Quoted:
I don't understand why the U.S. doesn't have a version of it in our arsenal. It's the A-10 of rotary winged aircraft, but it can also put troops on the ground. The Russian have several weapons I think that we should have a version of the 12.7mm Kord, the RPG (the LAW doesn't really cut-it), 9K-22 Tunguska, SA-15, Platforma-M, etc.... We rely to heavily on Drones.

Quoted:
... 15 years ago or so, someone flew a Hind into the facility I worked at. They let engineers crawl all over it. I remember it being a bucket of bolts compared to the AH-64D we were developing

Quoted:
There are, I think, 6 in private ownership in the US.  One lives at either Spinx or Meacham airport here in Fort Worth, and is usually flown to Alliance for static display in the yearly airshow.  A coworker of mine knows the owner and has flown it several times.  He's said it's very.... Russian: instruments on the floor that you walk over to get into the seats, for instance.

Quoted:
If it's good enough for Skippy, it's good enough for me.

Quoted:
There are, I think, 6 in private ownership in the US.  One lives at either Spinx or Meacham airport here in Fort Worth, and is usually flown to Alliance for static display in the yearly airshow.  A coworker of mine knows the owner and has flown it several times.  He's said it's very.... Russian: instruments on the floor that you walk over to get into the seats, for instance.

Quoted:
I don't understand why the U.S. doesn't have a version of it in our arsenal. It's the A-10 of rotary winged aircraft, but it can also put troops on the ground. The Russian have several weapons I think that we should have a version of the 12.7mm Kord, the RPG (the LAW doesn't really cut-it), 9K-22 Tunguska, SA-15, Platforma-M, etc.... We rely to heavily on Drones.

Quoted:
If it's good enough for Skippy, it's good enough for me.

Quoted:
I don't understand why the U.S. doesn't have a version of it in our arsenal. It's the A-10 of rotary winged aircraft, but it can also put troops on the ground. The Russian have several weapons I think that we should have a version of the 12.7mm Kord, the RPG (the LAW doesn't really cut-it), 9K-22 Tunguska, SA-15, Platforma-M, etc.... We rely to heavily on Drones.

Quoted:
I started flying AH-1 Cobras in 1980.  G, ECAS, Mod S, Prod S and S(MC).  Assigned to FT Lewis, Washington right out of Flight School.  By then I was am 8 year Army veteran.  I was an Airborne Infantry when I went to Flight School.

After being at Lewis for awhile, made Pilot in Command and after a couple of years, was selected to attend the in-house Helicopter Air-To-Air course that a couple of our Cav pilots had put together after attending the Marine Corps course.

A year later, I had orders for the 2nd ACR in Germany.  The 2nd ACR had the job of patrolling the Southern sector of the West German/East German/Czech boarder.  After getting qualified on the boarder I was doing the boarder with one of OH-58 Scout pilots in the front seat.

I was down in the Southern sector across from East Germany patrolling about 500m from the boarder.  Got a call from the Sector Radar (Restor) that a Hind was coming up fast behind me, just on his side of the boarder.

He pulled up along side, we're about 750m apart.  Then we started communicating, you know, like Maverick and Goose with the Migs.

I decided to see how big his balls were. After all, I was Air-To-Qualified Cobra pilot.  I did a hard right 180 maintaining my airspeed.  Looked over my shoulder and sure enough, he was trying to match my turn, but mushing through.

I settled in on a northerly course, let him catch up and match speeds then started some more communications.

After clearing my left, I again entered a hard turn to the left, the front seater was maintaining visual contact with the Hind.

After being alerted that the Hind was in the middle of his turn with the bulk of his aircraft blocking his view of me, I carried the turn into a 360 and dumped the collective.

Dove into a hole in the trees and masked my Cobra, all the while, maintaining visual contact with the Hind.

After completing his turn and not seeing my aircraft, he continued his turn into a 360 also.  

While I watched, he flew several 360s in the area.  Flew up and down the boarder for about 20 minutes before departing on a northerly course back up the boarder.  Kind of like the dumb Bulldog in the old cartoon "Which way did he go, which way did he go?".

After he settled in his departure course, I came out of my hole and with every ounce of power applied without exceeding limits, caught up with and blew past him, communicating the whole time.

As I passed him, I did a break and headed back to base.  Had a nice chat with Restor on the way back about what went on.

Wasn't the 1st Hind I saw along the boarder and it wasn't the last, but it the most memorable encounter I had.

Quoted:
I started flying AH-1 Cobras in 1980.  G, ECAS, Mod S, Prod S and S(MC).  Assigned to FT Lewis, Washington right out of Flight School.  By then I was am 8 year Army veteran.  I was an Airborne Infantry when I went to Flight School.

After being at Lewis for awhile, made Pilot in Command and after a couple of years, was selected to attend the in-house Helicopter Air-To-Air course that a couple of our Cav pilots had put together after attending the Marine Corps course.

A year later, I had orders for the 2nd ACR in Germany.  The 2nd ACR had the job of patrolling the Southern sector of the West German/East German/Czech boarder.  After getting qualified on the boarder I was doing the boarder with one of OH-58 Scout pilots in the front seat.

I was down in the Southern sector across from East Germany patrolling about 500m from the boarder.  Got a call from the Sector Radar (Restor) that a Hind was coming up fast behind me, just on his side of the boarder.

He pulled up along side, we're about 750m apart.  Then we started communicating, you know, like Maverick and Goose with the Migs.

I decided to see how big his balls were. After all, I was Air-To-Qualified Cobra pilot.  I did a hard right 180 maintaining my airspeed.  Looked over my shoulder and sure enough, he was trying to match my turn, but mushing through.

I settled in on a northerly course, let him catch up and match speeds then started some more communications.

After clearing my left, I again entered a hard turn to the left, the front seater was maintaining visual contact with the Hind.

After being alerted that the Hind was in the middle of his turn with the bulk of his aircraft blocking his view of me, I carried the turn into a 360 and dumped the collective.

Dove into a hole in the trees and masked my Cobra, all the while, maintaining visual contact with the Hind.

After completing his turn and not seeing my aircraft, he continued his turn into a 360 also.  

While I watched, he flew several 360s in the area.  Flew up and down the boarder for about 20 minutes before departing on a northerly course back up the boarder.  Kind of like the dumb Bulldog in the old cartoon "Which way did he go, which way did he go?".

After he settled in his departure course, I came out of my hole and with every ounce of power applied without exceeding limits, caught up with and blew past him, communicating the whole time.

As I passed him, I did a break and headed back to base.  Had a nice chat with Restor on the way back about what went on.

Wasn't the 1st Hind I saw along the boarder and it wasn't the last, but it the most memorable encounter I had.

Quoted:
... 15 years ago or so, someone flew a Hind into the facility I worked at. They let engineers crawl all over it. I remember it being a bucket of bolts compared to the AH-64D we were developing