February 2020 Visit to Pacific Air Museum (2)

Second blog in a series of three of a February 2020 visit to Pacific Air Museum. Outside of the exhibition halls and hangers, the good stuff has been staged for clean up and eventual display. These particular aircraft are of interest. Either I had worked on a similar type of aircraft, had served in a unit of these particular type of aircraft or the aircraft has unique tail art.

This is a Bell AH-1G. Presumably an obsolete US Army bird. Not quite the AH-1J and AH-1W (both also now obsolete) that I have history with. The Shark mouth paint nose art is very cool. Many squadrons who can put this kind of nose art on an aircraft, well, it can be a unique and motivating signature item.

I found the many of the latches and crew access handles functional. Brought back 1990's memories of working on 'J' Model Cobra's. The gun in the nose was not quite the 20mm used to seeing, more like a 7.62 mini gun (GAU) of some sort. Heck, it would get the job done.

The story on this, Sikorsky S-58, UH-34. No personal history on this. Quite a unique aircraft. This model would have had a radial piston engine. Wait, a "radial engine", that's right. And steel rotor and tail blades.

Other than seeing these as a youngster flying around, there is no personal history. Thinking back many years and watching YouTube videos of a S-58, hearing a piston engine powering a helicopter is strange. No offense is intended to people fond of this aircraft. It is way cool. 

Let's not forget the CH-46. Serving in a CH-46 squadron and being in Marine Aviation for many years, in the 1980's, 1990's, 2000's. CH-46 was a big part of everyday lift. As a youngster, from time to time, it would be quite a treat to see one of these, obviously "in flight". It was way different than the UH-34 above.

One of the main things that made this different than the UH-34 would have been the sound. Jet turbine's and not a rotary piston engine. And the obvious it looks different. Very mentally stimulating for a small kid to see one of these and be puzzled of fore and aft rotor blades.

And this SH-60 wins the cool tail art contest. The Hawaiian Warrior with his spear projected going down the leading edge of the tail, the islands painted on the tail boom and geometric ribbon art wrapping. The colors are so unique and are fitting to the vibe. 

SH-60's are still in the production line. Only now with more power, performance and overall lethality or in humanitarian roles. No personal history with the SH-60. So we do have 3 helicopters here, all by Sikorsky. The top is a classic Bell.

Editors note: Since February 2020, it is certain that each of these have been cleaned up and might be in one of the hangers for protection from the elements. The cell phone camera may have been in wide angle mode. This blog does not do ample justice for each of these planes. See the Pacific Air Museum for a much better online experience.