11th Air Assault Division (Test)
By Mark Albertson: If we are successful, the Air Mobile Concept will be a dynamic advance for the Army. If we are not, we will go back to flying Piper Cubs, if we have that much left, and the Army and the country as a whole will lose one of the things that . . . can mean the difference between victory and defeat in future land combat. — COL George P. “Phip” Seneff Jr., 11th Aviation Group, 11th Air Assault Division (Test).1 Troops from the 11th Air Assault Division (Test). / ALL PHOTOS FROM ARMY AVIATION MAGAZINE On August...
Learn MorePast, Present, Future
By Charles V. Maraldo Jr.: The Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center’s (CERDEC) Flight Activity has the mission to support a broad spectrum of aviation related projects in support of the advancement of command, control, computers and communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) technologies. The need to get technology in flight and into its intended environment early in the development cycle is evident. Whether a new type of antenna, a heliborne Electronic Warfare system, or a sensor technology destined for use on a fixed-wing aircraft, the CERDEC Flight Activity must be able to support it all. Research and Development...
Learn MoreObservation Helicopter for Artillary Adjustment
By COL. Jack K. Norris, Commandant, USAPHS: Everyone associated with Army aviation is familiar with its birth during World War II as a means of providing observation for the adjustment of artillery. Pilot observer teams flew light fixed wing aircraft adjusting artillery fire both in the European and Pacific theatres. Hazards from enemy weapons were normally limited to small arms fire which gave the observation team relative freedom of the air. The normal practice was to fly a racetrack, or figure eight type pattern which allowed constant surveillance of the target area. With the development of more sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons...
Learn More“The Originals”
By Mark Albertson: This series is dedicated to the Sky Soldier pilots; the devoted few from the formative years who laid the foundation for today’s Army Aviation. Lieutenant Colonel James Robert Barkley U.S. Army, Retired LTC James R. Barkley is a product of the first state to ratify the Constitution, Delaware. He hailed from Wilmington, born on November 23, 1925; and, later graduated from Pierre S. DuPont High School. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1943. In April 1944, following basic training at the Field Artillery Replacement Center (FARTC), Fort Bragg, NC, he was assigned to the...
Learn MoreThe Howze Board
By LTC Paul J. Fardink, Ret.: Very few events have had the impact on Army Aviation as did the Howze Board and its follow-on activities. The Howze Board is the informal name of the Tactical Mobility Requirements Board that was created at the request of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to review and test new concepts integrating helicopters into the United States Army. It gave birth to idea of airmobility. This UH-60 Black Hawk, a star performer in Desert Storm, represents the culmination of the evolution of the Army’s Utility Tactical Transport System, which began with the Howze Board and the...
Learn MoreBoeing-Vertol CH-21 Shawnee (“Flying Banana”)
By Mark Albertson The CH-21 Shawnee is rooted in the Piasecki HRP-1, an ungainly contraption featuring a tandem rotor configuration. The pedigree was the XHRP-X, an experimental platform devoid of an outer skin . . . a rotary wing skeleton which first took to the air in 1945. AKA the “Dogship,” it attained a speed of 95 mph. The following year it hoisted a log weighing 1,800 pounds.1 The XHRP-1 prototype followed. The Navy and Coast Guard accepted twenty production copies of the HRP-1. Due to the rear upward slope of the fuselage, the HRP soon earned the nickname “Flying...
Learn MoreArmy Aviation in Vietnam – The Rogers Board
By Mark Albertson: “…what the Howze Board did for tactical doctrine, the Rogers Board did for organizing the factory floor.” The evolution of modern war fostered the need for quantity; that is, access to up-to-date technology and availability of weapons in requisite amounts. Take the Great French War (1792-1815).1 Conscription was practiced on a massive scale to fill out the ranks for a conflict that was waged not only on the Continent, but in the Middle East, Russia and as far away as our fledgling Grand Republic in the form of the War of 1812. France fielded the first million man army...
Learn MoreOrganic Army Aviation!
73 years ago on June 6, 1942 the United States War Department sent a memorandum to the commanding general of Army Ground Forces authorizing organic air observation for the Field Artillery. Thus began the love affair between ground forces and the unique and essential support they receive from Army Aviation. War Department Memorandum (Birth Certificate) From this humble beginning through to present day, Army Aviation has been and continues to be an indispensable combat multiplier and maneuver element commanders at all echelons demand to ensure mission success. From observation, to medical evacuation, to resupply, to air assault, to intelligence, surveillance,...
Learn MoreIn That Box is an Airplane
By LTC Paynee O. Lysne, Ret.: When the Second U.S. Army Corps went to England in 1942, it presumably went with a full complement of L-4 Cub planes and pilots, two pilots and planes per Field Artillery Battalion. These pilots were presumably and probably graduates of Class One or Two at Ft. Sill, OK. To see a PDF of the 1944 War Department Field Manual please click here Before the invasion of North Africa, or shortly thereafter, someone discovered that there were not enough pilots and airplanes to fill the authorized TO&E for the artillery. Sometime in December, 1942, I was...
Learn MoreEuropean Theater of Operations
Historical Perspective / By Mark Albertson: On November 9, 1942, Captain Ford “Ace” Allcorn led a flight of three L-4 Cubs off the deck of the fleet carrier Ranger (CV-4). Allcorn’s ill-fated effort marked the combat debut of Army Aviation in World War II.1 Despite the setback at Casablanca, intrepid Air Observation Post fliers would go on to prove that Army Aviation was here to stay. Lt. Payne S. Lysne helped to fly in supplies of blood to the wounded at Anzio, January 1944. / ARMY AVIATION MAGAZINEColonel Charles E. Hart, II Corps artillery officer, thought it prudent to organize...
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