Bell UH1-H Iroquis is a medical evacuation and utility helicopter originally developed for military use, and it made its first flight October 20, 1956. It is a single-engine turbine helicopter with 2-blade main and tail rotors.
Development and design
The UH-1 was ordered into production in March 1960, and was the first turbine-powered helicopter produced for the US Military. More than 16 000 Hueys have been produced worldwide since then. It was first used by the US Army during the Vietnam War, where it also earned it's nickname Huey after the original design name HU-1. Approximately 7 000 UH-1 helicopters serviced in Vietnam, where our own Huey has a past with 202 combat missions on the record. Early models were equipped with Lycoming T53 engines, rating from 700 up to 1 400 shp. Civilian market models 204 and 205 were both developed based on the UH1 design, and reached the market as early as 1961. In the early 1980's, more than 12 000 units had been delivered worldwide, with yet a vast number of military aircraft converted to civilian use.
Properties
The UH1 was originally designed for medical evacuation and utility purposes. Thanks to the extremely rugged design, it has an external cargo hook capacity of 1 750 kg.
