I was privileged, as a member of the press, to get a 20 minute ride on the Huey Helicopter at the Dayton Airshow. The rides were provided by “The Sky Soldiers”, a demonstration, all volunteer team composed of former military aviators some of whom flew the original Hueys in Vietnam. Today’s Hueys were fully refurbished with brand new engines, all of the bullet holes were patched up and seats added for comfort. The original Vietnam versions were “bare bones” with the military personnel having to hold on for dear lives by little hooks on the floor and no seats or seatbelts. The sound of the rotating blades spinning at 324 revolutions per minute still made that familiar sound of the Vietnam war footage sound. Here is a video of a Huey ride along with other helicopter demonstrations with one of the Sky Solders’ pilots. Here is the Huey on which I flew and other images from the show.
Click on the image below to see other images.
.jpg "Dayton Airshow - 2008")
