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118th Assault Helicopter Company |
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Gunship Platoon "Bandits" |
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| click on helicopter illustrations to see larger images, then click "back arrow" to return to this page | ||||||||||||
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1964 - UH-1B "Bandit 1" In September 1963
the 118th received new UH-1B Hueys. The Bandits gunship platoon modified
their ships with rocket and gun combinations. "Bandit 1", illustrated here,
had an XM157 rocket launcher system and dual M16 machine gun subsystem.
Early 118th gunships sported "high visibility" color insignia and markings. The 118th Thunderbird logo was painted on the rear cabin wall behind the cargo door. The Thunderbird logo was also painted on the upper nose. Bandit aircraft had the ship number painted in yellow on the nose logo. The Bandit unit logo was painted on the pilots' doors. The Bandits sported a large horizontal yellow stripe across the lower tail, with the ship number in black painted over the yellow band. The rocket pods were painted white or light grey. |
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| 1965 - UH-1B "Bandit 1" This is the same aircraft pictured above. In 1965 the high visibility markings have been removed. The rocket pods have been painted OD. The tail number is in black above the yellow tail stripe. | ||||||||||||
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| 1965-66 - UH-1B "Bandit 3" "Bandit 3" was a B model modified to a "Frog" configuration. A 40mm grenade launcher turret was added to the nose. It had XM-3 rocket launchers mounted on each side of the cabin. The ship markings are subdued. The 118th Thunderbird logo began to disappear from the rear cabin walls of gunship platoon aircraft around this time. The ship has an unusual roof stripe color combination. Colors on old photos can be deceiving, but several photos of this ship suggest that the roof stripes were red and yellow. The 118th used a red-white color combination for a period, so the yellow appearing stripe may actually have been white. | ||||||||||||
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| 1966 - UH-1B "Bandit 2" "Bandit 2" was another B model "Frog". The Bandit door logo has been moved from the pilots' doors and placed on the rocket launcher frame. The tactical insignia of the 145th Aviation Battalion has been placed on the tail boom. The broad yellow tail stripe has been removed, and the ship number is now painted in yellow on an OD background. The ship number has also been added on the frame post just behind the pilot's door. 118th aircraft now have a single orange roof stripe. | ||||||||||||
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| 1970 - UH-1C "Bandit 6" "Bandit 6" in 1970. The roof stripes are gone. The Bandit unit logo sometimes appears on rocket launcher pod areas, but is often not seen on the ships anymore. As with 118th slicks, the doors have been removed from the gunships. The outer edge of the tailplanes have been painted orange. | ||||||||||||
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