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Here is one of several photos I took of the first UH-60A Blackhawk in Europe, on the D Company, 501st ABC ramp, cir. 1980. My understanding is that this helicopter was on a tour of several US Army airfields in West Germany. Upon shutdown of the engines on our ramp, a number of D Company soldiers surrounded this aircraft. Due to the short rotor mast and drooping Sikorsky blades, we nearly lost a man when he walked upright toward the aircraft as the blades were slowing down. If not for the quick action of another nearby soldier, he probably would have been the first Blackhawk casualty in Europe.
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This is a photo taken in late 1979, from the ramp side of the D Company (501st ABC) hanger, on the Katterbach AAF. We would actually work on the aircraft in our suites for several hours on those training days. We found that when the temperature was around 40 degrees or lower, that you could actually stay comfortable while working in them. This type training was hardest on those soldiers who smoked. Some would gut the working parts of their mask filters, and others just smoked through their drinking tubes. By the following year (1980) the Carter administration's tight military budget's had cut into the US Army Europe's ability to get new "American Made" NBC suites. As a result, we only had the British made ones for a while. That all changed after President Reagan took office.
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