WOW488 Bell AH-1 Cobra ‘The Gladiator’

Description

The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a single-engined attack helicopter developed and manufactured by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Bell Helicopters. A member of the prolific Huey family, the AH-1 is also referred to as the Huey Cobra or Snake.

The AH-1 was rapidly developed as an interim gunship in response to theUS Army’s  needs in the Vietnam War. It used the same engine, transmission and rotor system of the Bell Iroquois, which had already proven itself to be a capable platform during the conflict, but paired it with a redesigned narrow fuselage among other features. The original AH-1, being a dedicated attack helicopter, came equipped with stub wings for various weapons, a chin-mounted gun turret, and an armored tandem cockpit, from which it was operated by a pilot and gunner. Its design was shaped to fulfil a need for a dedicated armed escort for transport helicopters, giving the latter greater survivability in contested environments. On 7 September 1965, the Model 209 prototype performed its maiden flight; after rapidly gaining the support of various senior officials, quantity production of the type proceeded rapidly with little revision.

During June 1967, the first examples of the AH-1 entered service with the US Army and was promptly deployed to the Vietnam theatre. It commonly provided fire support to friendly ground forces, escorted transport helicopters, and flew in “hunter killer” teams by pairing with the Hughes Cayuse scout helicopters. In the Vietnam War alone, the Cobra fleet cumulatively chalked up in excess of one million operational hours; roughly 300 AH-1s were also lost in combat. In addition to the US Army, various other branches of the US military also opted to acquire the type, particularly the USMC. Furthermore, numerous export sales were completed with several overseas countries, including Israel, Japan and Turkey.

Our 1/30 scale model is limited to 2 in number for this production batch. The figures and accessories shown are not included and shown for scale comparison purposes only.