Recent content by cavpilot

Was in the USAF ‘63-‘67, then Army ‘68-‘71 (active). In AF basic we were trained on the M-1 carbine - and the Air Force had been looking to upgrade that for some time. We were introduced to the Armalite in ‘64 - it had phenomenal ballistic performance, was lightweight, accurate and easy to...

Was a 1st Cav Pilot in Nam. After flight school (69-1) I was sent to AMOC (aircraft maintenance officer course). While there we were told by instructors that the OH6 was to be replaced by the 58, even though it is nowhere close to the combat capability of the Loach, and this was because Hughes...

I did a hitch in the Air Force ‘63-‘67, was in aircraft maintenance (instrument man), and worked on almost everything. My last duty station was Nellis AFB a couple of miles outside Las Vegas (and now basically a suburb in Vegas!). This was where 105 pilots were trained. F-4 and F-100 training...

I was a helicopter pilot with the First Cav in Nam 69-70. After flight school - and before going to Nam - I was assigned to the Aircraft Maintenance Officer Course (aka AMOC). We were shown a video of the Apache during its flight demo for the Army. All of us pilots were practically drooling...

Was a helicopter pilot with the 1st Cav in the Nam. We knew the M79s as “Chunkers” - because of the sound made when fired: chunk We pilots would sometimes have one with us when flying, and one of my buddies actually blew up an NVA sampan - got several secondary explosions with the one shot he...