Restoration
Where the story begins (beginning of 2018):
Since our childhood we have been fascinated by helicopters and the Vietnam war. We had owned a helmet or two but never really thought of anything bigger, certainly not an original Bell helicopter...
Whilst browsing the net we found a huey UH-1 fuselage in Germany. It was located in a workshop where computer gaming simulators were made. This fuselage was ment to be cut in to pieces. The cockpit would be the simulator platform. We found it and were able to buy it just in time and, by doing so, saved it from 'destruction'. We now owned our very own helicopter! The old and dirty fuselage was in a terrible state. It was missing all of its internals, had no seats or panels and had holes everywhere. Our plan was to restore an entire Huey helicopter so a tailboom and some loose parts were also purchased.
Let's move out! (april 2018)
An 'expedition' was planned and put together. 2 teams would depart their hometown and take a big cart with them. The first team would transport the fuselage, the other team took the tailboom. Our destination was near a small airfield near Cologne. The drive home (to West-Flanders, Belgium) would take about 4-5 hours. Traffic was a nightmare but seeing the people's faces cheer up as we passed by made up for it.
And so the restoration begins... (april-may 2018)
What was first a wreck was slowly starting to turn into something really beautiful. This aircraft was a very well thought out piece of Americana. A list was made up of all the missing parts (and there were a lot of them!) and the primary stages of our work began. Sanding down old paint, stripping off old rubbers, taking apart pretty much everything, looking for new seats and doors, patching up holes and fixing/replacing what was broken. lifting the floor panels, removing old wires and bolts...
The task seemed huge, but we took it one small step at a time.
The tailboom
On a rainy day, we decided to attach the tail to the body. It was really impressive to see how large this thing had become.
With the use of lifting equipment we were able to lift and lock everything in place. We were soaking wet but really happy.
We were amazed at how these little bolts could hold up an entire tailboom. Another evidence of great American engineering!
It's actually starting to look like a helicopter! (june 2018)
Once all parts we had (and could afford on our small budget) were fitted and tested, it was time to paint this beast. On a sunny day our team got together and started work. Some of us started preparing the paint, others covered up the windows and taped off what wasn't supposed to be painted. Some quick last minor changes and fixes were done and we were ready to paint. We chose the standard US olive green paint used in the vietnam war, to get as close as possible to the 'real' thing. Because of our good teamwork and rapid progress we painted it all in one long day. The huey looks beautiful!
When everything was dry we painted the inside. We chose the original light grey colors to paint the floor, walls and ceiling.
The contrast between the olive drab and light grey was amazing.
Detailing the paintjob (june 2018)
Now that all the external paint was put on, it was time to start finishing the inside. Yellow caution lines were needed on the doors and handles, the cargo bay doors were refurbished and the central control panels were painted as needed. The rooftop got its anti-slip paint and the nose was painted in black, as were a lot of huey's in Vietnam. The main rotor blades got their first layer of paint too. On both sides the US army letters were painted on and several other details got finished. We decided not to fix the dents and tears that were present in the fuselage. This thing has a long history and wears the scars with pride!
What makes this huey so unique?
As previously mentioned, we found this UH-1 In Germany. It had flown for the German army and carried a german identification number. As is generally well known, the Germans produced their own variation of the huey called the UH-1D.
'D' does not stand for the model D (as is the case for US models) but for Dornier, the German factory who build these. At first we believed to have one of these.
During the restoration project the fuselage was taken apart and was very well studied. A lot of panels were filled with a honeycomb structure (typical for US productions) Also only 1 part was found to be carrying a Dornier stamp. All other items were clearly marked US and carried US serial numbers. German Dorniers have all german markings on their components and do not have any honeycomb structures.
During the sanding down of the layers of paint we found many remains of vietnam-era OD paint under the German paint. A kind of paint the Germans do not use.
All the screws and holes in the airframe are for US Witworth screws. Not a single European screw could be used.
The Dornier airframes have metric holes and screws.
Upon very close inspection we found several components of the airframe to carry the same german ID number that could be traced back to the American production number. 64-13881 Bell UH-1D Iroquois / cn 4588
So our helicopter cabin was produced in 1964 in America by Bell helicopters. We are not completly sure it has served in Vietnam, but the presence of a bullethole in the fuselage possibly points us in that direction. We also know that the US withdrew many hueys from Vietnam in '73-'74 and sold dozens of to the germans and other nations. 1974 is apparently also the year the 64-13881 changed to a German ID number.
There are several Hueys in Europe, most of them still in flyable condition and still in use with army, fire departments and law enforcment units to this day but none of them has the minimalistic Vietnam 'in country' paintsheme and none of them was produced in the beginning years of the vietnam war. Also we are the only re-enactment group that uses a huey and can show the public what an aviation batallion did throughout the war.
