Went through Ft Eustis to become an aircraft electrician in the summer of 84. I believe we spent 2 weeks on each airframe starting with the Huey. We couldn't wait to get to the Cobra. Went back for the OH-58D (88) and then the AH-64A (91).
Graduated Cobra school at Eustis in March 1971. April 15th I was in the Nam. REDSKINS Company D (Atk Hel), 158 th Avn. Bn. (Aslt Hel), 101st Abn. Div. (Ambl), Camp Evans Man in the front seat and in the door.
I experienced these up close when I was on the Reaction Force at Long Binh in Feb of 69. One of them flew right in front of our defensive line bouncing rounds off the road to Vung Tau. What a marvelous aircraft! 4th of July was never impressive after seeing them and Puff work!
My Dad said the same thing, can't imagine seeing one of these or Puff live in person, especially Puff man that thing was mean and destructive from what my old man told me.
My dad CW3 RR Taylor flew these and Hueys on his second Vietnam tour in ’69-‘70. He then got assigned as an acceptance test pilot with Army Materiel Command at the Bell plant in Ft Worth until ‘77. He knew when my elementary school recesses were, and would often come circle the playground while we were out there. I’d yell, “that’s my dad!” and felt like the coolest kid in the school. Will always love the Snake!
@@Minong_Manitou_Mishepeshu The OH-6 Little Bird was a fantastic helicopter. I was a crew chief on the UH-1D/H model and with both M-60 D's mounted and loaded on every flight, for ten years. Every unit I was assigned to had a cobra team. They were hard years but they were the best years .😎
67Y, enlisted in 74, what a privilege to go on maintenance flights in the front seat, still have the Cobra patch, our favorite saying back then when we bloodied our knuckles or fingers turning wrenches was “ I got snake bit”
This bird still makes my heart go pitter-patter. I got in on the maintenance of these and the UH1 before they were finally phased out of inventory. It was fun going through the systems in my head once again. Those were the days. Im retired now.
I can still remember seeing my first Cobra: Fall 1969, Hensel Field, Camp Enari, Plieku, RVN. We believed they could not be shot down. Sadly, this was not the case. Sadly, these types of films do not include the unforgettable growling sound ... Brrrrrup, and the spray of tracers.
And variants are still in service today. Absolutely beautiful death machines. I saw the USMC (unk variant) flying CAS for us one time. Didn't get lucky but boy have you goose bumps watching it hunt. Very cool video. Hats off to all those who flew those in hunter killer teams in 'Nam.
What an outstanding machine to be the world's first purpose-built attack helicopter. And easy on the eyes, too. It's like if the world's first fighter plane had been an F-16, or the Walker Bulldog had been the first tank.
I was a 68J Cobra Armament Tech for 20 years. I so miss working on this aircraft. I later worked on the OH-58D and AH-64 systems. But my first love was the Cobra.
My Uncle Steve was mechanic in Nam. He worked on F4's mostly but did chopper stuff if tuey needed him to pitch in. In 77 he was stationed at Peas AFB in New Hampshire. I went for the weekend to skate the Wizard skate park and visit the base where I stayed in the barracks. I watched Cobra's all day one afternoon. Afyer that I was hooked on em and got the Monogram kit of the day amd built 2 of em. One for Unca Steve that staued with him there until he retired many years later. I think it still sits in his office to this very day. What a machine...
This was such an odd design and it was a total homerun to the ground forces in Vietnam. Bell did an amazing job designing & building this and making so many excellent weapons platforms for it. Bell rocked this!
4:00 I had no idea that Bell Helicopters had experimented with making a tandem seat gunship, using a modified Bell 47 (H-13 Sioux). And this was as far back as 1963!
