MBB Bo-105 in U.S. Army Aviation?

[SSI01]

Driving by the ramp here at KSSI yesterday & noted a gloss German green Bo-105 parked on the line. Aircraft had black serials on the outer surface of both vertical stabs, and "U.S. ARMY" on outside of tail booms. I didn't know these were flown by Army Aviation. I've always seen their lettering as "UNITED STATES ARMY" down the tail boom. I am wondering if this is a situation similar to that I observed when in the Air Force in the early 70s. At Luke AFB there were dozens of F-104s, and TF-104s, on the ramp in standard uncamouflaged U.S. Air Force markings - yet they were all the property of the West German government, and used for training their pilots. Is this -105 actually U.S. Army property, or is it German property kept here and being flown by German aircrew?

[mgr]

Driving by the ramp here at KSSI yesterday & noted a gloss German green Bo-105 parked on the line. Aircraft had black serials on the outer surface of both vertical stabs, and "U.S. ARMY" on outside of tail booms. I didn't know these were flown by Army Aviation. I've always seen their lettering as "UNITED STATES ARMY" down the tail boom. I am wondering if this is a situation similar to that I observed when in the Air Force in the early 70s. At Luke AFB there were dozens of F-104s, and TF-104s, on the ramp in standard uncamouflaged U.S. Air Force markings - yet they were all the property of the West German government, and used for training their pilots. Is this -105 actually U.S. Army property, or is it German property kept here and being flown by German aircrew?

Could it not have been a UH-72A Lakota? Looks a lot like it and has some roots in the Bo-105.

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/104/4555159715_941eef0586_z.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4147/4836260959_fe33c11722_z.jpg

Marcel

[SSI01]

That's the bird - in fact, that's the EXACT bird (72-100) - the paint got a little deeper and glossier, though. Maybe a new paint job?

I'm familiar w/the OH-58, UH-1, CH-53, etc - what is this aircraft used for?

Last question - is there a download available?

[Sunny9850]

Nor sure what roles it plays in the US armed forces, but in the Luftwaffe the BO-105 is pretty much a jack of all trades. It is fast, highly maneuverable, carries a lot both in personnel and in weight and thanks to the clamshell doors on the back loading of litters or cargo can be accomplished in a number of ways.

I have seen the airframe equipped with just about any type of weapon system imaginable short of the Leo's 120mm smooth bore, but I have seen one airlifted by one:icon_lol:
I think the guys liked the chin mounted 50 cal the best, similar to an Apache and just as deadly.

The mighty BO has of course since been replaced by the EC-135 and EC-145 on which the UH72A is based.

Cheers
Stefan

[strikehawk]

The Lakota I believe is used by the Army as a Dust Off. At least that's what they were used for at the National Training Center near Barstow CA. There is actually a repaint for that exact bird if I remember at Hovercontrol, along with separate file to give the pilots the new ACU pattern for their flight suits.

[Rallymodeller]

The Wikipedia page sums it all up nicely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UH-72A_Lakota (http://[URL)


TL;DR version: It subs as a cheaper alternate for the Blackhawk in National Guard and Army Reserve roles.

[Victory103]

As mentioned, basically an off the shelf airframe to replace the aging UH-1/OH-58A/C's and allow the UH-60's to be used by deploying units. Of course, the Army screwed the airframe up by not initially going with the AC units and having overheating problems after (then having to buy the AC units at a higher cost). They use the -72 in places like Ft. Irwin, CA and continue to ask the fragile airframe to do things the Huey/Hawk can do easily. It's not all bad, buddies I have that fly them love the instruments and autopilot.

Based off the EC-145, which there is a model for and a UH-72 repaint. The armed version is a bid from EC as a OH-58D replacement.

[SSI01]

Thanks for all the input, I'll be checking everything out - the story about buying the basic bird then having problems adding on what should have been asked for in the first place seems to be an old one - didn't the same thing happen with the USCG Dolphins, and their engines? I read somewhere the aircraft, as acquired after contracting was done, was underpowered and CG was in the middle of addressing that with the last update I saw. Was there a happy ending to this story?

[ian elliot]

Over here in Europe, a lot of police force's and air ambulance service's including us in Great Britian use this helo, cheap to buy, good performance and you can fill it up with alot of equipment.
cheers ian

[AndyG43]

Thanks for all the input, I'll be checking everything out - the story about buying the basic bird then having problems adding on what should have been asked for in the first place seems to be an old one - didn't the same thing happen with the USCG Dolphins, and their engines? I read somewhere the aircraft, as acquired after contracting was done, was underpowered and CG was in the middle of addressing that with the last update I saw. Was there a happy ending to this story?

It was a typical procurement cock-up. US Regs said that the aircraft had to have a certain percentage of local content; so to reach the required standard they replaced the existing (tried & tested) Turbomeca engine with a Lycoming engine - the engine suffered development problems and the Dolphin put on a bit of weight, the two factors combining to cause a few hairy engine failure incidents. So the Coastguard launched an urgent competition and it was won by ...... Turbomeca, with an upgraded version of the original engine!! Basically if it is a HH-65C it has the new engines & some new avionics, which the USCG consider to be a very happy ending indeed.