FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- For more than 40 years, Soldiers, Family members, retirees, Veterans and visitors to Fort Campbell entered Gate 4 and passed by a vintage UH-1B Iroquois helicopter in front of Building T-39 on Screaming Eagle Boulevard.
Bitterly cold winds and an overcast winter sky marked the end of that era Jan. 17 when 101st Combat Aviation Brigade Headquarters Soldiers removed the "Huey" from its podium for a complete restoration after years of weather damage and general wear and tear.
"The helicopter itself has fallen on hard times. We have been working as hard as we can, doing all the things we know to do, to try and get that helicopter refurbished … It has been a battle and finally come to the point where we can't patch it together any longer," said John O'Brien, installation historian with the Pratt Museum. "[Garrision Commander] Col. [David "Buck"] Dellinger and Col. [Thomas] Drew, [commander of] the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade have done a tremendous thing in working together to get that aircraft restored."
The 101st Airborne Division's association with helicopters started in the late 1950s and the Army's new Iroquois was added in 1959 with the UH-1 Iroquois. That time marks the beginning of vertical envelopment warfare -- paratroopers and helicopter air assault forces.
"The first UH-1 helicopters issued to an Army division were issued to the 101st Airborne Division," O'Brien said. "Seven of them came here. They originally came here to be medical evacuation helicopters. That's what they were designed to be."
The division began experimenting with the "Hueys" -- making modifications to include weaponry for combat. Modified UH-1s were used in Vietnam.
"The UH-1 and the Vietnam War kind of go together in the mind's eye," O'Brien said. "You can't think of Vietnam without that sound and that image."
In 1972, the 101st -- now an air mobile division -- returned from Vietnam. Shortly thereafter, the UH-1B was placed on the plinth in front of Building T-39, which "[was] the command headquarters and the center of the city of Fort Campbell" from World War II until 2006, O'Brien said.
"… It's a historic location for speaking to what is the purpose of the installation. Why do we exist?" O'Brien said. "That spot is the geographic center and highest elevation on Fort Campbell … [it's] the most important monument on the installation."
According to museum records, this Huey was on active flying status from May 11, 1959 until July 13, 1971. It had a turbo shaft engine and seated nine. The helicopter is on the Army Historical Property Register.
"It's really an early model," O'Brien said. "We do know, because of the serial number, that it was produced as an 'A' model [UH-1A Iroquois] … by the time it had gone through its service life, it had been upgraded to a 'B' [UH-1B]."
With command support, the 96th Aviation Support Battalion, 101st CAB, is restoring the Huey.
"We have found over the years in all the different ways we've tried to restore aircraft that the best and surest way to get an aircraft taken care of is for an aviation maintenance battalion to adopt it," O'Brien said.
"They are, in fact, the experts … They've got all the tools, expertise, equipment and everything to give that aircraft the best restoration [they] can give it."
Master Sgt. Jaymen Byrd, 96th ASB production control noncommissioned officer-in-charge, said restoring the Huey will take countless volunteer hours to complete.
"We're just stripping it down, completely repainting it, cleaning it up -- just making it look more presentable again just 'cause they're getting worn down," he said. "They're giving us until 1 May, I believe."
Byrd said the 101st CAB command group is still determining if the UH-1B will be restored to the original look and design or repainted to reflect the 101st CAB's service in Vietnam. The command will also determine the next home for the vintage bird. It will not return to Building T-39.
Restoration began this week with a thorough cleaning of the helicopter, Byrd said.
"As soon as we start tearing it down, that will dictate what we do," he said.
"If there's a lot of damage then we'll either have to pull parts from spares that the [Pratt] Museum has or go out on the back-40 where other parts are scattered out."
With the removal of the UH-1B in front of Building T-39, O'Brien hopes that a modern-day helicopter would take its place.
"From a historical point of view, I would lobby for a helicopter that would capture that [tradition]," he said.
"If we could wave a magic wand, … we would like to go with a UH-60 [Black Hawk] or an Apache AH-64. If we could have a preference, we would want the UH-60 because that is the aircraft that carries our Soldiers into combat. But, we're fighting a war right now."
O'Brien noted that several people will be weighing in on that decision.
"As the lowly installation historian, I can only say we've got a fantastic history, a fantastic location and a fantastic opportunity to greet the new Soldiers and our visitors and whoever comes to Fort Campbell," he said.
"They all come in Gate 4 and they all pass that historic location. That historic location should tell people who we are … and what we're all about here … Everybody here goes by air."
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