As one of the pioneers of helicopter warfare dating back the Malayan Emergency, the UK expressed interest in the helicopter gunship concept first displayed in the Bell AH-1G Cobra.  Following evaluations of the Cobra in 1969 the UK MoD ordered 36 AH-1Gs.  With some in the MoD still skeptical of the concept budgets were constrained, so the order was for off-the-shelf US standard AH-1Gs, with no UK specific modifications.  The first 10 aircraft were delivered from Bell with the remaining 24 being assembled locally from Bell-supplied parts by Westland.

The order of 36 included 6 dual-control trainers, to be operated by a Training Flight, while the remaining 30 were split between an Army Air Corps Squadron and a Royal Marines squadron, each receiving 12 airframes.  The remaining 6 were maintained by the Training Flight and held as reserves.

Known as the Cobra AH.1 in UK service the Cobra proved popular with crews and a useful asset.  All AH.1s were upgraded in the late 1970s with many of the AH-1Q-AH-1E features, including the M197 cannon and TOW missile capability to become Cobra AH.2s.

UK Cobras first saw action in 1982 when 8 Royal Marine Cobra AH.2s deployed as part of Operation Corporate to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina...

More to follow...

 

 

  

Makes SO much sense................ 

Quote from: PR19_Kit on February 13, 2023, 02:58:49 AMMakes SO much sense................ 

It does indeed. I've never really understood why the UK didn't go down the gunship path earlier ?

What a great idea !

Good progress today.  I found a cheap Monogram AH-1S to donate a few parts to update the AH-1G/AH.1 to the upgraded AH.2 Cobra. 

One change is the gun. Instead of the minigun/grenade launcher turret in the kit I wanted to upgrade to the M197 cannon.  I'm torn between the exposed mount of the Monogram S or using one of the turrets in the Special Hobby G and just adding the three-barrel cannon.  The soft detail of the Monogram part has me leaning towards the latter. 

Also thinking on weapons load.  It seems a no brainer that RM Cobras would fly a lot of CAS, but in the RW Royal Marine Gazelles were used as armed escorts for cargo flights hauling supplies, ammo, and troops.  The results were fairly disastrous, but maybe a more heavily armed and armoured dedicated gunship would have had more luck.

For the escort role I'm considering the M61 Vulcan mount included in the kit, along with either a US rocket pod or a RN 2in pod.  This would be supplemented by a pair of Stingers.

Other options I'm looking at include a load of TOW missiles and rockets, or a ****load of gun pods. 

Anyhoo...for now, the options for the M197.

Camo on.  A few touchups to go.

Heh, nice one.

Funnily enough, I have a backstory that has Argentina taking Hueycobras to the Falklands. One of them gets disarmed and used as a flying crane on the islands for a few years, before disappearing into a web a shady companies, and eventually being found in an actual shed in the former Yugoslavia in the mid 1990s, halfway through being re-armed with Soviet weapons.

I built the middle one to feed my BAS/FIGAS fetish, but the other two (Argie Army service and incomplete 'Mad Max' gunship) still await...

Just reading the title, I thought this would be a corporate VIP transport....

Quote from: mexchiwa on February 18, 2023, 02:56:32 AMJust reading the title, I thought this would be a corporate VIP transport....

A bit of intentional misdirection.   I plan on changing the thread title when it's finished . 

Down to the "weapons and Fiddly Bits" stage.  Hoping to finish her by Tuesday as I have to work nights the rest of the week and weekend and wint have any bench time.

Leaning towards a fun little asymmetric weapons load for Wessex escort missions. 

I can't remember when sidewinders were cleared for use from Helicopters, however saying that, a lot of stuff was cleared for use in a hurry duering the trip south.

Gondor

That's looking good.