All language subtitles for B T W S02E01 1080p WEB h264-BAE_track3_[eng]

(helicopter whirring)

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- [Matthew] Now I say this
a lot, but how cool is this?

This is Lieutenant Zach Farrell.

This is Colonel Bill McPherson.

The amazing Gene Krans.

You've never seen
aerospace like this.

(plane whooshing)

(upbeat music)

- During the Korean War,

U.S. Forces began using
helicopters in warfare

to a much greater extent.

But existing
helicopters lacked power

and required a lot
of maintenance.

So the Army held a
competition for a new design.

In 1955 Bell helicopter
won the competition

by building the HU-1A Iroquois,
quickly nicknamed the Huey.

Which was later
re-designated as the UH-1A.

During the Vietnam War,
Hueys were uniquely suited

to the challenges of fighting
in the dense jungles,

mountains, seasonal flooding,

and a lack of general
infrastructure in the country.

The versatile helo was flown

by the United States Army,
Navy, Air Force and Marines.

As well as the Air Forces
of many other countries.

Nearly 65 years after
the Huey's introduction

a few crews are still flying
the venerable helicopter.

But it has been widely replaced
by the UH-60 Black Hawk.

Still Huey pilots have a saying,

"When the last Black Hawk
goes to the boneyard,

"there will be a Huey crew
there to pick them up."

Now let's check out some of
the features of the UH-1 Huey

at Wings over the Rockies
Air and Space Museum.

Now, what you didn't know is,

this is a Mike
model, an M model,

which was made
specifically as a gun ship.

Which means it's got a kind
of interesting rotor head.

It's got a 540 rotor head,

which give the
blades way more play

on the left, right,
front and back.

That's because these guys
carried a ton of ammunition.

And you needed to be as
maneuverable as possible

because 1400 horsepower
sounds like a lot,

but when your carrying
rockets and machine gun ammo,

and bunch of people,
that's not a lot of power.

Plus, you've got the
humidity of Vietnam.

That's not good for lift either.

(upbeat music)

All right people this
is the good stuff.

I am here with a real
live helicopter pilot

who was in Vietnam.

And you did how many tours?

- Three.
- Three tours.

This is Colonel Bill McPherson.

Thank you so much for
being with us here today.

This is a huge honor
because I hate to say it

but I consider you
a friend of mine.

- We'll think about that one.

(both laughing)

- Okay.
- All right.

- Now going back to the
history of this thing,

this guy actually
flew in Vietnam?

- It was built in 1967
by Bell helicopter

in Fort Worth, Texas so it went
directly to Vietnam in 1967

and was issued and assigned
to the 1st Battalion,

9th Air Cavalry Regiment,
1st Air Cavalry Division.

Air Cavalry Division.
(Matthew laughs)

- So--
- No horse just helicopters?

- That's right, that's right.

And it served for
three years combat.

- Wow.

- It has 21 bullet holes
to verify it's combat time.

It was used extensively as
support for ground troops

who needed gun support.

It escorted troop
carrying aircraft.

It escorted medical
evacuation aircraft

and was extremely
busy for three years

which takes a toll
on the mechanics,

the turbine, the rotor systems.

So at the end of three years

it was shipped back to
Bell helicopter for rebuild

in Amarillo, Texas.

And as the war was winding down

they decided not to
send it back to Vietnam,

but issue it to
the National Guard.

So it was issued

to the Nebraska Army
National Guard in 1971.

And it was in 1996 that
it was directed to fly

to White Sands to become part
of this target drone program.

And as the program was
canceled a few years later,

it sat there on the air field

until I was able to retrieve it.

- Well tell you what,

do you want to do a
little quick walk around?

- Sure.
- And we can

actually take a look
at some of these places

where it was shot?

(upbeat music)

- So what I did to
illustrate the bullet holes,

I put decals over the holes.

The the decals or
stickers are on the patch,

the patch cover the holes.

- [Matthew] Covers the holes.

- And you'll find all
over the aircraft,

there's 21 I believe, 21-22
on the aircraft right now.

- Whoa, and in this case they
were going for the pilot,

'cause he sat right there.
- That is correct.

That is correct,
he sat right there.

