H-76 Eagle ..any photos>?

[chopper2004]

Having worked with the 'sex machine of the North Sea' for a few years, and had come across in a video and various publications about the canceled proposed armed version of the 76 (excluding the Philippine Air Force 76), has anyone got any high res pics of the H-76 flying and firing weapons in the late 80s?


Cheers

[Canuck Guy]

Not exactly high res pictures, but still a genuine H-76 Eagle none the less.http://www.airwar.ru/image/i/uh/h76-i.jpg

http://tri.army.mil/LC/CS/csa/h76001.jpg

[NickLappos]

That's Ed Dinsmore and me in the top picture, it is at the start of a split S maneuver.There is a film of the maneuver taken that day as well.
That was an S76A, SN 199, that is now a chase aircraft at the factory. We took it around the world back then (1982-3).

[bell222]

Surely you are talking about the HX-1.:):):)

[chopper2004]

Many thanks for that Canuck Guy.

Question for Nick:
How difficult was it to put weapons mount on the 76 and the electrics?
Could or was there a proposed module kit to convert a 76 into a gunship?
In Bill Gunston's book of Combat Helicopters published twice, once in 88 and then 98, the artists lay out of the S76 with a variety of proposed arsenal from Hellfire to Mk46 and Stingray torpedos, 66mm to Stingers, and Sea Skua even to chain gun.

From what I remember of the Spirit, there is in the vertical beam in the frame, by the 2nd set of doors, where one can fit electrical wiring through it for say a rescue hoist. I had been working on a project a few years back investigating a conversion of a B model into dedicated SAR/EMS from corporate for a customer in the Med region.

Were there any guided weapons tests apart from rockets carried out? TOW or Hellfire?

As the 76 is in use with parapublic, NJ State Police, NY Port Authority....do you think there's still potential in that market outside USA?
Many thanks
rgds
Chopper2004

[Jack Carson]

I worked with Nick L. and Eddie D. from time to time in Stratford. The weapons installation was simple a straight forward. A beam was attached to the floor and extended through cutouts in the doors. All of the wiring was internal to the aircraft and ran out through the beam. A flip down site was mounted in front of the pilot for direct fire weapons and a TOW sight was located on the co-pilots side. The most significant modification required was to the tail cone. It was beefed up to handle the TOW launch motor blast. The TOW blast test conducted in Patuxent River.

[Nigel Osborn]

What happened to the fixed undercarriage military version? Did anyone buy?

[NickLappos]

Jack is right, the installation was easy. The beam was supported by two trunnions on the cabin floor that picked up the aircraft structure. The beam had a motor that rotated it and pointed the pods in elevation. The weapons were mounted on a standard NATO rack on the beam ends, the beams could take about 1300 pounds apiece, enough for a good sized gun or a 19 shot rocket pod.

The main gear was bolted down on one early prototype version, but in the end, the retraction was maintained on all delivered versions.

The sighting system was mounted above the pilot's head, with a range/wind compensating feature and NVG compatibility.

The TOW kit used a mast-mounted sight and the CP station became a gunner's station, with a head's down sight.

The aircraft maneuvered well with the pods, and was quite accurate. It could hold an 8 man squad with the weapons, since the beam did not interfere with the seats.

The Philippine AF bought a squadron, many of them armed. The rockets that blew in Ferdinand Marcos' front door were fired from their H76 fleet, a convincing way to tell him that things were not in his favor anymore with the Air Force. He called for evacuation within a few minutes of that engagement.

[HOSS 1]

That second aircraft pictured is still known affectionately as "The Beagle".

The story, as told to me by the old timer flight testers, goes as such...

Management desired to have the marketing name (S76B Eagle) emblazoned on the cowlings. Unfortunately the painter left a bit too much space between the "6" and the "B", and was a little close on the "B" and the "E".

Apparently, all the flight testers got a good laugh when they saw their new

"S76 BEagle"

[I Build 92's]

http://www.webpages.charter.net/nlappos/199.jpghttp://webpages.charter.net/nlappos/199close.jpg199 is still alive and well! Still has the door cut outs and the mount provisions for the weapons pod. She is in red, white and blue paint now and was also one of the first responders on 9/11. The old girl has recently gotten some refreshed engines and some new toys in the cockpit. She also gave a great performance at the last Family Day with AE at the controls. My crew tends to her every need and are quite proud of her. She is still the smoothest flying 76 we know of!! Nick and Jack happy Holidays and any time you want, the old girl is waiting for you!! Now if I could figure out how to post a pic.....:ugh: Thanks Nick!

[NickLappos]

I should have mentioned that the Gen II beam had two stations on each side, see the lower pic and note the 157 pods outboard.

[Canuck Guy]

so what stopped this varient from ever seeing active deployment with US forces?

got any conversion kits I can bolt onto our A models? :E

[sethih]

Anyone got a picture of eddie dinsmore?