Atlanta NAS

First placed on display around 1993 after storage at Fort Rucker, this was one of the last two Otters in US Army service. Its final operating unit was the Golden Knights Parachute Team, based at Fort Bragg, NC in the 1970s

AFRES 357 TAS 94TAW. Leased to Air America as 443 June/Novermber 1965.

From an early batch of 65 H-13B Sioux, converted to H-13C for ambulance use, the type being widely used in the Korea War. Redesigned OH-13C in 1962

160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Alabama ANG

This Neptune was taken on strength by the US Navy around 1953 as a P2V-5, later modified to P2V-5F and redesigned P-2E in 1962. In the mid-1960s it was loaned to the Army and converted to AP-2E, a designation allocated to draw attention away from the aircraft's role as a SIGINT handling platform (RP-2E would have been more technically correct). From 1967 to 1972 it operated with the 1st Radio Research Company out of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam on signals intelligence work. Returned to the Navy in 1973 and retired to the museum by 1981

Actually a YR-5A delivered to the USAAF in 1945, converted to YR-5D in 1946 and redesignated H-5D in 1948. Sold as N4964C in 1959, reg cancelled 1963. Displayed at the museum by 1990, in a false Air Rescue Service scheme initially

Restored to flying condition in the early 1990s in England as G-BSKS, this is one of 88 Nieuport 28C-1s returned to the US at the end of WW I. Has now been a static exhibit here for about 20 years

160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Alabama ANG

Apparently repaired after an accident at Glendale, KY in January 1943 and stored at the Army Aviation Museum until fairly recently when put on display in these marks

Taken on strength by the US Army in October 1952. Became N15184 with Orlando Helicopter Airways in March 1969, the registration not being cancelled till 2012. Interestingly there is already a 1953 photo of this helicopter in action in Korea on AirHistory

One of the first three Caribous received by the US military, constructed as a YAC-1 and first flown with test registration CF-LKU-X. The trio were delivered to the US Army in October 1959. In August 1961 it became the first of type to be deployed to Vietnam and was used as the South Vietnamese president's aircraft. Leased to Air America in 1962. In 1967 it was assigned to HQ USAF Logistics Command as a YC-7A at Wright Patterson AFB, returning to the Army Aviation Test Board, Texarkana, TX in 1970. In 1975 it flew with the Army Helicopter Demo Team (Silver Eagles), joining the museum in 1983

The Cheyenne was a compound helicopter designed for a dedicated attack role with low-mounted wings and a tail-mounted thrusting propeller driven by a General Electric T64 turboshaft engine. Ten were built between 1967 and 1969 but the less complex AH-1 Cobra found favour in the Vietnam War as a gunship, the AH-56 program being cancelled in 1972

Originally a VH-34A and later modified to VH-34C, this Choctaw flew as the 'Army One' presidential aircraft until 1964 and replacement by a VH-3, seeing a multitude of famous people aboard including Presidents Eisenhower and John F Kennedy, celebrities like Marylyn Monroe and foreign dignitaries such as Nikita Khrushchev. Unfortunately now wedged in such that a good photo angle is not possible

This was originally T-37A 56-3466, one of three Tweets evaluated by the US Army between 1957 and 1960 for battlefield observation and other combat support roles, the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk eventually being procured instead. It returned to the USAF as a T-37B in 1960 and was modified as an A-37A by 1967 with new serial 67-14520, operating for a period in Vietnam. At some point subsequently it reverted to T-37B configuration with original s/n. By late 1981 it was preserved here at the Army Aviation Museum but was later erroneously marked 63465 instead of 63466 as shown here

Taken on strength with the US Army in 1958 and converted from CH-37A to CH-37B in 1962 and saw service at Fort Wainwright, AK

The H-21 "Flying Banana", which was originally designed by Piasecki for cold weather operations, performed poorly in the hot weather of Vietnam. Despite being capable of carrying 20 passengers, it could lift only nine when operating there, the engines achieving less than half the standard 600 hours between major overhaul. Despite that, it soldiered on as the US Army's main helicopter workhorse in Vietnam until 1964 when replaced with the Bell UH-1 Huey

This was a CH-47A converted in 1969 to the BV-347 prototype as an entry for the Heavy Lift Helicopter (HLH) requirement, first flying at Vertol's test facility at Eddystone, PA in May 1970. Phase I changes included upgrades to CH-47C standards, four blade rotors, fuselage stretch, Phase II adding variable incidence wings for extra lift. Hydro-mechanical rotor controls were later replaced with a fly-by-wire system integrating wing and rotor controls automatically. Although successful the Army could not feasibly modify its entire Chinook fleet, but some improvements carried over to the CH-47D

The MH-60L is a special operations variant of the UH-60 known as a DAP (Direct Action Penetrator). From delivery in 1990 until preservation in late 2013, this one was assigned to the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment), undergoing many upgrades over the years. Displayed now as a COMNAV IDAP flown in Afghanistan in 2012, it gained fame in 1993 as "Super 68" participating in Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia and was one of three to be shot down (although making it back to base) during the Battle of Mogadishu, an account featuring in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down"