And they didn't get him
because the seat for the pilot

and the co-pilot are
bullet-proof Kevlar.

The same thing the military
helmets are made of.

- [Matthew] Right, wow.

- So he was safe.

- All right so we discussed
earlier this is a Mike model.

Which means it was purpose
built to be a gun ship

and well you can see
it's loaded for bear.

Down here are two M60
flex mount machine guns,

that's a 7.62
millimeter machine gun.

And they are
actually on a mount,

two on each side that allow them

to move left and
right and up and down.

Not a lot but just enough

that you didn't have to
really aim the helicopter

as much as you would if
they were a fixed mount.

Now, inboard of the machine
guns is something even scarier.

Seven-shot rocket pod

with 2.75 inch folding
fin aerial rockets.

These guy were monsters.

They could carry a
high explosive warhead,

white phosphorus or
even scarier, this guy.

2200 in each rocket
of the flechette,

think of it as a
tiny steel arrow.

This would just denude the
countryside of any vegetation,

and anybody in it.

Super scary.

But, what's this
bad boy right here?

It's just a door mounted M60.

And the M60 is the same
thing that this guy was.

This is in the
infantry configuration.

So if these guys went down,

you could literally
dismount this weapon

and use it to defend
yourself from the bad guys.

So how much ammunition could
these guys actually carry?

Well, for example this box

right here will carry
500 belted 7.62 rounds.

A lot of guys would carry
80 to 90 of these boxes

to feed these
behemoths down here.

That's a lot of ammunition but
you've got to keep in mind,

you can't just load
yourself down with ammo

because you've got
to keep fuel in mind.

And if you've got
a long mission,

you gotta have more
fuel and less ammo.

But if you've got
a short mission,

you can really load up on this

and stay on station
for quite a bit longer.

We are here with Lieutenant
Colonel Ken Overturf.

Thank you so much for
being with us sir.

I'm going to take this thing
off my head. (laughing)

(groans) It's very cool though.

You flew H models, and you
flew for a Project Left Bank.

- That's correct.

- And that was looking
for radio signals and?

- Locating the enemy
via radio interceptions.

- [Matthew] And where
were you doing that?

- At that time, the
1st Cavalry Division,

the unit that I flew with,

was headquartered in
Phuoc Vinh, Vietnam.

In War Zone C, right about
the middle of South Vietnam.

- Okay, for our viewers
and especially me,

can you take us through
kind of what it's like,

some tips and tricks
on how to fly the Huey?

- Let's do a brief
helicopter flying 101.

- Excellent.

- There three maneuver
controls on this helicopter.

We'll go through
them one at a time.

- [Matthew] Okay.

- Starting with the
first one is the cyclic.

The stick if you will,
right between your legs,

this cyclic provides
the horizontal movement

in the helicopter.

And how it does that is when
the rotor head is spinning,

it's operational rpm of
6,600 revolutions per minute,

it becomes like a
giant dinner plate.

And you can envision
this giant dinner plate.

- [Matthew] Okay.

- Now with this cyclic,
what your doing is balancing

that giant dinner plate.

Tip the cyclic forward, the
dinner plate tips forward,

and the aircraft moves forward.

Next control is the collective.

This control gives your
vertical movement capability.

When you're ready to go up,

pull the collective up,

and it puts pitch in the
blades of that spinning plate.

Then we go to the
third control,

which are the
anti-torque pedals.

The torque caused by the power,

when you're putting
pitch in the blades,

moves us into Newton's
third law of motion.

For every action, the rotor
head spinning counter clockwise,

an equal and opposite reaction,

the fuselage will tend
to turn clockwise.

- [Matthew] Okay.

- So to fly this
helicopter all you have

to do is balance
the dinner plate,

manage your vertical
and ascent, descent,

and keep the nose straight
with the pedals all the time.

- Oh well that's
not hard. (laughing)

Guys, thank you so much.
- Pleasure.

- Colonel Bill, Colonel Ken,

it's always a pleasure
to be with you.

- Certainly.
- But guess what?

I'm gonna go see what
has taken the place,

but will never replace the Huey.

- You got it.
- And that is the Black Hawk.

