Light utility lost

Landing on the school’s top oval ampitheatre after a short flight from the nearby Army Aviation Centre at Oakey, pilots Captain Andrew Riches and Lieutenant Brad Marshall, and crewman Corporal John Neenan prepared Iroquois A2-489 for viewing by around 100 32 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION | DECEMBER 2007 Light utility lost school children and parents. It proved to be a big hit with kids and parents alike.

An hour later A2-489, callsigned ‘Destrier 489’, departed for Oakey on what would be technically Army’s ‘last flight’ of an Iroquois.

‘Destrier 489’ took the long way home, giving a final salute to Toowoomba and Oakey before joining the circuit for landing.

Waiting near the pad for ‘Destrier 489’ was one of the two leased Bell 412s, owned by Australian Helicopters and being operated by Boeing, in a hangar. The 412s are now being used for crash response duties and to conduct loadmaster training for the Army at the Army Aviation Centre – a job until now done by the UH-1Hs.

At 1429, with Lieutenant Marshall at the controls, the Iroquois made contact with the pad and completed its last landing.

Little did the school know its event would become the final chapter in the history of Army Iroquois operations ”

No champagne, no fire trucks with water fountains, no fanfare (this was all done two days earlier with a flypast over Brisbane on September 21) – just the three flightcrew and the base’s duty officer were present for this historic event.

After tying down the helicopter’s blades and putting on its covers the crew headed off across the flightline to secure their flight gear and return to their homes for the remainder of their Sunday afternoon.

Retiring Of A Veteran

The venerable Iroquois was the ADF’s first turbine powered helicopter and has a well documented history of service.

The Iroquois first entered service in UH-1B form with the RAAF in late 1962 and also served with the Navy in limited numbers before Army became the sole Iroquois operator in 1989 (following the transfer of all RAAF UH-1Hs and the withdrawal of the type from Navy service that year). It has been used extensively and successfully in many theatres in operational support, troop lift and utility roles and even as the minigun and rocket armed ‘Bushranger’ gunship.

In the popular imagination, the ‘Huey’ is perhaps best known for its Vietnam war service, where it was operated by the RAAF’s 9 Squadron from Vung Tau plus the RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam, which flew American Hueys as part of the US Army’s 135th Assault Helicopter Company.

“In many ways it was the sound of the Vietnam War,” said BRIG Nick Bartels, Commanding Officer 16 Brigade (Aviation) following the type’s formal farewell over Brisbane. “It seems that every time you see something to do with the Vietnam War you’ve got Hueys in the background. ” Australian UH-1B then UH-1D Iroquois flew in support of Australian and allied nations’ ground forces during the Vietnam war conducting troop insertions and extractions, ‘dust-off ’ medical evacuations (usually when under fire) and ‘Bushranger’ fire support gunship strikes.

During the war seven RAAF Iroquois were lost in accidents claiming the lives of seven personnel.

After the Army became the sole operator, the Iroquois continued to be operated by 171 Operational Support Squadron, 1 Avn Regt, based at Oakey, until November 2004 when as a result of a restructure of 16 Brigade it swapped identities and regiments with Army’s Black Hawks from A Squadron, 5 Avn Regt, based in RAAF Townsville, .

The 12 Black Hawks were transferred from Townsville to Sydney’s Holsworthy Barracks as 171 Aviation Squadron, 1 Avn Regt, for counter terrorism operations.

Army Iroquois also flew with the School of Army Aviation at the Army Aviation Centre for type conversion and loadmaster training.

Army retired its Iroquois gunship capability in late June 2004 in preparation for the introduction of the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH). The eight ‘Bushranger’ modified gunships were converted back to the standard ‘slick’ (troop lift) configuration.

Robust Utility

The Iroquois has played an important role in by Paul Sadler ADF war and peace time operations throughDuring the war seven of Australia’s Iroquois were lost in accidents claiming the lives of seven personnelthe years, performing numerous peace keeping and humanitarian missions locally and overseas.

Australia’s ‘Hueys’ first saw service in 1964 when the RAAF’s 5 Squadron UH‑1Bs deployed to Butterworth, Malayasia, to support Malayasian and Australian security forces operating against terrorists along the Malaysia- Thai border.

It was the start of a pattern that meant the Iroquois were no strangers to being deployed far from home.

RAAF Iroquois were sent to the Middle East in 1976 to assist the United Nations to keep the peace between feuding Israeli and Egyptian forces in the Sinai Desert, Egypt, and again in 1982 as part of a multi-national peacekeeping force to monitor Egyptian and Israeli forces.

Between 1998 and 2001 Army 171 Operational Support Squadron deployed to Bougainville, PNG, for Operation Bel Isi (Calm Stomach). At the height of operations in Bougainville the squadron operated four Iroquois, painted bright orange in order to differentiate them from PNG Defence Force Iroquois, assisting with Truce Monitoring Group and later the Peace Monitoring Group peacekeeping efforts.

An outbreak of civil unrest on the Solomon Islands during 2003 saw 171 Operational Support Squadron Iroquois deploy to the troubled nation for Operation Anode, providing airmobile support to the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

On January 2 2005 four A Squadron UH-1Hs arrived in Indonesia to provide humanitarian assistance to isolated areas of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, devastated by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. They began returning to Australia on February The Iroquois has been retired with the forthcoming arrival of the MRH 90. (Dept of Defence) 12 as by then most of the roads had re-opened and the requirement for helicopters was reduced.

