The story of LEGEND
The Bell AH-1 Cobra is an American attack helicopter that first entered service in 1967 in the Vietnam War.
It was developed by Bell Helicopter from the successful UH-1 Huey, just as the Russian Mi-24 was developed from the Mi-8.
The AH-1 Cobra was designed as a special helicopter to support ground troops. Its powerful armament and maneuverability made it a very popular helicopter within the U.S. military and abroad.
Early versions of the AH-1G flown in Vietnam were equipped with the 1,300hp (horsepower) T53-L-13 engine, armed with a TAT-141 forward gun turret allowing the installation of two 7.62mm GAU-2B/A Minigun rotary machine guns, or 40mm XM75 automatic grenade launchers, or a combination of the two.
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Other armament options included XM-18 containers with Minigun machine guns and launchers for 70mm FFAR unguided missiles (up to 76 pieces in four XM-159 launchers) on hangers under the stubby wings.
.Later upgraded versions, designated AH-1S, had a square cockpit and a more powerful 1,800-hp T53-L703 Lycoming engine and were equipped with, among other things, a 20mm rotary cannon and could carry TOW anti-tank guided missiles. HELLFIRE anti-tank guided missiles were also tested on some versions.
Later variants of the "S" were designated "E" and "F". The Cobra participated in many conflicts and war operations.
Cobra in Czechoslovak
In the 1980s, it was a frequent visitor to the Czechoslovak/West German border and when it appeared near the Pilsen, the Army Air Command set up an air defence station at Zhůří (Šumava) and later at Kříženec near Mariánské Lázně, where two Mi-24 helicopters from the Plzeň-Bory airport were assigned to operate against them.
The Cobras were not used only by the US Army, but also in twin-engine variants by the US Navy.
The naval version of the AH-1J Sea Cobra, equipped with twin T400-CP-400 engines, on the basis of which the current Cobra AH-1Z Zulu, which will also be received by our army, is based, served mainly in the US NAVY.
The Cobra is still one of the most respected attack helicopters in history and its importance to the US Army and helicopter technology is unquestionable.
This will be the first time the legendary Cobra will be on display at Day in the Air.
This helicopter was produced in 1977, as the TAH-1S model for training American pilots at Forth Rucker. It was later transformed into the TAH-1P model, where it was used to train pilots on the AH-64 Apache.
The "P" designation stood for "Production" and was due to trials of new helicopter systems, as well as on 8 other machines of the same type.
This helicopter did not leave the United States until 2012, until HELI CZECH brought it to the Czech Republic.
Now you can see it here, as an "S" model, as the basis of the upgraded single-engine Cober
ARRIVAL TO HRADEC KRALOVE
