Com-Central.net

and from Baughers site, here is your baby:

67-15450/15869 Bell AH-1G-BF Cobra
c/n 20114/20533
15471,15498,15499,15623,15661 built as
TH-1G (all except 15623 redesignated
AH-1S)
15462,15505,15513,15537,15567,15570,15595,
15599,15627,15684,85759,15809,15824
converted to TAH-1F. All redesignated
AH-1F. 15681 to JAH-1G.

Doug,
Joe Baughers site has helped me immensely in the past. I made it a favorite on Neils computer as well as this wonderful site. I will keep you informed as to this helo's fate, hopefully I'll know tomorrow what the chances are of the museum getting this bird. SGT Bilyeu contacted me this morning about flying next week in an OH-58 Kiowa. If all goes well, I'll have some awesome pictures to post real soon from that flight. I wish you could go, it'd be a hoot, (and a great view!).

- Doug_Kibbey

I believe that will turn to be a post-war modded airframe...that canopy was not seen in Vietnam...nor the gun that was mostly missing from this aircraft.

Doug

Hi Folks!

That canopy is a few years passed Vietnam. In fact that shape came about because of ME! And a hole bunch of other troopers in my unit, along with an aviation company in the our command (CDEC = Combat Development Experimentation Command) and some artillery FOs out of Ft. Sill.

I was stationed at Hunter Liggett MR after my last tour in Vietnam in a unit that conducted tests on different equipment, weapons, tactics and other things.

During one of the test, the Army wanted to see if a FO with a moving armored colume could spot a Cobra with a FO in the front of it. Which one could call for fire, adjust fire, and hit the other one first.

About half the time, the Cobra FO would get the AFV colume first. It was learned that the troops on the AFVs (M-60 tanks and M-113 APCs) could spot sunlight relfecting of the round, Vietnam era, type canopies and our FO could call for support artillery fire fast enough to take out the Cobra more often that the test director though he would be able to.

During one weekend of down time, Bell Helicopter installed a flat panel type canopy on one of the Cobras. The number of times the AFV crews spotted that chopper went down to almost 0.

Sometime after that, the Army and the Marines started installing that flat panel type canopy on all the Cobras. The aviation company ever tested a OH-58 with a flat panel type canopy, but I don't ever remember seeing it after that test.

So in a VERY SMALL WAY, I am responsible for the type of canopy on the Cobras.

Some of my very old history.
Sgt, Scouts Out!

Hey..... So that is the ...'LINGLE CANOPY !!"?

Don

- Dontos

Hey..... So that is the ...'LINGLE CANOPY !!"?

Don

Hi Don!

With follow up post like yours, I am going to get a swelled head!

I would say if it was going to have a name, it should be either CDEC or maybe the Hunter Liggett canopy. The army found something that they did not know could be a problem for Cobra crews.

Sgt, Scouts Out!

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These pictures were taken this morning. The museum director, Neil Morrison (in white sweater) and I went to the airfield and met with the crew chiefs and CWO4 McCutcheon to see about getting this Cobra into the museums collection. They had no problem with getting rid of the bird. Now the posts chief of staff and Neil have to transfer it over to the posts books after a little further investigating, but it looks promising. The pictures are of the outside being inspected, the pilots cockpit, and two of the gunners cockpit. The crew chiefs even opened up the ammo storage areas and they were complete with bins and chutes. Obviously many gauges are missing, but the only real noticable items missing are the barrels for the chain gun (easy mock-up can be done) and one of the tail rotor blades appears to be missing, (one was in the pilots cockpit). Neil was very happy with the discovery and thanked me repeatedly for telling him about it. Now, if Doug had never visited, I would never have gone to the airfield, the bird would still be sitting there awaiting god only knows what fate. So actually it was Doug's visit that caused the bird to be found. Maybe it will be named the "Kibbey Cobra", has a nice ring to it. May even rival the M114 Lingle APC! haha
With the canopy open I was able to take better pictures of the inside. I've never seen a sight unit like that. The crew chiefs said it was still hooked up and could be operational, therefore, it may have to be removed. No matter what happens, its better than becoming a target at the NTC, Edwards AFB, or China Lake!

Notice that the "gunners" auxiliary controls have been removed..and it appears to have once been fitted with a regular joystick, which is now missing (as you'd find on a TAH-1F). Furthermore, it seems the pilot's joystick handle has been sawed off and removed....very likely a souvenir on someone's desk or "I love me" wall....(maybe the same fate for the gunner's "armrest" joystick...or the between-the-legs one as well).
This may have been a Cobra flight trainer, that was reverted to being a gunnery-rigged bird...or maybe it was just stripped for these goodies...late one night.

Kinda' makes you wonder about the gun, huh?

The "Kibbey Cobra"....you mean as in old, decrepit, and without all of it's original parts?

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Doug, Doug, Doug, how wrong you are. Cobras are fast, heavily armed, highly manuverable, and proved itself a powerful combatant throughout the war, much like your self! When looking at the bird from the side, yes, it looks a little "portly", but looking head on you see the sleek, menecing, "I mean business" looks of a killer. Now thats a "Kibbey Cobra" (KC for short) if I ever heard the definition. Everything looses parts and fades with age, but with age comes wisdom, stealth and cunning. Yes, "Kibbey Cobra" is quite fitting.
I imagine "our" Cobra to look like this one someday, once the TOW launchers are re-attched and rocket pods installed.

Sleek? I'll give you "sleek"...here is one of my Sqdn's in Vietnam...either an "A" or "B" troop bird...can't really tell without seeing the tail. I still think VN Cobras are the best looking...curvy lines in the body around the engine and the canopy (even if it "glinted").

Has anyone seen or know about the sight unit in this Cobra for the gunner? I haven't been able to find any pictures of it on line anywhere. I would like to know for the birds history/write up I will be doing.

- SFC_Jeff_Button

Has anyone seen or know about the sight unit in this Cobra for the gunner? I haven't been able to find any pictures of it on line anywhere. I would like to know for the birds history/write up I will be doing.

Jeff,
I think that is what is known as a TSU (Tow Sight Unit), but let me do some more research and get back to you...

Yes...or "Telescopic Sight Unit". You can see it here. If you want more info, just "Google" for AH-1F and TSU.
Good website here:
incolor.inebraska.com/...n/ah1f.htm

www.aircav.com/cobra/systems.html

and everything you want to know about the "foxtrot":

www.aeronautics.ru/new...air014.htm

Also, I can now deduce that if this ever was a "flight trainer" for the AH-1F (a TAH-1F) the center joystick was removed and this aircraft was brought back to AH-1F standards because that thing on the floor is the pedal adjuster.

...and again. Just Google for "Telescopic sight unit"

And Doug comes through yet again... The only thing I notice that was different about the sight, was that the eye pieces are flip-flopped from what they are in the Cobra here. I will bet that the eye piece on the left, in the picture you posted, can rotate, so that the gunner can use what ever dominate eye he has comfortably. Or even just flip it over to give an eye a rest for a while. I didn't touch the site unit or anything else, (except for the rear rotar blade in the pilots cockpit). I wish I could be here to see this Bird go thru restoration and eventual display. To me, it will always be the "Kibbey Cobra", with a capital K of course!