Door Gunner
 

What side does the door gunner sit on a huey?


Ron

I think it's the leftt side but on one site I looked on stated"The Greyhound slicks were not unarmed. A M-60 machine gun was mounted on a post in the passenger compartment door on each side of the aircraft." from 240th AHC website

Good question Ron. I think I mostly jumped off the left side and we ran out to form a perimeter and I think there was a gunner there. but I think I also ran into the right side and there was a gunner there , I think. Where is Andy ?

When I was with the 101st it was still just the 1st Bde. We didn't have an aviation group. We were usually supported by AHCs [Attack Helicoptor Companys]. During my year there were a few different ones. While we were at Kontum I think it was the 129th AHC. I could be wrong, though. When we were on the coast [Tuy Hoa, Phan Thiet, and Duc Pho] it was the 174th or 176th AHC. They had shark's teeth on their noses. The gunships, anyway. The slicks were called Dolphins.

The slicks had no door gunners. That's why they were called slicks. They were used as troop carriers and supply choppers. Usually the dust-off, or med-evac, choppers were slicks also. The gunships were the ones with the door guns. It was usually one on each side. They were M-60s suspended by bungy cords. This was so they had the maximum field of fire. They could be pointed at about every angle. I bet a few of them were shot in their own skids. I remember seeing some mounted on some kind of bracket and post on the outside of the chopper, though. The 60s weren't exactly like the one's we used on the ground. Instead of a shoulder stock and a pistol grip trigger guard, they had hand grips on the end like a .50 cal. If there was only one, it seems to me it was usually on the right side. If we did a CA in a chopper with a gunner, it was one. I've done CAs on slicks, though.

One of my jobs in the Corps as a Avation Ordanance Man was as a door gunner when stationed with Helo Squd's we were on the right side behind the Pilot he sits in the right seat in the helo at least in the Corps anyway.

My uncle wasa door gunnerin the 48th and129th AHC...just made me think of him, thanks :)

Although not in Aviation, it is my belief that the "door gunner" was on the right side of Cav Slicks, and the Crew Chief was on the left. Damn, where's a Helo Pilot or Andy when you need them.

Pack

When the 101st changed from an all paratrooper division to an airmobile division, what is now called Air Assault; the 101st got its own air assets. I remember M-60?s on both sides of the slicks. I have pictures that I?ll scan later and post that shows this.

Ron
 

Frisco,
Different times, different units, different usage. 187th AHC and the rest of 25th division had door gunners on slicks so as to protect the legs as they hit the ground, also to shoot their way into and out of an LZ.
On ?ash and trash? missions to a safe areas, on occasion, no door gunner or even crew chiefs were used. However our CO really frowned on that because you never knew when grunts would call saying they had WIA?s. If you were close, you?d take the call. If the pilot had to fly into an AO were folks were shooting, he wanted his own gunmen.

The crew chief was on the drivers side. That?s were the fuel tank was located and refueling was part of his job description. OK, the fuel tank covered a good portion of the butt end, but the JP-4 gas cap was on the Crew Chief?s side. The door gunner was on the passengers side. There was a post upon which an aviation M-60 was mounted (they Gerry rigged our 60s so the trigger was similar to a 50, except you pulled, not pushed to fire). However, on occasion you?d find a 60 that was attached to the ceiling by a rope and the gunner didn?t use a seat belt, rather he used ?monkey straps?. In this way the guy could lean out and fire directly under the bird or fire further to the front and rear.

Ron, I?m sure there were a lot of units that did things differently but the short answer to your question is Door Gunners were always behind the co-pilot.

Stay healthy,
Andy

This pic and the one to follow I scanned from my 101st Airborne Division ?Rendezvous With Destiny? magazine, Spring 1969 issue. As you can see, the slicks have two M-60?s

http://pictureposter.allbrand.nu/pic...ics/slicks.jpg