First and still considered the most advanced combat helicopter made with its modern upgrades and retrofits . Forget the apache ,the Ah-1 Z cobra is the best . Now with duel , improved efficiency , higher horsepower engines. Hard points that take many air to air ,air to land and air to sea missiles, Rocket pods, various types of auto cannon , usually the 20mm vulkan, it can also use the 30mm bushmaster type autocannon, .50 bmg rotary guns, or a mobile gun pod containing multiple 7.62 nato ,belt fed machine guns or as they show :: mini guns. I actually forgot they have the 40mmgrenade launcher capabilities. It can also drop the gun pod all together and use radar enhancing gear to enhance pilot to pilot awareness. Yes I am a fanboy of the cobra attack helicopter. The apache used to be my favorite until I realized it was a cobra that was enhanced at bottom dollar. " How can we make this faster and more capable in " x " amount of ways for less money than a basic cobra...well it couldn't be done, and the apache A model was born. Actually bettering the performance of the cobra of the day by a significant margin. By the time we get to modern times , the apache has been downgraded so many times it met the original goal , while the cobra kept generally improving . Now there is the serious question of do we ditch the apache for something new or for the cobra or do we bring back the apache A model and upgrade it's electronics suite, engine efficiency , armor and weapons . The A was the first helicopter to be "fly by wire " , closing the canopy off with armor and navigating by night vision and radar alone.( That I know of, please do correct me if I am wrong). The apache is having trouble integrating the new sensor arrays needed for modern air tactics. The Cobra is not( also ,as far as I am aware,and that may have changed) .
Well said, Sir! I have to admit a fondness for the Cobra, I was a Factory mechanic on the UH-1, Ah-1 and the Kiowa Warrior and finished my career on the V-22 Osprey. All good machines!
@@doncollins786 thankyou, I take that as high praise from a person like yourself who has such experience. I'm just putting together information I have come across In documentaries,news clips, military reports and such.
@@doncollins786 The OH-58 Kiowa has changed a lot since my time in the Army. It was a crappy aircraft that couldn't fly in cold weather. And was woefully under powered. It has gotten better.
Do you remember the AH-1 S model. That was a big mistake. They added so much to the nose they had to put counter weights in the tail boom and under the singer cowling . And that all made it so heavy that you had to fly with either 1/2 the fuel or half the weapons/ammo. Every commander had them fly with half fuel. I was in Germany when our Cobra flight crews got the upgraded Cobra and they all hated it. The newer upgrade turn it back in the to war beast it was meant to be.
Spring of 68 I was in Huey crew chief school and we devoted some time to the quite new Cobra so we could work on both. Got to fly front seat one time and shot up a boat. UH! was a flying truck and we could carry anything. Even a borrowed pallet of beer from down in Hue.
Watching these Cobra's, I wonder if they had air conditioning in them during Vietnam? The Huey was open and air easily flowed throughout the cabin. But being enclosed in the Cobra in south east Asia must have been like sitting in an oven.
The earliest deployed Cobras didn’t have any air conditioning. (so for 3 years from 67 to 70, it was probably hell to fly in) 1970 is when they first started installing cockpit AC
Was father was in Vihn Long when they received 4 of them ,the mini gun had two speeds to fire on and the 6 pound gun next to it.He got to fire it while the pilot fired the rockets.
I can't imagine how much time and effort was spent in Bell and elsewhere until finding a suitable, aggressive, exciting sounding name for this helicopter, only for everybody ending up calling her _Snake_ ! 😀
They should have decoupled the copter from a gyro-stabalized gun. The same flaw plagued the Apache 20mm. They should have done like they did on Spooky. Super cool video, though! As is everything from Periscope!
Thanks for the cool comment and for being a sub. Consider taking a deep dive on our submarine of filmic preservation on Patreon, www.Patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm
The original Helo, the HU-1 (Helicopter, Utility-1) Is where the name "Huey" came from The AH-1 Cobra is only known to non-aviators as the "Huey Cobra". There were UH-1 Hueys and there were AH-1 Cobras. Not "Huey Cobras" How can an attack helicopter be a utility helicopter? Periscope Film should have known this.
Ah, so this was pre-TOW? When they were talking about armaments you only had the dumb rockets & miniguns. Which AH-1 model first incorporated anti-tank guided missiles?
The first was the AH-1S in the late '70s. It still had the round canopy, the later ECAS and Modernized Cobra had the squared off flat plate canopy. I was a 68J, Cobra Armament for 20 years.
"Maximum use of Huey components"...but but then the Defense Contractors won't be able to make more money! Must be from a time when government funding wasn't a blank check and there were balanced budgets.
