Looking to find the history of a Cobra

[dirkpitt289]

In my town we have a static display of an AH-1F Cobra possibly a 1G and I would like to track down the history of this bird so that we can restore it correctly. A friend of mine tracked down the tail number ( 69-16442) to both a 1F and a 1G. I find it unlikely they would re-use the same tail number on two of the same aircraft but a model different? Anyway where can I go to track down this info?

 

[T Bolt]

I found this Dirk:

69-16410/16447 Bell AH-1G-BF Cobra
69-16442 (c/n 20874) converted to AH-1F. noted in storage at Fort Drum, NY. May 21, 2001

 

[dirkpitt289]

Thanks ,

Do you have a lint to where you found that T?

 

[T Bolt]

I found it here:USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present
I use it quite a bit.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

That was the exact website I was going to use.

You can also possibly contact the US Army Aviation at Fort Rucker, Alabama. They might have some sources that can help you out.

U.S. Army Aviation Museum | preserving the Past... for the Future

 

[Wayne Sharp]

In my town we have a static display of an AH-1F Cobra possibly a 1G and I would like to track down the history of this bird so that we can restore it correctly. A friend of mine tracked down the tail number ( 69-16442) to both a 1F and a 1G. I find it unlikely they would re-use the same tail number on two of the same aircraft but a model different? Anyway where can I go to track down this info?

You may have the history you need on 69-16442 but I thought I would offer the following: 69-16442 began as an AH-1G. It entered service May 1970. Arrived in Vietnam Aug 1970 with D 227th AHB. Served in Vietnam until Jul 1971. While in country 442's nickname was "Ghost". This information is available on the D227th website. I served in 3/101 Attack Helicopter Battalion, 101st Airborne Division where we had AH-1F 69-16442. We had this aircraft from my arrival in Feb 1988 (it was on station before my arrival) until we transferred it in the spring of 1991. When I crewed this aircraft the nickname was "Predator". In March of 1990 Mike Morrison entered our Company and I assigned him to this aircraft. He nicknamed it "Sinbad". Mike crewed this aircraft through Desert Shield and Desert Storm. We returned to Fort Campbell April of 1991 where we prepared all of our AH-1Fs for turn in since the unit was transitioning to AH-64 Apaches. Hope this helps some..

 

[Capt. Vick]

Wow! Good stuff!