Dead Horse abuse (A Needed Huey Update)

[Barrett]

From what I can see around these forums and from most anywhere discussing the UH-1H in DCS, its the general consensus that the Huey is in need of some love, from the least demanding saying a face lift is all that is in order with others calling for as much as the -1N in a full late configuration to be added. While I would love to have the ladder added to the game, it's pretty well established that its a whole different beast to the -1H we have in game, to the extent it may as well be a new module, to which someone usually chimes in that if were adding new heli modules, "...I'd rather have the UH-60"

So to somewhat appease both sides of it, I had a few proposals. the biggest being to split the Huey into 2 aircraft like the F-14 has with an A and a B model. I'm sure lot designations or some fancier wording could be used, but essentially you could have a UH-1H (early) and a UH-1H (late).  

Both could get a texture upgrade as well as tuning done to them such as reduced washing machine effect on startup, damage model update, visible cargo/troops (I know there are other general complaints but i can't think of any off the top of my head), as well as threat warning from the aircrew for general incoming fire. Think jesters ai with some simple lines like "small arms fire, 9 o'clock, low" "missile, 4 o'clock, high" for when you have incoming things from your blind spots but your crew can see but you're only alerted when you're a fireball or when you hear thuds around your aircraft. on top of that, some features that would have been neat since the beginning like being able to remove the cabin and sliding doors like you do with the exhaust IR suppressor.

UH-1H Early would be basically what we have in game but tuned even more for the Vietnam era, maybe minus some of the slightly more modern features such as flares, wire cutters on the chin and roof, keep it era appropriate till about '72 or something, to appease the Vietnam scene that's likely to start growing with the phantoms release eventually.

The UH-1H late would be things in line with the UH-1H circa 1988, features mostly in line with manuals such as TM 55-1520-210-10. While a complete list would be exhaustive and features like hoists wouldn't be of much use in DCS, a few key features that would really help the UH1 to stay more relevant and make it much more enjoyable to fly would be:

- properly integrated and working GPS                                                                                                                           

-RWR especially and maybe different countermeasure pods and chaff (Think more of how the -1N had standard countermeasure pods mounted at the base of the tail, but i'm not sure if the army ever got to that with their H models)

-More "up to date" radios with keypads instead of dials that are oh so fun to mess with in VR

to name what i think are the big ones. they could also do small features like enclosed 7 tube launchers (which i'm pretty sure already exist in game) and other small things you can see when skimming the manual.  In my opinion, this would be a decent balance of ED workload, fan appeasement and needed modernization to the aircraft. The troops in the back already exists as a mod, there's a slightly buggy and out of date mod that adds RWR and a very rough and now neglected implementation of GPS all exist for the huey already from ed. I can't imagine as talented as ED can be that a small team focused on this could knock something like this out eventually. That's just my 2 cents anyway. Feel free to discuss.

 

[bies]

On 4/25/2023 at 8:47 PM, Barrett said:

UH-1H Early would be basically what we have in game but tuned even more for the Vietnam era, maybe minus some of the slightly more modern features such as flares, wire cutters on the chin and roof, keep it era appropriate till about '72 or something, to appease the Vietnam scene that's likely to start growing with the phantoms release eventually.

That would be nice. It was Huey's high point.

[snocc_]

the DCS huey needs a full rework at this point, hopefully if we ever do get it we can get all these little options added in, i'd be willing to pay for a huey 2 upgrade that addresses the problems our current version has and brings in a little more customizability to it or brings in a full early/late version package like the post says

[BMO]

I´m rather new to the huey and enjoy it very much. 

The only thing I am REALLY missing is a RWR or a copilot that calls out some stuff like jester.

Also nice to have would be some more weapon choices, like:

• 40mm chin mounted grenade launcher
• .50cal gunners
• SS.11 ATGMS
• Experimental TOW launchers
• Side mounted forward looking M60´s (isnt this a classic?)

 

[Barrett]

On 11/23/2023 at 7:33 AM, BMO said:

I´m rather new to the huey and enjoy it very much. 

The only thing I am REALLY missing is a RWR or a copilot that calls out some stuff like jester.

Also nice to have would be some more weapon choices, like:

• 40mm chin mounted grenade launcher
• .50cal gunners
• SS.11 ATGMS
• Experimental TOW launchers
• Side mounted forward looking M60´s (isnt this a classic?)

 

Only thing I would say about this is the fact most of those were Hog things, so B, C, and I think M model. The H didn't get most of those things I don't think. The 50 cals would be very cool. And obviously the RWR/Jester I agree with since I posted it originally lol

[Kev2go]

i would point out that the issue with huey besides needing a cockpit and external model facelift, is that it ideally  to also have multiple variations of the Uh1. Im not talking UH1N since its a different service aircraft, but just from the single engine army hueys. The long bodies Hueys ( Bell 205 aka Uh1D and Uh1H)  to my knowledge were never used in gunship configuration. Only the bell 204 ; the Uh1B/C/M ever saw the forward facing miniguns, rocket pods, and thier associated weapons aiming systems in US service. Only some foreign operators adopted them on UH1H like the Aussies. As usefull having flares is on the huey, I am also not familiar what source material was used to give the Uh1H countermeasure dispensers because that also is not referenced in any US army based manuals nor the Aussie Bushranger manual. According to document ( work order ) MWO 55-1520-210-30-48 dated 1980 , the AN/APN 209 Radar Altimeter seemed to be exclusive to the Uh1V  ( dedicated medivac that derived from Uh1H). The work order states that any Uh1H's installed with AN/APN 209 shall be redesignated to UH1V.

 

There is also other configuration for the Uh1H itself looking at the 1988 publication ( with revisions up to 1999) like Doppler GPS navigation based system, or alternatively AN/ASn175  GPS system with data cartridge, or even optional AN/APR39 RWR installation, but from what i gather APR39's were seemingly installed in medivac configuration Uh1V, rather then the standard UH1H.

 

So to summarize,  the Uh1H we had in DCS was a franken Huey to begin with that had a mish mash of features from various Huey models and from various eras, thus would at the very least necessitate to split the module  to a minimum of 2 versions. A UH1C/M for gunship configuration, and the UH1H/V for Slick and medivac roles. A simpler alternative is to have 2 Uh1H versions.  Australian "bushranger"  UH1H to allow gunship configuration, and a then a US army based Uh1H  pure slick that would have some more modern features like the GPS suite to differentiate from the Australian based Uh1H.

Edited April 1 by Kev2go