The Marines take all the old discarded equipment other branches are phasing out. Then use it until it becomes fashionable again. Look at their usage of the A-10....
@@thedungeondelver "The Marines don't fly the A10." You're right my bad. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Aviation They're still rocking the T-34 (cool points for a proud plane and history) and F-18s and the Heuy as Bell's UH-1Y Venom
Why doesn't Ukraine have choppers like the Huey or Cobra? I bet they would change the battlefield just because the troops can be moved around much quicker.
I spent some of the best years of my life living, sleeping, and eating with these helicopters.
Thanks for your service to our great nation.
Thanks for the cover!
Riding in one would be exhilarating! Their design and history are also fascinating
Mowing down slants? Yourruthless bruh...
@@toejam7606 calling people "slants" lol. Sounds like something Barnes from Platoon would say
After graduating from Cobra maintenance school in 1969 at Ft. Eustis, VA, I became an instructor in the same school. VERY impressive chopper.
Graduated AH-64 School in 2002 at Eustis. All our senior instructors were Cobra men. Loved hearing about the Apache's big brother.
Went through Ft Eustis to become an aircraft electrician in the summer of 84. I believe we spent 2 weeks on each airframe starting with the Huey. We couldn't wait to get to the Cobra. Went back for the OH-58D (88) and then the AH-64A (91).
Graduated Cobra school at Eustis in March 1971. April 15th I was in the Nam.
REDSKINS Company D (Atk Hel), 158 th Avn. Bn. (Aslt Hel), 101st Abn. Div. (Ambl), Camp Evans
Man in the front seat and in the door.
I experienced these up close when I was on the Reaction Force at Long Binh in Feb of 69. One of them flew right in front of our defensive line bouncing rounds off the road to Vung Tau. What a marvelous aircraft! 4th of July was never impressive after seeing them and Puff work!
How true! After Vietnam, the 4th of July was forever changed in my brain.
My Dad said the same thing, can't imagine seeing one of these or Puff live in person, especially Puff man that thing was mean and destructive from what my old man told me.
Glad you made it out alive! ❤️
@@danny-li6io Me too. Thanks.
My dad CW3 RR Taylor flew these and Hueys on his second Vietnam tour in ’69-‘70. He then got assigned as an acceptance test pilot with Army Materiel Command at the Bell plant in Ft Worth until ‘77. He knew when my elementary school recesses were, and would often come circle the playground while we were out there. I’d yell, “that’s my dad!” and felt like the coolest kid in the school. Will always love the Snake!
The UH-1 and AH-1 were game changers. Bell hit it out of the park. 67 Yankee!
What about Hughes?
@@Minong_Manitou_Mishepeshu The OH-6 Little Bird was a fantastic helicopter. I was a crew chief on the UH-1D/H model and with both M-60 D's mounted and loaded on every flight, for ten years. Every unit I was assigned to had a cobra team. They were hard years but they were the best years .😎
I was 68 golf. Airframe technician. (We did body work to helicopters)
That footage of the Bell 207 blew my mind, i didn't think any of it existed. This video is a treasure.
67Y, enlisted in 74, what a privilege to go on maintenance flights in the front seat, still have the Cobra patch, our favorite saying back then when we bloodied our knuckles or fingers turning wrenches was “ I got snake bit”
This bird still makes my heart go pitter-patter. I got in on the maintenance of these and the UH1 before they were finally phased out of inventory. It was fun going through the systems in my head once again.
Those were the days. Im retired now.
My brother Alberto Gaston was a Cobra Gunship Pilot with the 101st division and served 2 tours in Vietnam. My Hero's.
I was a marine for the Greek army. When I first got into a Huey, I was so impressed, I couldn’t forget the experience for days…
Semper Fi
The internal size is very impressive, 2.7 meters wide !
My Step Father, Major Earnest R Downing US ARMY, flew the Cobra in Vietnam.👍🏼
Have 2k hours in Huey's, such a fantastic airframe and joy to fly! Both models are still going strong!
