Both of the below photos were taken by WO1 Jim McDaniel. Here's what he'd written on the back of the top photo, "Spring '68,
Duc Pho. CPT Lanny McCrary is sitting in the pilot's seat of this UH-1C Shark mini-gun ship. Lanny and I had just come back from a mission. My 'chicken plate' is visible through the windshield, on top of the instrument panel glare shield. I am standing on the revetment (similar to the ones in the background) to take this pictue."
Below the two photos is also an enlargement of the crewmembers standing beside the aircraft in the first photo. Anyone who can identify them, please let me (your Webmaster) know and I'll include that.
For those interested in details, these two photos show the roof and the white rectangle we painted on it quite well. The paint schemes changed from time-to-time, and we painted these white rectangles for increased visibility from above. You can also see the white stripes on the blade four feet or so in from the tip that we also painted for increased visibility. As all the Sharks mouths were hand painted, they varied a lot. Note this one has the smallest teeth on the doors of any I think I've ever seen.
Also notice that the shark's mouth ends ON the door, not past it onto the airframe between the cargo door and the front door. All the 67-68 Sharks paint ended ON the door. All the 71 paint extended BEYOND the door by several inches. The mouths "grew" somewhere in between. (Now THAT'S a trivia contest question you could take home some money with!)
The blades in these pictures were winding down as Lanny had just shut down the engine, but they were still turning quite fast. They were coming about six inches from the camera lense as I took this. I was trying to get one right even with the lense but couldn't time it right.
Now WHY did we do stupid things like that???
(Both photos by Jim McDaniel, Duc Pho, 1968)
(Note: See additional caption added below the photos, below...)
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