Aircraft History -- Dustoff N37995

Photo taken during Flying Thunder

This UH-1B was built in 1960 as the sixth B model off the Bell assembly line. Given bureau number 60-3559 it still resembles the UH-1A model in many ways, such as the thin door post. Military records are not too good for the early years of Vietnam. But what we have uncovered indicates that this helicopter served with the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance). It was one of the first 5 UH-1B helicopters sent to Vietnam in 1963 for the 57th Med. to replace the under powered UH-1A models. They were put into service in a record 12 days after arriving in Vietnam.

The DUSTOFF call sign was acquired by the 57th Medical Detachment in January, 1964. The statistics for DUSTOFF are very impressive. 97% of the wounded soldiers who reached a hospital survived. Over 390,000 troops were flown by DUSTOFF during the Vietnam War. Average time from wounding to the surgical table was 100 minutes. 88 DUSTOFF pilots were KIA and 380 wounded.

After serving in Vietnam, this helicopter returned to the states, was rebuilt several times and served in Germany until being returned to the USA. Last flight was 16 September 1976 at Camp Robinson, AK. At this point in time it had 4927.8 hours total time. The helicopter was then transferred to MASDF, Davis Monthan AFB Tucson, AZ. We have no information on when it was sold by the Army or what owners it had until February 2000 when it belonged to Warren Dettmer who sold it to the Veterans of the Vietnam War Museum in Columbus, OH on October 6, 2003 and then to Overseas Aircraft Support April 20, 2004.

It was purchased by Overseas Aircraft Support and placed into outdoor storage to be used for parts or possible rebuild at some future date. In 2004 Larry Clark and Stan Bieleski started the long restoration process to bring this Huey back to life. Along with almost every employee of Overseas Aircraft assisting, it still took 3 years to assemble what you see today.



First flight was October 5, 2007 after 32 years of inactivity. Painted by Shane Meder, it was flown to Nellis AFB for the big airshow to celebrate the Air Force 60th anniversary in November 2007. Along with “Bandit”, it performed a simulated pickup of a downed pilot while being covered by “Puff”.

Today it is flying like a new helicopter with a T53-L-22 engine and a very light weight airframe without military radios and equipment. It is slated for conversion to a “Super B” and will be doing heavy lift work in the near future.