I can still remember seeing my first Cobra: Fall 1969, Hensel Field, Camp Enari, Plieku, RVN. We believed they could not be shot down. Sadly, this was not the case. Sadly, these types of films do not include the unforgettable growling sound ... Brrrrrup, and the spray of tracers.
As a former Vietnam War pilot the Huey was my favourite to fly, that and the chinook. Just great helicopters that make your job so much easier.
Thanks for your service to our great nation.
@@PeriscopeFilm thank you I appreciate that 🙏
Love the sound of Hueys 🐍🚁
That sound is what makes the A-Team intro what it is. You knew some kick ass was coming! Also Radar knew the sound better than most 😅
@@eastender74 Yeah, but that wasn't a Huey... It is a Bell 47D-1 that has converted to an H-13 and painted in "M*A*S*H"configuration.
And variants are still in service today. Absolutely beautiful death machines. I saw the USMC (unk variant) flying CAS for us one time. Didn't get lucky but boy have you goose bumps watching it hunt. Very cool video. Hats off to all those who flew those in hunter killer teams in 'Nam.
What an outstanding machine to be the world's first purpose-built attack helicopter. And easy on the eyes, too. It's like if the world's first fighter plane had been an F-16, or the Walker Bulldog had been the first tank.
I was a 68J Cobra Armament Tech for 20 years. I so miss working on this aircraft. I later worked on the OH-58D and AH-64 systems. But my first love was the Cobra.
Armament Dawgs!!! Ditto for me. 68J (68X once we got Apaches) from 87-94.
I was 68 golf. Airframe technician. (Bodywork)
@@T.R.R.Jolkien My brother was 68G from 90 - 94
@@craigseaver8062 😎🇺🇸
68J to 68X to 68X3S9. I loved the Cobra, not so much the Apache, and I did like the Kiowa Warrior because it was so basic.
As a 6132 in the Marines, the T and T+ models were my favorite helicopters to work on
It's thing s like this for why Periscope Films is levels above every other channel.
My Uncle Steve was mechanic in Nam. He worked on F4's mostly but did chopper stuff if tuey needed him to pitch in. In 77 he was stationed at Peas AFB in New Hampshire. I went for the weekend to skate the Wizard skate park and visit the base where I stayed in the barracks. I watched Cobra's all day one afternoon. Afyer that I was hooked on em and got the Monogram kit of the day amd built 2 of em. One for Unca Steve that staued with him there until he retired many years later. I think it still sits in his office to this very day.
What a machine...
Looked pretty slick and agile.
This was such an odd design and it was a total homerun to the ground forces in Vietnam. Bell did an amazing job designing & building this and making so many excellent weapons platforms for it. Bell rocked this!
DEADLY EFFECTIVENESS
Papa was a big fan of the Huey.
In 90s when I served in US Army, I had Vietnam vets who found a Vietcong base where cong had put up warnings to never shoot at this aircraft
My Dad was a 361st Escort Pink Panther. Panther 14 flew Tet Offensive and covered Special Forces in Laos and Cambodia
4:00 I had no idea that Bell Helicopters had experimented with making a tandem seat gunship, using a modified Bell 47 (H-13 Sioux).
And this was as far back as 1963!
Damn! This was great to see. I know the Apache is all that and a bag of Cheetos but the Cobra will always be my favorite.
This is an awesome video. Fascinating! Love the Cobras
amazing design, i always love the look of this machine..
You guys are doing great job. Thank you so much!
Thank you ! Please subscribe!
I know the Huey and cobra shared a lot of parts and designs but I didn’t know the cobra was called a Huey cobra
First and still considered the most advanced combat helicopter made with its modern upgrades and retrofits . Forget the apache ,the Ah-1 Z cobra is the best . Now with duel , improved efficiency , higher horsepower engines. Hard points that take many air to air ,air to land and air to sea missiles, Rocket pods, various types of auto cannon , usually the 20mm vulkan, it can also use the 30mm bushmaster type autocannon, .50 bmg rotary guns, or a mobile gun pod containing multiple 7.62 nato ,belt fed machine guns or as they show :: mini guns. I actually forgot they have the 40mmgrenade launcher capabilities. It can also drop the gun pod all together and use radar enhancing gear to enhance pilot to pilot awareness. Yes I am a fanboy of the cobra attack helicopter. The apache used to be my favorite until I realized it was a cobra that was enhanced at bottom dollar. " How can we make this faster and more capable in " x " amount of ways for less money than a basic cobra...well it couldn't be done, and the apache A model was born. Actually bettering the performance of the cobra of the day by a significant margin. By the time we get to modern times , the apache has been downgraded so many times it met the original goal , while the cobra kept generally improving . Now there is the serious question of do we ditch the apache for something new or for the cobra or do we bring back the apache A model and upgrade it's electronics suite, engine efficiency , armor and weapons .
