Beans and Bullets

In 1983, the UH-60 Black Hawk was still new to the Army.It had only begun replacing the Huey a few years earlier when Operation Urgent Fury sent the aircraft into combat for the first time.On October 25, U.S. forces began operations on the Caribbean island of Grenada. The next morning, UH-60As from the 82nd Combat Aviation Battalion arrived at Point Salines to support the 82nd Airborne Division.For many of the crews, this was the first time the new Black Hawk would be tested outside exercises and evaluations.The aircraft immediately went to work moving Soldiers, supporting air assaults, and carrying troops across an island where terrain, limited maps, communications problems, and enemy fire made even short flights difficult.One of the most demanding missions came during the assault on Calivigny on October 27. Rangers boarded UH-60s for a daylight landing near a suspected enemy position. As the formation touched down, the lead aircraft came under fire and several Black Hawks were damaged or lost during a chaotic landing sequence.The mission also showed something important about the new helicopter. The UH-60 had been designed with survivability in mind, and its rugged construction helped protect many of the Soldiers and crews aboard.Grenada became the Black Hawk’s first real test in combat.The lessons from those few days influenced training, planning, and tactics as the UH-60 became the backbone of Army utility aviation.More than four decades later, the Black Hawk is still doing the job it first proved it could do in 1983.

Long before the Apache, Black Hawk, or Chinook became familiar sights, Army aviators were already building a profession of their own.Army organic aviation traces its modern roots to 1942, when small observation aircraft began supporting artillery units during World War II. But the wings Army aviators recognize today came later.On July 27, 1950, the Army approved the Aviator Badge and Senior Aviator Badge. The design was simple: a pair of wings surrounding the shield from the Coat of Arms of the United States.According to the Army, the wings represent flight and the skill required to perform it. The shield represents loyalty and devotion to duty.The basic Army Aviator Badge is earned after completing the required flight training, proficiency requirements, and formal designation as an Army aviator.Experience adds something to the wings.The Senior Army Aviator Badge places a star above the shield. Today, aviators may qualify after seven years of rated aviation service, 1,000 flight hours, and the required operational flying assignments.In 1957, the Army approved a third level: the Master Army Aviator Badge. Its star is surrounded by a laurel wreath. Qualification reflects a much longer career in the cockpit, including 15 years of rated aviation service and 2,000 flight hours.That is why a set of Army wings can tell you more than simply whether someone learned to fly. The star and wreath represent years of experience, missions, checkrides, deployments, and lessons passed from one generation of aviators to the next.The aircraft have changed dramatically since 1950. The wings have remained remarkably familiar.

Night flying used to mean working with whatever light the sky gave you.Army aviators relied heavily on moonlight, the natural horizon, instruments, terrain familiarity, careful navigation, and close crew coordination. At low altitude, a road, river, town, or ridgeline that was obvious during the day could almost disappear after sunset.Then night vision technology began changing the equation.The Army experimented with a goggle type device in Southeast Asia as early as 1969. By 1973, the AN/PVS-5 had been accepted as an interim night vision system for pilots.The early goggles were a long way from what aviators know today.They offered a limited field of view, reduced visual acuity, and made judging distance and identifying obstacles difficult. Instead of simply issuing goggles and sending crews flying, the Army had to learn how to operate an aircraft through them.In 1976, four sets of AN/PVS-5s arrived at the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker. Instructor pilots began developing the training from scratch. Early flights stayed around the stagefield while crews learned what the goggles could and could not do.Over the next several years, training expanded into low level and tactical flying. By 1983, Army flight school graduates were receiving NVG qualification.Units such as the newly formed 160th would push night flying even further, helping develop techniques for low level operations in darkness that became central to modern Army Aviation.Today, flying under goggles is simply part of the profession. Getting there took years of experimentation, instructor pilots willing to learn a completely new way to fly, and aircrews discovering the limitations one flight at a time.

