT 1.5 hours as I had told him - sorry!) completed the shoot, jumped in the car again and drove back to Brisbane, caught a plane to Sydney, for an overnight, then on to NZ at a sparrow fart on the next day. So when you see those photos, you will know to what lengths he went to in order to help preserve the history of our industry.
THANKS.