The A was the first helicopter to be "fly by wire " , closing the canopy off with armor and navigating by night vision and radar alone.( That I know of, please do correct me if I am wrong). The apache is having trouble integrating the new sensor arrays needed for modern air tactics. The Cobra is not( also ,as far as I am aware,and that may have changed) .
Well said, Sir! I have to admit a fondness for the Cobra, I was a Factory mechanic on the UH-1, Ah-1 and the Kiowa Warrior and finished my career on the V-22 Osprey. All good machines!
@@doncollins786 thankyou, I take that as high praise from a person like yourself who has such experience. I'm just putting together information I have come across In documentaries,news clips, military reports and such.
@@doncollins786
Little Birds, always punching above their weight class...
@@doncollins786 The OH-58 Kiowa has changed a lot since my time in the Army. It was a crappy aircraft that couldn't fly in cold weather. And was woefully under powered. It has gotten better.
Do you remember the AH-1 S model. That was a big mistake. They added so much to the nose they had to put counter weights in the tail boom and under the singer cowling . And that all made it so heavy that you had to fly with either 1/2 the fuel or half the weapons/ammo. Every commander had them fly with half fuel. I was in Germany when our Cobra flight crews got the upgraded Cobra and they all hated it. The newer upgrade turn it back in the to war beast it was meant to be.
The intro is so much like the kungfu movies of that vintage.
the cobra was very ahead of its time.
I HAVE DREAMED OF FLYING ONE
OF THESE BABIES MY WHOLE LIFE!!
Very Nice - Thanks!
Love that Machine.....
Spring of 68 I was in Huey crew chief school and we devoted some time to the quite new Cobra so we could work on both. Got to fly front seat one time and shot up a boat. UH! was a flying truck and we could carry anything. Even a borrowed pallet of beer from down in Hue.
Went to 67 November school with a rifled cw3 sergeant in the national garden. Had pictures of him doing a loop next to another cobra.
I can hear it now, “alright Mr. Johnson what’s it gonna take to get you into this?”
Seeing as Lady Bird Johnson owned 51% of Bell Helicopter. I don't think.that wouldn't be a question that needed to be asked.😎
Watching these Cobra's, I wonder if they had air conditioning in them during Vietnam? The Huey was open and air easily flowed throughout the cabin. But being enclosed in the Cobra in south east Asia must have been like sitting in an oven.
The earliest deployed Cobras didn’t have any air conditioning. (so for 3 years from 67 to 70, it was probably hell to fly in)
1970 is when they first started installing cockpit AC
@@AdamsBrew78
Thanks for the reply.
I can't imagine roasting in those Cobras and still performing their job.
@@RicArmstrong I’d rather roast in it than be shot at by Soviet AA missiles hidden in the jungle.
Was father was in Vihn Long when they received 4 of them ,the mini gun had two speeds to fire on and the 6 pound gun next to it.He got to fire it while the pilot fired the rockets.
I think this is the one that Wild Bill flew in GI Joe
More videos of cobra please
where are the wax pencil cross hairs the pilot and copilot would draw on the windshield to aim with?
I can't imagine how much time and effort was spent in Bell and elsewhere until finding a suitable, aggressive, exciting sounding name for this helicopter, only for everybody ending up calling her _Snake_ ! 😀
Loved my bird
Thanks for your service to our great nation -- and thanks for being a sub.
Thank you for that. I was a UH-1D/H crew chief I also and loved ever minute of flying in them. Take good care friend.😎
@@roybradley5532 same here both D & H
Great video. Cool helicopter.
