Some helicopters are around so long you never expect them to go away, but the United States Marine Corps is finally preparing to retire the Bell UH-1N Huey. First to relinquish the UH-1N are the Marine light attack helicopter (HMLA) squadrons based at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, Calif. Some aircraft will go to the U.S. Air Force aircraft “boneyard” near Tucson, Ariz., while a number will be transferred to East Coast Marine HMLA squadrons to supplement their fleets.

To mark this historic event, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Training Squadron 303 (HMLAT-303), the USMC’s only Bell AH-1 and UH-1 training squadron, hosted a West Coast retirement ceremony for the UH-1N on March 18, 2011. As part of the ceremony, HMLAT-303 performed a flyover of 11 UH-1Ns tocelebrate the “November” model’s 40 years of service with the Marine Corps.

The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
The relationship between the Marine Corps and the Huey began in 1964 and saw the Marines’ eventual procurement of 192 single-engine Bell UH-1Es. These aircraft served during the war in Vietnam and in many deployments around the world in the years following. The “Echo” models of the Huey were used for observation, medevac and general utility, and as a gunship. This airframe flew with the USMC until the early 1980s.

Due to its amphibious mission, the USMC knew it needed a twin-engine helicopter with more lift capacity for redundancy and over-water safety. When Bell announced the twin-engine Bell 212, the Marine Corps decided to order the military version, the UH-1N. Powered by the “coupled” Pratt & Whitney T400-CP-400 Twin-Pac engine (the military version of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-3), which was capable of producing 1,800 shaft horsepower but was transmission-limited, the November model of the Huey would be delivered with an equipped weight of around 6,000 pounds and a gross weight of 10,500 pounds.

The first UH-1Ns were delivered in April 1971 and since then have served in virtually every U.S. military action that has involved the Marine Corps. The UH-1N participated in Grenada, Desert Storm, the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and in many lesser-known military actions. The helicopters have operated with amphibious Marine expeditionary units as a support and light attack aircraft and at land-based USMC forward operating bases around the world. They have been operated in hot, miserable weather; cold, miserable weather; and everywhere in between. The UH-1N was – and will be until its final flight – a Marine Corps workhorse.

Middle-Age Spread
Even though it started out relatively svelte, the UH-1N gained weight over its lifetime – a lot of weight. Additional fuel capacity, a forward-looking infrared imaging turret and a large assortment of self-protection equipment brought the basic empty weight to over 8,000 pounds. Even as this lowered the helicopter’s payload capacity, more was asked of it over the years.
By the mid-1980s, a more capable machine was required. While it took a bit longer than expected, in the mid-1990s the specification of the UH-1Y was presented to the Marine Corps and full-scale development began soon after. After a protracted development process, the first two production UH-1Ys were delivered to the Marine Corps during early 2008.

Since that time, the West Coast HMLA community has been converting its squadrons from the UH-1N to the much more capable UH-1Y Venom. Seemingly the ultimate evolution of the Huey airframe, the “Yankee” model is powered by two General Electric T700-GE-401C engines (each of which produces 1,659 shaft horsepower at maximum continuous power, but are transmission limited at sea level) and can carry twice the payload. The UH-1Y will fly the same gunship light attack, troop transport, observation and general utility missions as the UH-1N, but will expand upon them because of its huge increase in performance and payload (see p.50, Vertical 911, ALEA 2010).

Saying Goodbye
As of March 2011, only 11 UH-1Ns were still operating at Camp Pendleton: four with HMLA-469 and seven with HMLAT-303. With these West Coast aircraft scheduled to move on to retirement or service on the East Coast once the last class of UH-1N crew chiefs finished training at the end of April, Lt.-Col. Brian Kennedy, commanding officer of HMLAT-303, decided it was important to recognize the end of the UH-1N’s service.

Accordingly, the squadron started arranging a West Coast retirement ceremony to celebrate the lineage, heritage and history of the venerable November model. One of the challenges was getting enough flight crews together to do the planned flyover, as many of them had already been transferred to service the East Coast UH-1Ns, but eventually the squadron did find enough.
Previous UH-1N pilots, officers, crews and family members affiliated with HMLAT-303 and Marine Observation Squadron 6 (VMO-6) were invited to the ceremony. One of the UH-1Ns even was specially re-painted in all-field-green, Vietnam-era colors with VMO-6 markings.

On display at the event was a beautifully restored UH-1B flown in from the Wings & Rotors Air Museum, which is located at French Valley Airport in Murrieta, Calif. This significant 1960s-era helicopter operated in Vietnam with HAL-3, a U.S. Navy helicopter attack (light) squadron. The UH-1B was quite a hit, and gave many HMLAT-303 pilots and maintainers a chance to examine one the earliest examples of the Huey series.

Also on display was an AH-1W Super Cobra, an AH-1Z Viper (the model that will replace the Super Cobra) and a brand-new UH-1Y Venom. Among the equipment available for guests to examine were different weapons used by HMLA squadrons, including the M240G 7.62-mm machine gun, GAU-17 7.62-mm Minigun and the M2 .50-caliber machine gun, plus the different rockets carried by the aircraft. The personal gear used by the pilots and crews featured items such as Cobra targeting helmets and night vision goggles.

On the day of the ceremony, the 11 UH-1N Hueys launched for a formation flight to San Diego, Calif., with a return flight 45 minutes later back to Camp Pendleton. It was an impressive sight and very reminiscent of the historical footage or movies most of us have probably seen.

After the helicopters were secured, a short ceremony took place in HMLAT-303’s hangar. First to speak was HMLAT-303’s commanding officer Kennedy, who discussed the lineage and legacy of the UH-1N, and the future of operating the UH-1Y. Col. Thomas Weidley, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 39, then proceeded to thank HMLAT-303 for its hard work and efficiency in training UH-1N crews. Finally, Maj.-Gen. Thomas Conant, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, commented on what it was like to fly the UH-1N and discussed its history with the Marine Corps. He then thanked HMLAT-303, as well, for providing highly trained crews to the HMLA squadrons.

While it is always sad to see a successful aircraft retire, the UH-1N lived a very long and useful life. Plus, many of the airframes will live on in the hands of domestic agencies (such as city and county police departments) and various allied foreign countries. For the Marine Corps, however, the future for its crews lies in the ultimate Huey: the UH-1Y Venom.