laststandonzombieisland

With yesterday’s AH-1G Cobra gunship references in relation to the Spanish Navy’s carrier Delado (ex-USS Cabot), after all, the Spanish were the only country outside of the U.S. that operated the variant, this seemed appropriate.

Original Caption, circa May 1970: “Katum, South Vietnam…Side view of a U.S. Army AH-1G helicopter gunship landing for refueling during the Cambodian offensive. The helicopter is nicknamed “Leprechaun.”

Note the 1st Cav “Hell for Leather” flash on Leprechaun’s tail and the Hughes OH-6A Cayuse “Loach” just beyond it. What looks to be the hub and rear wheels of a Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe seems to be beyond that.

Over 800 G model Cobras flew in Vietnam, with 303 lost while chalking up over 1.3 million hours in theatre.

As most of the survivors were either scrapped or reworked into AH-1S birds, the classic Cobra Golf is a rare thing these days.

Two of them are preserved in the collection of the U.S. Army Aviation Museum, which I recently visited and highly recommend.