European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 11, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday december 11, 198b the stars and stripes. Page 9 phase out he  and a Niti  staff writers Tony Cannon the 2nd Arnid Cav regl s top Iun far the past two years can pinpoint the moment he knew he Hud to Fly a cobra. _ he was in High school wailing on ibi1 runway. Conditions were a fill rough for the student pilots. So can non wailed with his Little oh-5s helicopter and watched the a h-1 s strut their my it i just sat in Awe said Cannon now a Clinef War rant officer two. The cobras came nut of inc Ami rising surrounded by this big plume of Vapours they just sat there hovering like it in. Nothing we Nerc in 58s and weren t even Able to lly.". It. Col. Daniel a. Fusion s love affair with inc ah-1 cobra started Mure than 20 years a n when the aircraft was introduced in l%7. The Rel Hilton hip has survived a Ivar an in flight Fin engine failure and Luil Rotor failure. As one of the first pilots trained on tie cobras. I onion witnessed the Lidice pics s Hirth and heyday in Vietnam. Now lie is watching its demise. Auh Lendof the Vietnam War in .1973, inc army had about 721 of the i3.5 million attack i Licop Lars that the vietnamese lagged he Lilack  from a Mph j High of 1.053, the cobra inventor 1 has dropped slightly 10 Aboul i Ojo now according to army Sia Ristics. But there s a new kid on the Landing pad the ah-64 Apache the techno copter of the sos that can Fly and shoot circles around the older gunship. The army plans to have 675 apaches in use by 1991, so Many cobras arc being transferred from Active duty to Reserve and National guard units to free up space. We will not move All inc cobras out but there is a program now to move a Large majority of them oui of country said capt was Wallin inc cobra project manager representative for Europe,."there will still be u substantial amount in Usarek for some units for some time. But it depend on what happens with some of the newer aircraft pos Lon once commander of 3rd in 227th aviation Kegl. At Hanau s Klinger horse Cavern still has a 19hs checklist and pc razor s manual for the first cobra. The original aircraft a modified version of he us i Huey was the first attack helicopter t onion said. It was called the ah-1g Huey cobra then. The old manual had seven pages and the one today has 12 pages. Most of that is emergency procedures because in. The beginning they did t know a lot about what was supposed to  the pills Learned How to Deal with emergencies when they happened. It was real seat of the pants flying -. For example with the Pilot and co Pilot each stuffed moire cramped 3-fool-Widc by 4-foal-High sealing positions Crew members from downed aircraft rescued by a two seater cobra had to strap themselves into the i he a i Libra. Hovering to strike i Daniel 1 i ism. With his first love. Pilots9 20-year love affair chief Var Reinl officer 2 Tony Cannon. Top gun open ammo Bays for transport to a Safe base. Still i onion remains a fan of the copter although after More than 2,000 flying hours is of them in combat he knows the weak spots Liy re Gullion we Are restricted from flying in the Clouds he said it does t have the avionics. Cobras Fly Best at Low altitudes with cold air. Their performance decreases when you get higher Cannon said the cobra originally was used As a div ing and firing weapon to strafe ground troops thus earning he Black Cash name. In those hot Days the most powerful we Ripon on Board the gunship usually was a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. Hut the Vietnam Era gunship Wils a different cobra than the one flying now Cancun said. Weapons have been added and the 20- ear old airframes have been modified and updated. A typical heavy combat Load today could include 36 air to air rocket700 rounds of Zonini Cannon ammunition and eight Tow missiles thai can take out tanks. The chopper can be refuelled and reloaded in 10 minutes. Still the cobra would face a hard time if it tried to play its Vietnam Era role on the 1980$ Battlefield. Today with improved anti aircraft fire if you sent a cobra up High and flew Down at a position you d get knocked out of the sky Cannon said. The cobra now is used by air cavalry units to de fend the Liny unarmed observation helicopters. Scouts arc supposed to skitter around the Battlefield spying on the enemy while cobras Lurk Bytow he Reiri Ops. Poised to strike at anything thai looks threatening. This sounds Good on paper but Cannon says Loo Many commanders can t stand the idea of using All thai firepower just for defense. Commanders still use us As a tank. Set us up and fire us As a tank he said. Sure the cobra will Stop a hols bleeding our defences Quick. Hut i sure in t 3  Poston s unit turned in its a decl of 21 All is and deactivated nov. 15, but will return to Flieg Cohorst next summer with about 20 apaches and he won t be looking Back when inc new aircraft arrive. "1 wish 1 " could do a. 21-year-old-Apache Piot own he said. There Are a lot of cd Chung things coming along in aviation. No Mailer How i say i Lave he Conra i want. To try that hoi one.". Cannon says hell stay Wilh cobras to the end. Wilh a a top gun reputation he s twice been offered a Job flying apaches and twice turned them Down. -. There s a Point with an aircraft where you go from just flying it to feeling like you be actually become a part of that aircraft Cannon said. I be readied thai Point with the cobra. To go to apaches would be like starting All Over