Iroquois Auxiliary Fuel
BA; re your post #137.
RAAF UH-1B at some SAR detachment locations were fitted with external droptanks to enable quick filling if extended range was required.
The UH-1H (and ergo Huey II) is plumbed for fitment of auxiliary fuel, either in externally mounted droptanks or much larger capacity inside cabin collapsible quad (quarter) tanks positioned in one or both of the rear crew stations. These tanks enable very long range ferry or carriage of some additional auxiliary fuel depending on payload availablility when configured for widely varying roles. They were often used by Air Force during operations throughout the northern archipelago such as support for Army Survey Corps.
There is a very wide range of optional equipment fits presently available for the Iroquois family, including state of the art avionics and multiple certified bolt-on weapon systems as seen with UH-1N, UH-1Y versions. The external hardpoint attachments on later model Iroquois are stronger than on the UH-1B and I don't recall there being any fatigue or cracking of mounts for aircraft configured as Bushranger gunships, although there was some tailboom cracking in Vietnam due to sustained high AUW operations. Tailbooms were pretty easily repaired or replaced as appropriate.
Last edited by Bushranger 71; 23rd Jul 2010 at 04:46.