In the late 1970s,

the United States Army started
replacing the UH-1 Huey

with the UH-60 Black Hawk

as their new tactical
transport helicopter.

Manufactured by
Sikorsky Aircraft,

modified versions of the
Black Hawk have been developed

for the U.S. Navy, Air
Force, and Coast Guard.

These have been designated
the Seahawk for the Navy,

Pave Hawk for the Air Force,

and Jayhawk for the Coast Guard.

Luckily, we have some friends

at the United States Coast
Guard Sector San Diego,

who are going to show
us the ends and outs

of the Jayhawks in their fleet.

(upbeat music)

The origins of this station
can be traced back to the 1930s

when the city of
San Diego wanted

to have a Coast Guard presence

given the increasing
maritime traffic.

Today, there are over
400 individuals on base,

including active duty
personnel and civilians.

They also have three
MH-60T Jayhawks.

Including one
gorgeous yellow one.

But right now we're going to
talk to Sector Response Chief

and Air Ops Officer
Commander Chris Wright

about the Coast Guard

and the work being
done by this station.

- So tell us a little bit
about the Coast Guard.

What do you guys really do?

- So the Coast Guard is
pretty unique in the fact

that we're one of the
five military branches.

But we actually are not under
the Department of Defense,

we're under the Department
of Homeland Security.

And as one of these
five military branches,

we actually execute all typical
defense military missions

if needed, but we
actually also transition

to 11 statutory missions.

So, things like
search and rescue,

homeland security missions,
pollution response--

- Oh wow.
- Even ice breaking.

That all falls under
the Coast Guard.

And what we like to say is,

we're sort of the
protectors of mariners

who are in distress,

we also protect the
homeland against threats

that are coming from the sea,

and we even protect
the sea itself.

- So I referred to
you as response chief.

That means that anything
that happens in this area,

you're gonna be the
guy to send out boats,

air assets, anything that
you have here at the base,

is that correct?
- Yeah.

It's a kind of unique position.

So I get to do the fun stuff,

like when we talk
about the helicopter.

I get to fly that and
still stay on duty.

But our three 87-foot patrol
boats fall under operations

and tactical control
of the sector,

and I help manage that.

As well as our
small boat station,

which has four
small boats that act

as tactical pursuit operations,

law enforcement,
search and rescues.

- Can we go do a walk
around on the helo?

- Well I would love to
but I actually have to run

and deal with some
response stuff.

- [Matthew] Understandable.

- But I have an
awesome lieutenant

who will be able
to walk you through

all the ins and outs
of the helicopter.

- Does he have a mustache?

'Cause I don't want a
lieutenant with a mustache.

(upbeat music)

This is the helicopter
I was talking about,

this yellow guy.

I love this paint scheme.

It's not typical and
we're gonna find out why.

But how cool is this?

Now somewhere around
here is a pilot

that we're gonna talk to,

all we gotta do is just kind
of wait around for him or--

- Hey, you must be Matthew.

- You must be the mustache.

- Yeah, that's me.

Can't have an aviation show
without a mustache, am I right?

- That's very true.

Okay, he's not actually
called the mustache.

Well maybe he is, I don't know.

But this is Lieutenant
Zach Farrell,

and he's gonna walk us
around this helicopter.

All right, LT.
- Yeah.

- [Matthew] Let's talk
about this paint scheme.

What gives?

- So the Coast Guard in
1916 had its first flight.

- [Matthew] Okay.

- 2016 right, here
on our sweet patch,

we celebrated 100 years
of Coast Guard aviation.

So earlier Coast Guard aircraft,

they flew a yellow paint scheme,

it's kind of like how the NFL
will do a throw back color.

- [Matthew] Oh sweet.

- [Zach] The Coast Guard's
doing the same thing.

- Very cool.

All right, so lets
talk about the bird.

Where do you want to start?

- Absolutely, so let's
just kind of talk

about the MH-60 as a whole.
- Okay.

- So the Coast Guard
actually has two helicopters.

They've got an
MH-65, the Dolphin.

And the MH-60 Tango,

which is kind of the special
that we're focusing on today.

- Right.
- And it's the Jayhawk.

So Sikorsky initially
built this aircraft

because they wanted
a combat aircraft,

so it's very redundant.

