How's This For A Different paint Job On A Police Chopper?

Just out of curiosity, what does a "fixer-upper" missile silo go for?

SaparotRob said:

Just out of curiosity, what does a "fixer-upper" missile silo go for?

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Did you notice that the letter I wrote to Congress said, "We don't know"?

But maybe 10 years ago I stumbled onto the fact that someone had a Atlas F missile silo for sale in Oklahoma, but I do not recall how much they wanted for it. It came with a Quonset hut.

I did see on TV recently where some people in KS bought an Atlas above ground "Coffin" missile complex and made it into a home. There is a lot more to work with when you have an above ground complex. Best of all would be the Atlas D complexes, which were rather like what you would see at Cape Canaveral.

I think this is getting a bit far afield from paint jobs on surplus helicopters (although I've no idea why anybody wouldn't lock up something as valuable to thieves as guns and ammunition in a store). There are, indubitably, significant perceived and actual problems with police agencies (I knew, casually, a local police officer who was convicted and sentenced for corruption, including removing and selling stuff, usually drugs, from the evidence vault; there were suspicions -- enough to get you or I to spend some quality time with police detectives -- that this was occurring for years.) but paint jobs on helicopters don't tend to be one of them.

As an aside, I recommend black for all police helicopters.

swampyankee said:

As an aside, I recommend black for all police helicopters.

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lol...God no, it's bad enough around here with people screaming "black helicopters" when PG&E (electric company) sends out sub-contractors to overtly their transmission lines (which will be just about any color, as they are privately owned).

In regards to the M113 APCs posted a few posts up, note that they aren't armed and clearly Identified by agency. Also, per my previous post about armored vehicles being used in situations where they can deploy a tactical (SWAT) team safely to an entry point as well as protecting civilians from danger - the M113 is perfect for that, as it has a rear door.
The RCMP has former Canadian Army AFVs (Cougar) in service as a TAV (tactical Armored Vehicle).
German Police agencies have a broad range of APCs, as do the French, including the Berliet VXB-170.
The exhaustive list goes on, bottom line is the U.S. is not unique in it's use of armored vehicles by Law Enforcement agencies.

And back to the subject of color schemes on military surplus helicopters, the U.S. Forest Service operates a retired AH-1 Cobra. The chin turret has been replaced by a FLIR unit that "looks" for hot-spots that may be the result of lightning strikes or after a fireline has been established but might be in jeopardy of a flare up. It also is equipped with a variety of sensors that relay data to Ops.
There is one based here in Redding (RDD) and I see it (or hear it) every once in a while.

Even worse, this privately owned machine dropped in to visit the Sheriff Dept ramp one Memorial Day.

Yep, with guns and rockets.

Glider said:

Apart from the UK. I cannot think of anything the police are equipped with which could come from the Military, apart from the handguns which are Glock 17's. Even those the Police were using them before the Army.

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Yep, here in New Zealand too. Just wondering which countries police ARE equipped like military.

gumbyk said:

Yep, here in New Zealand too. Just wondering which countries police ARE equipped like military.

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Since many police forces outside of the US are controlled by the national government, not by local governments, I'm not sure that there is a valid comparison to be made here. While the French Gendarmes, the Italian Carabinieri, and others do have armored vehicles, they tend to be limited to specialized units within the force, like the French Mobile Gendarmes. Here, in the US, there are literally thousands of police forces, varying in size from under a dozen to well over 10,000 (iirc, NYPD has about 25,000 officers). Connecticut, with about 3.3 million people, has about 110 police forces of various types; the forces vary from about a dozen to about 900.

swampyankee said:

Since many police forces outside of the US are controlled by the national government, not by local governments, I'm not sure that there is a valid comparison to be made here. While the French Gendarmes, the Italian Carabinieri, and others do have armored vehicles, they tend to be limited to specialized units within the force, like the French Mobile Gendarmes. Here, in the US, there are literally thousands of police forces, varying in size from under a dozen to well over 10,000 (iirc, NYPD has about 25,000 officers). Connecticut, with about 3.3 million people, has about 110 police forces of various types; the forces vary from about a dozen to about 900.

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And people sometimes wonder why they can find it difficult to co-ordinate activities. When something kicks off there is a chance that the politicos in each force are more interested in a turf war.

MIflyer said:

Even worse, this privately owned machine dropped in to visit the Sheriff Dept ramp one Memorial Day.
Yep, with guns and rockets.View attachment 613137

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No doubt the armament has all been deactivated. It's nice to see that one still flying. It's a Vietnam vet from the 2nd Battalion, 20th Artillery (Aerial Rocket Artillery).

"During the Vietnam War the 2/20th was an Aerial Rocket Artillery battalion, equipped with UH-1 B and C model and Bell AH-1 Cobra (G model) helicopters. It was known as "Blue Max." In 1972, the battalion was relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division."


Here's one of them in it's natural habitat. It could be the same one, for all we know.




-Irish