VN183(SE)
King & Country
During the Vietnam War aeromedical evacuation units, commonly called ‘Dust-Offs’ evacuated a staggering 900,000 casualties from the battlefield.
The vast majority of these ‘Air Ambulances’ were reconfigured ‘HUEYS’ which were unarmed ‘Dust-Offs’ and could be airborne in just 3 minutes after receiving an emergerncy call and have their patients back in a field hospital with in 15 minutes from taking off from an LZ (Landing Zone).
Despite large and prominent red-crosses on the aircraft they often faced intense groundfire when trying to extract the wounded.
Although usually escorted by flying bodyguard ‘Gunships’ who would provide suppressing fire. ‘Dust-Offs’ would often still fly into hostile fire zones without escort when emergencies demanded it. Time after time, these life-saving crews and their ‘HUEYS’ performed miracles in the most difficult of conditions and situations. This particular ‘Special Edition’ model is a tribute to them!
Just 200 of each of these first two 1:30 scale ‘HUEYS’ are being produced. Both models include pilot and copilot figures and comes packed in a sturdy, full-color presentation box with a numbered certificate.
Among the most iconic sights and sounds, of the Vietnam War one in particular stands head and shoulders above all the rest… That of the BELL UH-1 ‘IRIQUOIS’ Helicopter better known to the world at large and the ‘Grunts’ on the ground as the ‘HUEY’.
No one can imagine the Vietnam conflict without the distinctive shape and ‘whoop, whoop’ sound of this iconic aircraft which revolutionized warfare by performing an incredible variety of vital military tasks. The ‘HUEY’ transported troops, supplies, arms and ammunition, evacuated wounded and dozens of other missions in all types of weather over all kinds of terrain night and day between 1962 and 1975.
During that time over 7,000 ‘HUEYS’ flew over Vietnam with more than 3,300 lost-in-action along with 1151 pilots and copilots. In addition another 1,231 crew members were killed and those figures do not include ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) aircrew!
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