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.
__________________
Tom
|