It's got three
hydraulic systems,

it has multiple
electrical systems,

it has multiple fuel
lines feeding the engines.

- Whoa.
- The idea was

you did not want this helicopter

to be taken down when it's
getting hit with enemy fire.

- Right.
- So, very redundant.

It's designed to fly
into a combat zone,

take on shots, put troops
on the ground, get out.

It really gives you kinda
of a nice feeling knowing

that the helicopter is
so structurally sound,

when we're taking it
hundreds of miles off shore

to affect whatever
the mission might be.

- Let's do a walk
around on this guy.

- Absolutely.

- Where do you want to start?

- So, let's start over
here at the cabin door,

and then we'll just kind
of make our way around.

- Yeah, I like it.

Literally right above my
head, is one of the engines.

- Yes, so one of two.

One engine's capable of putting
out about 1800 horsepower.

- [Matthew] Whoa.

- In the event that the
pilot needed a little more,

we've got a switch that
we can hit in the cockpit,

that gives us about
200 more horsepower.

It burns the engine a little bit

but it's just nice to know

that the helicopter has
that capability built in,

in the event that you
did need more power.

So, commonly people will ask,

"Oh is this a bomb or
is this a torpedo?"

No, this is an
external fuel tank.

And we've got one on this
side of the helicopter,

if we were to walk
around to the other side

there'd be two more.

I think these fuel tanks,

and kind of our range
and our capability is one

of the things that sets
the Coast Guard apart.

We're capable of putting
6000 pounds of fuel

on this helicopter.

Which gives us about
six flight hours.

- Wow.
- A range of about 600 miles.

Theoretically, we'd go 250
to 300 miles off shore.

We can hover for about 30
minutes, enact a rescue,

and then fly 250
to 300 miles back.

What I would say happens
even more frequently,

is we'll get a report
of a person overboard,

or a flare sighting,
or a mayday,

and we have to go and we have
to search for these people.

The other services,
it's my understanding

that they use the 60
as kind of like a,

we're gonna go from A to B,
we're gonna affect the mission.

They don't need as much fuel.

With the Coast
Guard, any given day,

somebody could sound the
mayday off their radio,

it comes to our watchstanders.

And now we find
ourselves in a search

that might last us six
hours, 10 hours, 12 hours.

And this helicopter has the
capability to go out there,

fly that entire search pattern,

cover a large expansive
area searching

for whatever individual
may be in need.

And often times because
we have that capability

it will end in a
successful evolution

where ideally we've
saved somebody's life.

- That really does
set you guys apart.

That's impressive.

Since we're kind of relating
this back to the Huey,

one of the big differences
is the rotor system itself.

So, on the Huey it was
a two-blade system.

This is a four blade system.
- Yes.

- But there's
another difference,

and it's in the
rotor head, somehow?

- In the rotor head.

Yeah, so the Huey had, it
was a teetering rotor system.

And so the rotor system would

actually kind of teeter back
and forth about the mast.

And it gave that classic
whop, whop, whop, whop, whop,

that you often correlate
with old movies on Vietnam

or whatever it is.

- "Platoon."
- "Platoon."

So, the great thing
about the 60 is

it's got a rigid rotor system.

And so, basically all
the components are

about one solid titanium hub

which is connected to the mast.

And there's not any play there.

So just a really
solid rotor system.

The benefit to that is it
takes on various G-loads

a whole lot more effectively
than old Huey did.

And it's just a much
more stable platform.

And then you mix that in with
the stabilization systems

that we have built
into this helicopter,

and this helicopter
produces a very smooth ride.

- Speaking of UH-1s,

we were in the cockpit
of a Huey earlier,

an actual Vietnam era Huey.

- That's awesome.

- I know that the cockpit
has gotta be different

than that thing, can we
go check this on out?

- Yeah, absolutely let's
move up to the cockpit.

- Yeah, yeah.

This looks totally
different than the Huey.

- Just a little bit.

- What's going on with
all of these screens?

- So what you're
probably used to seeing,

what I imagine the Huey
at the museum looks like,

these probably have
steam gages everywhere?

- Yep.
- A bunch of switches,

probably not a lot
of the electronics

that you're seeing in here.

