Missouri Guard retires its last flying UH-1 chopper

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri Air National Guard has retired its last UH-1 "Huey" helicopter with a ceremony at the Springfield-Branson National Airport.

Maj. Joshua Hudgens and Col. Gary Herchenroeder were the last pilots of the last Huey operated by the Guard in a flight Saturday. The 35-year-old aircraft had one last flight over Springfield, taking off and landing in winds reaching 40 mph.

The Huey has been superseded by the shark-shaped UH-60 Black Hawk and the AH-64 Apache gunship.

The Huey will be refurbished by Aviation Classification and Repair Activity Depot personnel, then displayed at the enlarged AVCRAD facility.

With Hudgens in the left seat and Herchenroeder in the right seat for Saturday's flight, passengers included retired Lt. Col. Mike Fields, Chief Warrant Officer Dan Frederick and some reporters.

Fields, Frederick and crew chief Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Taylor were on the crew that flew the Huey from the Bell Helicopter plant in early 1975 to begin the machine's career with the Guard.

Passengers were treated to a flight during which an intercom and hand signals were the only ways to communicate as rotors thumped and turbine whined.

As it landed, the chopper hovered a few feet off the ground and a crowd waited as two airport fire trucks sprayed water over the Huey.

During the retirement ceremony, Herchenroeder noted that the helicopter had 8,551 flight hours on missions that included FBI manhunts, aerial surveys after a 1983 tornado and aerial lifts for several governors.

Chief Warrant Officer Dean Stonner, who began his flying career as a 19-year-old enlistee during the Vietnam War and flew Apaches in Iraq, recalled logging 1,250 hours flying Hueys in a support unit assigned to the 9th Infantry Division.

"We were a kind of general purpose, rental car place, if you will," he said.

Duties included moving equipment and soldiers and evacuating the wounded.

"The Huey is just like a pair of shoes that are broken in," Stonner said. "It's just a good, utility aircraft."

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com