They should have decoupled the copter from a gyro-stabalized gun. The same flaw plagued the Apache 20mm. They should have done like they did on Spooky. Super cool video, though! As is everything from Periscope!
Thanks for the cool comment and for being a sub. Consider taking a deep dive on our submarine of filmic preservation on Patreon, www.Patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm
Apache has 30 mm gun
@@shaider1982 Right, my mistake. Accuracy is bad for same reason, though.
@@lawrencetate145 Not really.
Great chopper
Дуже дякую!Glory to US Force!
Worked on Huey helicopters for the Army and did work on one b model and the rest d model.
Now, I want to builld that 1/32nd Revell model kit!!!!!!
The original Helo, the HU-1 (Helicopter, Utility-1) Is where the name "Huey" came from The AH-1 Cobra is only known to non-aviators as the "Huey Cobra". There were UH-1 Hueys and there were AH-1 Cobras. Not "Huey Cobras" How can an attack helicopter be a utility helicopter? Periscope Film should have known this.
(He does not know the Cobra is derived from the Huey)
Strap the Alpha Mike Delta rotor suppression systems on that baby and it becomes a ghost at night.
Хьюин друг и товарищ❤🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸❤🙋♀️🇷🇺
I Had The G.I. Joe Version Piloted By Wild Bill.
"slim fuselage" now that is a slim hlioptr, about as wi as a human WOW< WOW< WOW
how cool! 😀👍
Thank you! Cheers!
It was a 40mm grenade launcher it had. Not a rocket launcher.
My friend Dennis Rogers welded a 50 mm machine in a rear firing position because of constant fire from the rear.
He used to fly 100 miles an hour through the middle of triple canopy
“Snakes!!!”
He said don't do it more than once. Blade replacement was needed.
@ 13:23 when you say one thing but mean another...
I loved my job.
"Virtually unlimited visibility" ...except on your six. LOL
High school friend got sent to Dmz in Korea. 67y
04:04 喜歡
I did not fly the Cobra.
What year was this made ?
Ah, so this was pre-TOW? When they were talking about armaments you only had the dumb rockets & miniguns. Which AH-1 model first incorporated anti-tank guided missiles?
The first was the AH-1S in the late '70s. It still had the round canopy, the later ECAS and Modernized Cobra had the squared off flat plate canopy. I was a 68J, Cobra Armament for 20 years.
Imagine those poor Huey pilots seeing one of these for the first time, as it pulls up and passes you, essentially leaving you in the dust? 😂
2 years from concept to deployment is impossible today.
Pink Teams.
"Maximum use of Huey components"...but but then the Defense Contractors won't be able to make more money! Must be from a time when government funding wasn't a blank check and there were balanced budgets.
The AH-1Z and UH-1Y share an 85% commonality in 2024.
Does the Marine Corps still fly the Cobra or were they considered obsolete and disbanded?
Still flying the AH-1Z variant. My son works on them.
The Marines take all the old discarded equipment other branches are phasing out. Then use it until it becomes fashionable again. Look at their usage of the A-10....
@@ablemagawitch The Marines don't fly the A10.
@@thedungeondelver "The Marines don't fly the A10."
You're right my bad. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Aviation
They're still rocking the T-34 (cool points for a proud plane and history) and F-18s and the Heuy as Bell's UH-1Y Venom
Why doesn't Ukraine have choppers like the Huey or Cobra? I bet they would change the battlefield just because the troops can be moved around much quicker.
Bad Ass
cmon man when do they teach us how to circle strafe? I wanna spin around like a ballerina and turn the area behind E into a hot lead wasteland
C O B R A 🐍
Jesus is the way, the truth, the life.
❤❤❤😂😂🎉🎉😂❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉
SNAKES
Most oldest Film
Sssssssssnakes
68-70 phoniex program Dealing Death
Wasn't McGuyver in the Phoenix Program?
pheonix foundation
@@matkremzar5474
Lol, yep. Thanks.
Thank you guys for setting the record straight on one of my videos. No disrespect, and that video has been removed. Thank k you! 🦾❤️