By the early 1970s, the UH-1 Huey had already changed the way the Army moved across the battlefield. But Vietnam had also made something clear: the Army’s next utility helicopter needed more power, more survivability, and more room to grow.In 1972, the Army launched the Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System competition to find the Huey’s replacement.Sikorsky answered with the YUH-60A. Boeing Vertol submitted the competing YUH-61A.The Sikorsky prototype first flew on October 17, 1974. What followed was a demanding Army evaluation that tested both aircraft at contractor facilities and later at Fort Rucker and Fort Campbell.The YUH-60A was selected in 1976.The aircraft looked very different from the Huey it was replacing. Two General Electric T700 engines, a four-blade main rotor, greater troop and cargo capacity, and an increased emphasis on reliability and survivability reflected lessons learned from years of helicopter operations.In 1978, the Army accepted its first production UH-60A. The following year, Black Hawks began entering service with aviation elements of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions.The name “Black Hawk” honored the Sauk leader Black Hawk.What began as a competition to replace the Huey became one of the longest-serving aircraft families in Army Aviation. The UH-60 would eventually take on air assault, MEDEVAC, command and control, special operations, and countless support missions around the world.Nearly everything familiar about the modern Black Hawk traces back to those first prototypes of the 1970s.

Today, “DUSTOFF” is almost inseparable from Army medical evacuation. But the name started as something much simpler: a radio call sign.When the 57th Medical Detachment arrived in Vietnam in 1962, its crews did not yet have a dedicated tactical call sign. For a time, they identified themselves over the radio as “Army” followed by the aircraft’s tail number.In 1963, Maj. Lloyd E. Spencer decided the unit needed something better. He obtained a Signal Operations Instructions book containing unused call words and began looking for one that fit a helicopter ambulance unit.Most did not and then he found “Dust Off.”It was almost too appropriate. Vietnam’s dry fields meant a Huey arriving for a pickup could throw enormous clouds of dust, dirt, blankets, and anything else nearby into the air. The 57th adopted the name, and it quickly became associated with the sight of a medical helicopter coming for the wounded.The call sign gained an even deeper meaning under Maj. Charles L. Kelly, who commanded the 57th in 1964. Kelly became known for accepting missions in difficult conditions and for his response when urged to leave a dangerous landing zone:“When I have your wounded.”Kelly was lost during a rescue mission on July 1, 1964, but the standard he helped establish remained.Other Army air ambulance units began adopting the same call sign, and by the end of the war, “DUSTOFF” had become far more than a radio identifier.More than 60 years later, Army MEDEVAC crews still carry the name.

For generations of Army aviators, few uniforms were as recognizable as the solid green flight suit.But the “pickle suit” became part of Army Aviation for a much more practical reason than appearance. Its story is tied directly to lessons learned in Vietnam.Early in the war, aircrews flew in clothing that offered limited protection from fire. Helicopter operations carried a particular risk. A hard landing or crash could rupture fuel systems, turning a survivable impact into a fire emergency within seconds.The Army needed a better answer.In early 1968, new two-piece flight uniforms made from Nomex began reaching Army aircrews in Vietnam. The flame-resistant material gave crews added protection during cockpit fires and post-crash emergencies. By 1969, the Army had made the fire-resistant flight uniform a standard item.The design continued to evolve, and over the following decades the one-piece green Nomex flight suit became inseparable from the image of the Army aviator. Somewhere along the way, its solid green appearance earned it the nickname “pickle suit.”Huey, Cobra, Black Hawk, Chinook, and Apache crews all wore versions of it. Add the leather name tag, aviator wings, unit patch, and a well-used flight helmet, and an entire generation knew exactly what profession you belonged to.By the late 2000s, the Army had transitioned toward the two-piece Army Aircrew Combat Uniform, and the pickle suit largely disappeared from Army flight lines.But for decades, it was part of the identity of Army Aviation, and it began with a simple purpose: giving aircrews a better chance of coming home.If you want to honor the heritage and legacy of Army Aviation, check out our shop at beans-and-bullets.com or click our profile!#BeansAndBullets #HeritageTuesday #ArmyAviation#PickleSuit #FlightSuit