174th AHC Helicopter Tail Numbers 1966- 71 Do you see your "Bird" here?

The "Link" below (near the bottom of this page) will take you to my list that provides information for every Dolphin and Shark helicopter in the 174th AHC from April 1966 until November 1971, when the 174th AHC "stood down" as a Unit. The first aircraft arrived via a WWII vintage "baby flat top" Carrier- USS Point Cruz- to Qui Nhon, RVN on April 9, 1966 (where they were then flown to Vung Tau Airfield for preparation) . It was a full complement of fifteen UH-1D Dolphin "slicks" and nine UH-1B/C Shark "gunships" (with the 540 rotor system). Above: (left) The bridge of the USS Point Cruz (right) 174th Avn. Co. "birds" on flight deck "shrink wrapped" for shipment to protect against ocean/sea elements. Above: (left) 40mm Gunship in hangar deck (right) The first elements of the 174th An. Co. come on shore Vung Tau Bay, RVN. All above photos taken April 1966- Courtesy of Bob Stuart, Cliff Walker and Ted Saunders While there has been some recent discussion as to whether these first Shark aircraft were actually UH-1B's or UH-1C's, they were UH-1B airframes that had been outfitted by the Bell factory with the 540 C-model rotor system. The Sharks never had conventional B-model Hueys that we're aware of. In September 1966, the Unit received six more UH-1D "slicks". Please also notice these 30 total aircraft are in the list as arriving 10/66. I know it seems we have some "gaps", and to compound the mystery- the 174th Avn. Co. wasn't declared "Operational" until May 12, 1966. However, our above information on number of aircraft and arrival date is correct, confirmed by LT COL Martin Heuer (Ret) who was in charge of those who kept the records (174th Avn Co and then 14th Avn Battalion). The two photos above show the 174th AHC's very last Operational Mission and Formation just before Unit "Stand-down" 1971 (photos courtesy of Mel Lutgring, 15 Oct 1971) My list shows the model, the tail number (S/N), the date the aircraft arrived to the Unit (ARRV), aircraft hours on the airframe upon arrival (HRS1), date it departed the unit (LEAV), airframe hours at date of departure (HRS2) and total hours acquired while in the 174th AHC (HRS3). The comments column are personal accounts from 174th AHC Members by either personal one-on-one meeting, phone conversation, or e-mail correspondence between them and myself (from 1997- 2005). Please see my sources of historical information and credits on the last page. I will update this every month or so, as additional comments come in. Please feel free to e-mail me anytime with your additional comments. Please don't email me with historical accuracy corrections. This is as accurate as it's going to get folks. Enjoy!- Warren Hewetson. Want to E-Mail Assistant Webmaster Warren Hewetson? Click here to write him at the website

Some interesting observations:

Total helicopters assigned to 174th from September 1966 to unit Stand down in 1971 = 164.

Total number of hours flown by 174th helicopters = 142,370.

Dolphin with most hours in 174th = Dolphin 67-17471 with 3,368 hours.

Shark with most hours in 174th = Shark 66-15137 with 1,778 hours (40mm).

Above Left: #137 upon it's arrival July 1967 (photo by Paul Kunelius) Right: #137's "look" just before it left the unit March 1970 (Photo by SP4 Tom Gauby)
Dolphin with least hours in 174th = Dolphin 65-09933 with 0 hours. First flight never got logged--aircraft was lost in Nov 66.

Shark with least hours in 174th = Shark 65-09504 with 1 hour. Lost on first mission in Aug 68.

Total 174th helicopters that arrived in unit with less than 100 hours on airframe = 69.

Total 174th helicopters that left with less than 100 hours in unit = 14.


Above: Photos of Shark #425 (1966). This gunship was originally planned for the service platoon. Shark Platoon Leader MJ. Dick Overhamm (On the right in the left photo) had it modified with the M-3 rocket system and ready for combat (Photos courtesy of Bob Jones and Paul Kunelius)

First Dolphin to "sport" the Dolphin Nose Art (1967 by WO1 Richard Machina) that set the standard for the next three years (A lot of different variations, but the template stayed similar) Dolphin UH-1D 66-16235.


Above: The popular Dolphin Noseart by WO1 Richard Machina, June 1967
Photo courtesy of Jim McDaniel

Only 174th helicopter to crash in in own revetment = Shark 66-15162 (upon a "scramble" take-off- Duc Pho 7/29/68).