The good folks at Coast
Guard headquarters

decided to bring us
into the 21st century.

(Matthew laughing)

And so what you've got
in front of you is,

you have five MFDs,
multi-functional displays

and they will display all
of our instrumentation.

Additionally we can pull up
video systems while we search.

We've got a camera
underneath the helicopter

that can aide in a search.

It can pull up infrared imagery

to pick up body heat if
we're looking for a survivor.

- Wow.

- So, we can actually
control the camera

from this joystick
here in the center.

- Oh, no kidding.

- [Zach] So, either the pilot
or the co-pilot can operate,

it kind of swivels
back and forth.

The flight mech in the
back or the rescue swimmer

they actually have their
one joystick as well.

As well as their own screen
to where they can operate it

and the pilot flies.
- Whoa!

- It's all about
divvying out tasks

in the cockpit to make sure
that you're the pilot flying,

your primary job is to fly.

I'm the pilot monitoring
or the safety pilot,

my primary job is
to back you up,

to run radios, to make sure
that the aircraft's safe.

And then we've got
a rescue swimmer,

who can be helping
with the videography.

We've got the flight mech,

who can be looking
outside the cabin door.

It's really like a
cohesive team effort

to make sure that the mission
is done as effectively

and as safely as possible.

- You fly these things.

You probably know how to
like, start this bad boy up.

- Yeah, I might be
able to give a peek.

Andy, we good to
pull some power?

(machines whirring)

All right so--
- Oh yeah!

- As we fire it up,
it's a little loud.

- Yeah.

- 'Cause there's a lot of
electricity that's coming

to each of these units.

So the screen closest to you,

that's your primary
flight display.

- [Matthew] Okay.

- It gives you your air speed.-

- Heading.
- Your heading,

your attitude
indicator, altitude.

In the center, we like to keep
all of our engine instruments

so that the pilot can reference.

I'm the co-pilot,
I can reference.

I can pull up a video display.

And so right now

you can see your camera
guy there in the back.

- [Matthew] Oh,
that's so awesome.

- So I've got him on our camera,

as he has his camera on us.

- All right we're half
way there, can we go fly?

- You know what, I think
we've got something lined up.

- Oh my god.

- Yeah, let's go do it.
- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Let's get you geared up first.

- All right even better.

- All right let's go.

(upbeat music)

- [Matthew] How cool is this?

Not only did I get to ride
along with the Coast Guard,

but I got a front row seat
during an actual training drill.

A standard search and
rescue crew is made up

of a rescue swimmer,
a flight mechanic,

a pilot and a co-pilot.

Depending on the situation,

rescue swimmers can free
fall from the helicopter

or be lowered down
via the rescue hook

onto a boat or directly
into the water.

Swimmers deploy from
helicopters for medical cases

on cruise ships, or tankers.

And they also respond
to boats taking on water

or rescue people who are
already in the water.

I can't say enough
about the swimmers,

they're extremely well trained,
focused and mentally tough.

I suppose you have to be to
jump out of a moving helicopter.

It's the most widely used
American military helicopter

of all time and the
icon of the Vietnam war.

It's legacy continues
to this day,

with the sounds of it's blades
still filling the skies.

From taking a tour of the Huey

at Wings over the Rockies
Air and Space Museum

with the men who flew it,

to riding along with the
United States Coast Guard

in the MH-60 Jayhawk,

we've taken you behind the
wings of the UH-1 Iroquois.

(upbeat music)

Are you gonna shake
my hand or not?

- Oh, I thought about it but.

(both laughing)

- You heard it!

You heard it.

He'll never say a nice
thing about me again.

Sorry.

(laughing) Okay.

Brilliant, buddy.

(Zach laughing)

You're a real, you're hired.

- [Narrator] Little
learners can read, write,

talk, sing and play
at Arapahoe Libraries.

Make a play date, join a story
time, build a masterpiece

and present a puppet
show all in one morning.

More at arapahoelibraries.org.

Do Denver's 300 days of sunshine

make the smiles a little wider?

They definitely make the

energy here stronger.

So you can enjoy the blue skies

and mountain view sunsets.

Denver. Soak it all in.