UH-1 Restoration at the Cold War Air Museum, Engine and Transmission Removed

Work on the UH-1 being restored at the Cold War Air Museum required removing the transmission and engine so that various components and compartments could be cleaned and checked.

Removing the transmission should have been fairly straightforward, disconnect and unbolt everything, then lift it out. Some persuasion was required however, because forty years of sitting in place made it reluctant to move at first. Fortunately, we only had to use "American" persuasion, not "Russian" persuasion. No big hammers were required.

After the transmission came out, it was re-mated with the mast assembly. The mast head had been removed for transport. This delivery team at least understood the concept of bridge clearance.

Old fluids were drained and inspected, and new fluids were added and circulated. The old sight glasses at first seemed unusable, but after a good cleaning they again deserved their name.

Re-mated, the transmission and mast form a sealed system preventing inadvertent contamination. A temporary mount holds the system upright and allows it to be moved around while work proceeds.

The engine came out more readily. So far, everything that is supposed to rotate does, but bore scoping and more component inspections are on the schedule.

With the engine and transmission out and the compartments clear, teams can tackle each project independently, calling upon each other for further support as necessary.

A UH-1 from the 56th Transportation Company

The UH-1, serial number 62-1890, being restored at the Cold War Air Museum is the subject of ongoing historical research. We know from military records that she was deployed to Vietnam with the 56th Transportation company in 1966.

Military and FAA records further reflect that the aircraft was returned to the U.S and served with various units before being released to the National Guard and thereafter to the Washington National Forestry Service, where she gained her "N" number, 333WN.

We are appreciative of the various web sites and veterans groups who have attempted to preserve their unit and aircraft histories. It may be possible that the picture below is of our ship, or one like ours, "in country". We are hoping to hear from everyone who has a story or pictures to share from 62-1890's past.

Pete, one of our associates, contacted Major Gerald Royals (Ret.), a former commander of the 56th, who shared some recollections of 62-1890. A picture of Maj. Royal "in his younger days" and several photos from unit operations are on the 56th's page at the Fly-Army-Air website. Our thanks to Major Royal for his information and the picture and information found on his web page.

The 56th was a helicopter recovery company, call sign "Good Nature". Recovering damaged helicopters from the field and repairing them accounted for keeping more than 10% of the airborne unit's flying. An early motto used by the unit was "You Crash and Call - We Dash and Haul". Inspection of the pictures on the website shows three generations of nose art. The final insignia adopted by the unit, is seen on the nose of the UH shown beside the Major and matches the unit patch shown below.

"Find'm, Fix'M, Fly'M" certainly fits the history of the Cold War Air Museum as well.

Antihelicopter mines saw their first use during the Vietnam war. Improvised explosive devices were placed in likely landing areas with the intention of destroying arriving aircraft. From what we have learned to date, one such device went off underneath 62-1890 while she was attempting to recover another helicopter downed in a previous landing. Although the belly of the ship was heavily damaged, she was flown back to base where further inspection scheduled her for extensive repair.

Flown to the USNS Corpus Christi Bay, a floating repair depot, she was eventually returned to the U.S. for overhaul.

We hope to hear more about this worthy aircraft and her extensive history. Please contact us with updates that we can share as her restoration continues.

Feature Associate, Johnny Stevenson

We are fortunate at the Cold War Air Museum to have a fine group of associates and volunteers. Johnny Stevenson is a great asset to the museum and we are fortunate to have him on board!

An Army veteran with 21+ years of regular service, Johnny first started working on UH-1's in 1980.

Johnny's can-do attitude is infectious. He works hard and everybody around him just naturally works hard as well.

With A&P, IA and Helicopter Pilot ratings and over thirty years of helicopter experience, Johnny is definately helping us get our projects off the ground!

"Operation Baby Huey", delivering a UH-1 at the Cold War Air Museum

A new arrival joined the Cold War Air Museum as dawn broke today.

Most of the aircraft at the museum are owned or sponsored by individuals. Respecting their privacy and the privacy of ongoing negotiations for aircraft acquisition has given rise to some coded conversations. Such as, "do we know when the baby is due yet?". Accordingly, the acquisition of the UH-1, more widely known as the "Huey", inevitably gained the moniker above.

With so many projects ongoing, space was temporarily cleared beside Mi-2, Bord 213 for the delivery of the newest member of the Cold War Air Museum family.

As the morning progressed, help arrived from just down the road. In addition to being one of the leading aircraft recovery companies in the country, Air Salvage of Dallas is owned and staffed by guys that are genuinely knowledgeable and great to work with. As a source for aircraft parts and information, they can't be beat.

After a successful offloading, John, shown here with Museum President Bruce Stringfellow, heads back to Alabama. John not only worked with the acquisition team to make this happen, he drove through the night in order to meet the delivery schedule. One of the side benefits of working with the museum is meeting a continuous stream of interesting people.

After offloading, the Huey is bedded down for now beside one of our Mi-2s. Over the next few weeks, this acquisition will be carefully inspected and decisions will be made about how to proceed with the restoration.

A proud delivery crew poses beside the aircraft. Pete has extensively researched the history of this aircraft and we will have more posts in the future about the aircraft's history and its restoration.

One thing about this panel, we're not going to have any problem with space for radios. Even in its present condition, the cockpit is an opportunity for some of our associates to sit and reminisce.

Presented with a ceremonial role of 100mph tape, Johnny officially christens the project, "Can-do".

Generations

Jay is an associate of the Cold War Air Museum and one of two father-son pilot teams in the extended group.

He favors the CJ when he is in town (which lately isn't often). Currently in St. Petersburg, Russia, Jay is an ardent student of history, languages and economics. On his return to Washington, D.C. where he works and studies, he will be receiving a Masters Degree from George Washington University. His undergrad degree was from Michigan (Go Blue!).

With his love for history, Jay gathers contacts and pictures during his travels. This picture from Vietnam shows a montage of aircraft from that conflict on outdoor display. As time moves on and younger generations take over from the older generations, museums such as ours or even unattended outdoor displays like this one are a meeting point for the past and the future.