FLIGHTLINES Message From The Director t’s always an exciting time at the Board Officers I Southern Museum of Flight as George Anderson Holly Roe summer approaches and we gear-up Steve Glenn Susan Shaw for a busy season full of tours, Paul Maupin Jim Thompson Finance Director, City of Birmingham programs and events! During the summer months at the museum, we see many non-school groups visit us such as summer youth programs and Members church camps, whereas our highest Al Allenback Billy McDonald, III volume of K-12 school field trips will Ruby Archie Matt Mielke return in the fall. Dr. Brian Barsanti Jay Miller J. Ronald Boyd Jamie Moncus I am so very proud that for years, we have been applying an Mary Alice Carmichael Michael Morgan outside-the-box approach to our museum offerings - bringing Chuck Conour Alan Moseley Ken Coupland Dr. George Petznick alternative and non-traditional programming to our patrons, Whitney Debardelaben Marlin Priest visitors, and guests. Just like our libraries have become so much Scott Grant Herb Rossmeisl more than institutions where visitors check out a book and return Dr. Jim Griffin (Emeritus) Dr. Logan Smith Richard Grimes Clint Speegle it a few weeks later, museums and cultural arts organizations like the Southern Museum of Flight are no longer institutions where Lee Hurley Dr. Ed Stevenson Ken Key Billy Strickland you go to look at an object on display with an explanation placard Rick Kilgore Thomas Talbot resting by it. Libraries, museums, cultural arts, and STEM Austin Landry J. Kelvin Terry institutions are now dynamic, interactive, engaging, and so much Connie Logan Conner Warren Fred McCallum Dave Wood more multi-dimensional than we have ever been before. Dr. William Wood Over the last several years at the Southern Museum of Flight, we have built a strong reputation of being an extension of the traditional school classroom, and we did this by aligning all of our tours and programming with the Alabama Course of Study Standards, whereby we built-in lesson plans to everything that we do… and we did this across academic disciplines – from Social Studies to Science, and from Mathematics to Language Executive Director Dr. Brian Barsanti Arts, there is literally a complimentary lesson plan for all of our Chief of Staff & Human Resources Daphne Dunn fellow teachers in the traditional classroom, from Kindergarten Director of Operations & Curator Wayne Novy th through 12 grade. Restoration Manager Zachary Edison Education Coordinator Melissa Morgan We understand that resources in our schools are often limited, and we adapted our approach to help our teachers in planning and preparing their respective field trips. Perhaps it will be another season or two before we see a good sense of normalcy regarding field trips and other visiting groups at our cultural arts institutions (as we once knew them); however, Flight Lines is published monthly by the Southern Museum of Flight it appears as though we might be turning the corner. And our as an information source for its members, patrons, volunteers and friends. Articles that appear in this engagement with the public to include outside-the-box publication may be reprinted indicating the Southern Museum Of Flight as the source. engagement, such as additional virtual and outreach Comments are welcome and should be addressed to: programming, will continue! Flight Lines 4343 73rd Street, North Birmingham, AL 35206 Page 2 s an icon of the Vietnam War and an angel of absence of weapons pods. Slicks did have door A mercy for American troops who fought there, the gunners, but were generally employed in the troop Bell UH-1 Iroquois, affectionately known as the transport and medevac roles. UH-1s also flew “Huey,” has gone on to become the most recognizable "hunter-killer" teams with observation helicopters. helicopter in the world and was an aircraft to be used by all branches of the United States military, including The UH-1 was retired from active U.S. Army service the Coast Guard. To American troops who were in 2005 and the U.S. Army National Guard in 2009. exposed to constant enemy fire, the Huey and those The final UH-1 was retired in 2016. who flew them were angels from on high. To the Viet Boeing-Leonardo won a $2.38B contract to Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, they were manufacture a new angels of death. batch of helicopters to replace the The U. S. Army initially designated the XH-40 as the USAF’s UH-1N HU-1 (Helicopter Utility). This designation system was Huey that are used altered in 1962 and the HU-1 became the UH-1, but the to guard nuclear original nickname “Huey” remained. The official name missile silos. The of the UH-1 is the Iroquois, following the now defunct MH-139A is a tradition of naming helicopters after Native American militarized version of tribes. the AgustaWestland AW139. The USAF accepted its first MH-139 on Over 7,000 Hueys were deployed in numerous forms December 16, 2019 and named it "Grey Wolf". and roles in Vietnam. But the cost of the helicopter war was high: the U.S. Army lost 2,249 to hostile fire - more The Southern Museum of Flight, as a lasting tribute than half of them Hueys - and 2,075 to accidents; the to those who served with the Huey in Vietnam, is U.S. Marines lost 424 to all causes. Between 1966 and proud to display the Bell UH-1H on a pylon at the 1971, one Army helicopter was lost for every 7.9 sorties. west entrance to the museum. This Huey was 564 pilots, 1,155 crewmen, and 682 passengers were earlier located at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, killed in accidents alone. More Hueys were downed in Alabama and came to the museum in 1999. Vietnam than any other type of aircraft. Planning began shortly after 1999 on the restoration schedule and display arrangement for the Huey. A dedicated cadre of skilled volunteer craftsmen began the myriad of tasks needed to produce an impressive result for public display and as a credit to the museum and to their skills. Those objectives were met! During service in the Vietnam War, the UH-1 was used for various purposes and various terms for each task From this abounded. UH-1s tasked with ground attack or armed escort were outfitted with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and machine guns. As early as 1962, UH-1s were modified locally by the companies themselves, who fabricated their own mounting systems. UH-1 gunships were commonly referred to as "Frogs" or "Hogs" if they carried rockets, and "Cobras" or simply "Guns" if they had guns. UH-1s tasked and configured for troop transport were often called "Slicks" due to an To this Page 3 ince the Lockheed A-12 Weeks, and his fellow A-12 pilots, S “Cygnus” made its appearance were our nation's Cold War icons at the Southern Museum of Flight of aviation. They were the 'Best of over 20 years ago, it has been the the Best'. They flew across the sky most recognizable visual icon of at unbelievable speeds and higher the museum. Of the 13 A-12s than most can even imagine. To originally built, only 8 remain and these "Unknown Heroes" we owe the SMF has one of the most more than one can say with storied airframes, identified by The Museum’s "thanks". Lockheed and the CIA as Article Iconic A-12 131 “Cygnus” (USAF 60-6937). (Article 131) Weeks flew Article 131 on the first of three reconnaissance missions This aircraft was the first A-12 to following the seizure of the USS be deployed to Kadena AFB Pueblo, and four other Black (Okinawa) in 1967 for CIA purposes. It also flew the Shield missions. On June 5, 1968, as Operation Black first of 29 A-12 operational missions mostly over North Shield was being terminated and the A-12s returned Vietnam. It also flew the first of three operational from Kadena AFB to Area 51 for retirement, Jack missions following the seizure of the USS Pueblo in Weeks was conducting a functional checkout flight of 1968 by North Korean military forces. It made its last Article 129 after replacement of one of its engines and flight on June 21,1968 to Lockheed’s Skunk Works in was lost in the South China Sea. He became the Palmdale, CA, the final flight of any A-12. Article 131 second CIA pilot killed in the OXCART Program had flown just 345.75 hours in 177 flights. honored in the “Book of Honor” at CIA Headquarters. Weeks was awarded the CIA Intelligence Star for This historic aircraft was transported from Palmdale to courageous action and this award was presented to Birmingham in February 2000 where it has been his wife, Sharlene, posthumously. honorably displayed to the public and been the focus of many events that emphasized the important role the On June 4, 2008, a A-12s and SR-71 “Blackbirds” served during their ceremony was held reconnaissance missions. at the USS ALABAMA Battleship Surviving the final Memorial Park beside U.S.A.F. screening an A-12 (Article 132). process for the pilots that Famous artist Dru would fly and test this Blair unveiled another new and exotic airplane of his exceptional for the CIA would be paintings, this one Birmingham native, depicting Jack Jack Warren Weeks. Weeks' A-12 mission He was one of the eleven over North Korea during the initial pilots from which USS Pueblo seizure by North only eight were finally Korean naval forces.