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Slightly Bent Helo
- Thread starter Lawreston
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Mistake Not...
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OH-58A?
Ok, so I looked it up. It's really listed as an OH-58A. Is this an ex-military helicopter, then? Or were OH-58As sold to civilians too?
Ok, so I looked it up. It's really listed as an OH-58A. Is this an ex-military helicopter, then? Or were OH-58As sold to civilians too?
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weilke
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Surplus. There was a time goverment agencies could obtain OH58As if they paid the postage. They are not supposed to re-sell them for x-years but after that, they can make it into the civilian market.
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Jthamilton
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Looks pretty fortunate to be upright considering his limited options from the pic!
Mistake Not...
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Ah. Thanks. Wonder what will happen to the existing fleet of Ds now that Kiowa has been cancelled.
Velocity173
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Stripped down without armament and electronics and you'll have yourself 407 like performance at a fraction of the cost.
weilke
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I think those 'get a free helicopter' surplus deals dont really happen like that anymore.
Now those dual use items go onto fedbizops and are sold off in lots. The agencies usually bundle a couple of flyable helos with some that are junk (cracked tail-booms, crunched turbine blades). There is a cottage industry of companies that buy those lots of 5 helos, refurbish the 3 good ones and break up two for parts.
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Maine Helicopters is an old company. My buddy was Chief Photographer for 26 years at Bath Iron Works, practically "wrote the book" on industrial photography, particularly aerial stuff. Maine Helicopters has long been the contracted service for the aerials missions. Ron's most frequent photo missions were in a Bell Jet Ranger. One time his favorite pilot wasn't available, so he met a new pilot, one with many years of experience which included Viet Nam.
They were out to sea for new ship sea trials. Traditionally, Ron would tell his regular pilot where to position him for the photo shots he needed. To the "new" pilot he said, "Put her down in front of the bow and just over the surface."
""What?"" said the pilot. Ron repeated the directions.
""Are you crazy, man? That's insane!""
"Just do what I tell you. I'll take the pictures; you fly the ship. I've been doing this for twenty years."
So there were numerous crosses over the bow, and down to not far over the surging sea where the helo flew sideways while staying ahead of the destroyer. One of the results was a spectacular shot of the bow(stem?) of the ship, such that it looked as though it could cut butter.
Later in that week, Ron was summoned to BIW President John Sullivan's office. It seemed that Pres. Sullivan was aboard that destroyer. "Ron, let me ask you: Were you trying to kill us all the other day?"
""How's that, Mr. Sullivan?"
"You were zooming all over and around the ship, sometimes so low we couldn't see you in front of the ship."
"Well, Mr. Sullivan; all I can say is, you run the shipyard and I'll take the pictures. That's what you pay me to do, right?" Mr. Sullivan laughed and told Ronnie to, ""Carry on, Mr. Farr."
HR
They were out to sea for new ship sea trials. Traditionally, Ron would tell his regular pilot where to position him for the photo shots he needed. To the "new" pilot he said, "Put her down in front of the bow and just over the surface."
""What?"" said the pilot. Ron repeated the directions.
""Are you crazy, man? That's insane!""
"Just do what I tell you. I'll take the pictures; you fly the ship. I've been doing this for twenty years."
So there were numerous crosses over the bow, and down to not far over the surging sea where the helo flew sideways while staying ahead of the destroyer. One of the results was a spectacular shot of the bow(stem?) of the ship, such that it looked as though it could cut butter.
Later in that week, Ron was summoned to BIW President John Sullivan's office. It seemed that Pres. Sullivan was aboard that destroyer. "Ron, let me ask you: Were you trying to kill us all the other day?"
""How's that, Mr. Sullivan?"
"You were zooming all over and around the ship, sometimes so low we couldn't see you in front of the ship."
"Well, Mr. Sullivan; all I can say is, you run the shipyard and I'll take the pictures. That's what you pay me to do, right?" Mr. Sullivan laughed and told Ronnie to, ""Carry on, Mr. Farr."
HR
Mistake Not...
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Yeah; my buddy has been out of there for many years; he built the in-house photography department from scratch after he told the president, "You guys are wasting a lot of money by bidding out the photo shoots. You could save a lot of money by doing it in-house." That from a guy whose main duty had been servicing photo-copy machines at the yard. Told to "come up with a program," he did, and saved the company huge amounts of contracted expenditures over the years. His images were published world-wide in newspapers, maritime and industrial/Navy journals/magazines and I can hear him bitching now, about how he never got any photo credits. Every picture was a "BIW Photo." When he was no longer with the yard, occasionally he'd get called when a honcho wanted to see a specific individual photo. HE knew the filing/cataloging system HE'd designed.