Preserves prototypes of the United States Army's attack helicopters

US Army Aviation Museum: a place to see spectacular historic aircrafts

As I have already pointed out on occasion, the United States is an ideal destination for fans of aeronautical museums.

A tour of the fabulous contents of the aeronautical museum at RAF Cosford
Air Park Zruč: a winter visit to an aircraft and tank museum in the Czech Republic

One of them is the U.S. Army Aviation Museum, located on the Fort Rucker military base in Alabama. It is not among the largest aeronautical museums in that country, but it has some spectacular contents, although many things are missing, especially if we take into account that the current United States Air Force (USAF) had its origins in the United States Army Air Service (USAAS), created in 1918 and converted into the Army Air Corps (USAAC) in 1926 and the Army Air Forces in 1942, until its conversion into a separate branch of the US Armed Forces in 1947.

The exterior of the museum is already a preview of the things that can be seen inside: it has a Bell AH-1S Huey Cobra attack helicopter on display on its façade , 0-17109.

Outside the museum is also the only built Boeing Vertol BV-347, an experimental helicopter with four-bladed wings and rotors made in 1970 from a CH-47A Chinook. The hydromechanical rotor control system was replaced by a fly-by-wire.

Upon entering the museum premises you can see a set of sculptures in which each statue represents an era of US Army Aviation.

The interior of the museum contains helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and drones used by the US Army throughout its history, from World War I to the present day.

The museum preserves the two prototypes of the Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, an attack helicopter that made its first flight in 1996. The project was canceled eight years later.

Here we see the Bell 209, with civilian registration N209J. It is the prototype of the AH-1G Huey Cobra attack helicopter.

The Bell AH-1P Cobra 76-22600, later upgraded to the AH-1F version. It was one of the two original prototypes of the AF-1F Cobra.

One of the most spectacular shows in the museum is "Bravo Blues", which reproduces a famous photo from the Vietnam War showing a Bell UH-1H Huey from the 9th Cavalry Regiment.

Another of the museum's spectacular displays is the "Miss Clawd IV" , which shows a Hughes OH-6A Cayuse, the Miss Clawd IV (number 68-17340), together with a Huey that was really Shot down in Vietnam.

Another of the museum's historic aircraft is the Super 68, one of the Sikorsky MH-60L Black Hawk helicopters (90-26288) of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) that participated in Operation Gothic Serpent in Mogadishu, Somalia, in which two American Black Hawks were shot down.

For more information about this museum, I encourage you to visit their website, where it is available an awesome 3D virtual tour of their facilities, which you can enjoy using virtual reality glasses. You can also check out this video from Airailimages taking a tour of the museum:

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Photos: U.S. Army Aviation Museum.

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