Closer to home, March 2006 was a busy month for A Squadron. Three of its Iroquois were involved in security operations for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne while another three deployed to Innisfail, Queensland, in support of Operation Larry Assist – part of the Commonwealth Disaster Plan in the aftermath of Cyclone Larry.

During Operation Larry Assist the helicopters were tasked with casualty evacuation as well as inserting specialist teams and humanitarian aid forward to inaccessible isolated areas.

2006 in fact proved to be one of the Iroquois’s busiest years during the latter stages of its career, as on April 19 that year Iroquois were again deployed to the Solomon Islands at very short notice.

They returned six weeks later from what would be the type’s last overseas deployment.

Light Utility Lost

The retirement of a type can be an emotional affair with the realisation of ‘that’s it, there’s no more’. It’s the end of an era.

“I think people are sad to see it go partly because of the emotional attachment they had with it and partly because of the role it could fulfil,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mick Prictor, Commanding Officer of Army’s 5 Aviation Regiment, based at RAAF Townsville. “It was perfect for the light utility role as it was quickly deployable. ” The imminent arrival of the Eurocopter MRH 90 and the delivery of the RAAF’s C-17s allowed Army to finally retire the Iroquois, but its passing has resulted in the loss of its light utility helicopter capability.

“The (arrival of the) C-17 enabled the decision to retire the Iroquois because we can now send Black Hawks to do the role of the Iroquois – and then some” explained LTCOL Prictor. “What happened in the past was you could put an Iroquois in the back of a C-130 Hercules quite easily. Now that we’ve got the C-17 Globemaster we could put three Black Hawks in the back of that and take them to anywhere in the world.

“But now there is a bit of a capability gap and the Black Hawks have to pick up the work the Iroquois did in addition to what they currently do. ” A decision on selecting a new twin engined training helicopter for the Army and Navy (under Air 9000 Phase 7) to replace Bell 206-B1 Kiowas and AS 350BA Squirrels in the pilot training roles could allow Army to use them in the additional role of light utility.

“That’s a future project that doesn’t even have any meat on the bones at the moment,” said LTCOL Prictor.

Interestingly, New Zealand’s defence minister announced in October that it will acquire five AgustaWestland A 109LUHs to replace its Bell 47G Sioux as the new training helicopter and to enhance its light utility helicopter capabilities (currently carried out by RNZAF UH-1H Iroquois, which are to be replaced by NH 90s).

The AgustaWestland 109 is a strong contender for Air 9000 Phase 7 with a number of 109s currently being used by the ADF. Navy operates three leased A 109E Powers for its pilot and aircrewRetention and Motivation Initiative (see October AA), while Army uses several civilian A 109E Powers and A 109S Grands to conduct initial Tiger ARH pilot training.

Changing Of The Guard

The first two of 46 Eurocopter MRH 90 medium lift helicopters for the Army and Navy are due to arrive in country during the life of this issue to replace A Squadron’s Iroquois.

“Right now A Squadron does not have any aeroplanes at all,” said LTCOL Prictor. The squadron’s Iroquois are in storage at Archerfield Airport, southwest of Brisbane, awaiting their final fate.

A Squadron’s official headquarters moved from Oakey to Townsville in December 2006 in preparation for the arrival of the MRH 90. The squadron will start to receive trained MRH 90 aircrew and maintenance personnel in December, allowing the first MRH courses to start in January next year after the completion of the ADF’s stand-down period over Christmas.

“We have new facilities all set up to receive the students and aircraft here in Townsville and for the next few years at least all the MRH training will be done with A Squadron. ” The first MRH 90s will undergo a short test and evaluation period throughout 2008 while initial pilot and aircrew training is carried out.

“The MRH 90s will reside in A Squadron but there are other organisations that will be attached to A Squadron to facilitate the test, evaluation and initial training process,” said LTCOL Prictor.

“There are a number of stages and milestones the MRHs will go through and pass to, firstly, become troop operational by day; then troop operational by night; squadron operational by day; and squadron operational by night. These milestones will be staggered and will occur from 2008 until 2012. ”

Ardu’s Pair

A2-489 may have flown the last operational Army Iroquois mission, but the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) based at RAAF Edinburgh, South Australia, has continued to operate two machines in support of its activities.

The ARDU Flight Test Squadron (AFTS) has operated the UH-1H Iroquois for rotary wing test pilots to maintain currency in general flying and flight test techniques, including use of the aircraft as a work-up platform for other rotary wing test programs.

ARDU initially operated UH-1Bs from the late 1960s until 1985 when the unit began using the UH-1H.

Over four decades ARDU used the Iroquois for some significant test programs, including power, performance, stability and control testing, F89 Minimi and Mag 58 door gun trials, and night vision goggle (NVG) development.

ARDU’s A2-484 and A2-296 are due to make their final flights on December 10 and 11 from Edinburgh to Archerfield Airport, for preparation for storage and eventual disposal.

Those final flights will draw to a close a remarkable ADF career.

“The Iroquois was a reliable machine.

They were a simple and robust aircraft that didn’t take a lot of maintenance and just kept flying. They will be missed,” concluded LTCOL Prictor.