WIX Archives

Re: Brian's Cobras

Posted by Brian on Sat Jan 31, 2004 02:36:18 PM

In reply top Re: Brian's Cobras posted by Rob Mears on Sat Jan 31, 2004 12:14:36 PM

: Brian gets the biggest pat on the back from me for his dec
: ision to preserve THREE Cobra helicopters (and counting?).
: Virtually no one has taken to the scent of the AH-1 Cobr
: a, and AFAIK there will never be a deluge of Cobra airfram
: es on the market that people can pick & choose from at the
: ir own convenience. They apparently have to be quickly sn
: apped up one at a time as the rare opportunity presents it
: self.
:
: To this day I count only about eight that have been preser
: ved in private hands, which is a pretty poor track record
: for what is effectively the ORIGINAL attack helicopter. T
: he Cobra paved the way for the choppers that now dominate
: the modern battlefield.
:
:
: I think the majority of warbird folks would consider the C
: obra to be an "off topic" aircraft, but when it comes to m
: ilitary combat aviation you can't deny the significance of
: the type. As restricted as it may be, the pool of surplu
: s Cobra airframes that are available for private ownership
: and collection are out there today, and will not be there
: tomorrow. Twenty or thirty years from now there will be
: plenty of youngish aviation enthusiasts & collectors sayin
: g "If I'd only known about it back then" - same as many WW
: II-era warbird enthusiasts say today ;)
:
: Taiwan has a squadron of Cobras that will hopefully be imp
: ortable to the West for private ownership once they are de
: emed obsolete in the not too distant future. The Army isn
: 't about to let the private sector fly off in their surplu
: s Cobras, and I really can't think of any other sources wh
: ere they might be found in the future. There are a number
: of Cobras being modified for heavy lifting and fire bombi
: ng, but I'm not sure about the Federal restrictions on tho
: se birds, or the possibility of their being available for
: private purchase after they've been relieved of their curr
: ent duties.
:
: The original Vietnam-era AH-1G is still the best-looking C
: obra to roll off the assembly line IMO (slim, single-engin
: e fuselage, rounded canopy, 7.62 mini-gun, etc). I know o
: f only ONE of these that is available and in private hands
: . I suppose the majority of these early examples were sim
: ply upgraded into the twin-engine monster Cobras that are
: still flying today.
:
: Anyway, I never hear anyone ANYWHERE talk about "warbird"
: Cobras so I just wanted to share my feelings on the matter
: ;D
Glad you have so much interest in the AH-1. Here is more info.
You are correct. The military will not be releasing anymore Cobras to civilians. In the begining there were only 9 released. They escaped the scrapper and the military only because they are actually "trainers". They are known as TAH-1P's. The only real difference is the front pilot controls have a boosted overide for the rear seat. Other than that they are the same. These are the only legal Cobras you can own. There are several others that were built up from scrap. The government has and will be picking these up from the owners. These birds are considered gun platforms just like an F-15. Of course our birds are just trainers. The others going to states for fire fighting etc. are only on oan to them from the Government. They cannot own or sell them ever. Others that are in schools are the same way plus they are de-milled and cut inside. To clarify. I only have 2 Cobra. The third on display at the museum is on loan from the Army and is static only. The Army did not sell these things. How they got traded is a whole different story.

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