An Iroquois with the standard defensive armament- a flex mounted GPMG M60.

If a single sound was to epitomise the war in South Vietnam, it was the deep rhythmic beat of approaching helicopters. Vietnam was the first air-mobile war that employed helicopters in large numbers.

The Australian Defence Forces (ADF) work horse was Bell Helicopters Iroquois developed during the 1950s, under the designation Bell 204, for the United States (US) Army, to meet an aero medical evacuations capability requirement.

The US Military provisionally approved the Bell 204 design and tested a number of prototypes during the mid-1950s. Their design specifications for the helicopter build had required incorporation of a turbine engine to provide a substantially better power to weight ratio than the piston engines predominantly used in the day for helicopters.

By March 1959, the US Army placed an order for 100 HU-1A helicopters. The Iroquois was on its way to becoming the most recognisable utility helicopter in the world.

In 1961 the Australian Defence Force (ADF) made its initial purchase of eight Iroquois. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) had identified a need for a search and rescue helicopter in the late 1950s and considered the Iroquois as an option among several contenders, before making its 1961 purchase.

The role the helicopter would play in the ADF was quickly expanded beyond its initial search and rescue function. Having been purchased for the RAAF its duties were soon to include Army work.

It was in its Army role that the type made its mark in the ADF. The ADF’s Iroquois covered a wide variety of tasks including troop insertion and extraction, aerial resupply, and aero medical evacuation.

Eight UH-1B model Iroquois helicopters accompanied the Australian Task Force to South Vietnam in 1966. These aircraft and their successors would provide a substantial airlift capability to the Task Force during more than six years of operations in South Vietnam.

The nature of the war in South Vietnam led to the evolution of the Iroquois as a dedicated aerial fire support helicopter equipped with substantial offensive armament.

The normal defensive armament for a troop-carrying Iroquois was either a single or later a dual GPMG M60 mounted in each side door.

The Iroquois gunship or ‘Bushranger’, however, carried a rocket pod and 7.62mm rapid fire miniguns on each side in addition to the flex-mounted dual M60s. The minigun had a rate of fire of 4,800 rounds per minute, and the 2.75 inch Folding Fin Rocket launcher pod, each containing seven rockets, could fire at a rate of six per minute.

RAAF operated the Iroquois during the Vietnam period, but a re-organisation of rotary wing assets in 1989 saw the fleet transferred to the Australian Army Aviation Corps.

In all sixty-six Iroquois helicopters were operated by the RAAF, and a further seven by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

The most frequently procured was the UH-1H model, of which the ADF purchased thirty-four, followed by the B model with a purchase of 27, including 3 by the RAN. The ADF also procured eight D models, and four C models.

The UH-1H is rapidly coming to the end of its career with the Australian Army after more than 40 years of service flying: testament to the strength, durability and utility of the UH-1 helicopter.

Technical Data: UH-1 Iroquois Utility Helicopter

The more heavily armoured Bushmaster Iroquois gunship armed with miniguns, rockets, and flex-mounted M60s