Military Channels Top Ten Helicopters

[Riper Snifle]

I caught most of the program last night and wanted to see some people's thoughts on what the Military Channel thought were the Top Ten Helicopters of all time.
10.)H-13 Sioux (Bell 47)
9.)Focke-Achgelis FA 223 Drache (Dragon)
8.)Lynx
7.)CH-47 Chinook
6.)Mil-24 Hind
5.)OH-6 Cayuse
4.)AH-1 Cobra
3.)UH-1 Huey
2.)UH-60 Blackhawk
1.)AH-64 Apache

The one disagreement I felt in the program was the UH-1 Huey, I felt that no other helicopter had a greater impact on warfare than that one did on the Vietnam War. The program seemed to be judged majorly by people from the U.S. Army, so I did not feel other branches were allowed their thoughts on the matter, so the ranking might have been different with others input. What does everyone here think?

 

[Goober]

Seems to be some pretty indiscriminate ranking. Nearly every helo on that list has a different mission.

 

[Brett327]

Seems to be some pretty indiscriminate ranking. Nearly every helo on that list has a different mission.

Yeah, that show is pretty much ridiculous.

Brett

 

[tiger84]

I have to agree with Brett on this one. Their ranking criteria is pretty arbirtrary and they contradict themselves quite a bit. An example is from the Top Ten Fighters episode where they used the same reasoning (prowess in air to air engagements) to both laud the F-15 and criticize the F-22. Didn't make much sense to me at the time.

 

[bobbybrock]

It was very Army and Apache centric. I've flown 60's for a long time and there is a reason the 160th uses it as a weapons platform and not the 64.
I think the H-13 and CH-53 might have been in the nine and 10 slots.

 

[wrk]

That Mil-24 Hind is badass. I've always loved that thing.

 

[skidkid]

What a crock of sh!t.

CH-46 (was it 46 or 47?), workhorse assault support for what 40 years, I think that might deserve something a little higher.

The Huey definitely number 1 based on pure impact on all aspects of Helo combat ops.

The Cobra much higher than the Apache, first Helo to destroy a tank ever (An Loc)! Continues to serve in various capacities with honestly a better overall record than the Apache.

Might give the Hind a little higher ranking but maybe not.

 

[scoober78]

Don't have the hard numbers...I suspect someone here does...But I would bet that the Army operates many more helicopters than the Navy...just a hunch. Would explain why the show was Army centric...

Just found a number for the Army in an internal Army Department helicopter study... "approximately 7200"!!!

Damn...Don't we only operate something like 4000 aircraft total in the Navy??

 

[Goober]

Still doesn't explain the arbitrary rankings though. While each may be great in their own mission, there's no way you could effectively rank them against each other. They need to pick one category of helo if they're to do that.

 

[Gatordev]

Don't have the hard numbers...I suspect someone here does...But I would bet that the Army operates many more helicopters than the Navy...just a hunch. Would explain why the show was Army centric...

Hmm, that's an interesting question. I'd tend to agree, but at the same time, I could see it not being the case just because the Army buys so much other hardware for a ground mission...just like the Navy does for a maritime mission.

Alas, this would require "research" and I just want to go sit in front of the boob-tube and kill some brain cells w/ booze.

 

[scoober78]

Still doesn't explain the arbitrary rankings though. While each may be great in their own mission, there's no way you could effectively rank them against each other. They need to pick one category of helo if they're to do that.
__________________

Totally agree...just brought the above up as a point of conversation...

 

[goosegagnon2]

Might give the Hind a little higher ranking but maybe not.

I thought the Hind was a pig when it came to preformance though?

 

[hscs]

I would have dumped one for the -47 -- the only one that can truly operate in high DAs in the mountains -- maybe in the place of the -46, whose Navy versions had quite the mechanical issues in the end.

 

[skidkid]

I thought the Hind was a pig when it came to preformance though?

Depends what kind of performance youre looking for, without getting into the classified stuff the Hind is fast and carries a lot of ordnance. Prior to the intro of the Stinger in Afghanistan it acquitted itself very well shooting the same people we find ourselves shooting at today.

I did not see the show nor see the criteria but have seen the most historically influential guns of the world and thought that it was very well done and pretty accurate, too bad they punted this one so horribly

 

[MasterBates]

I was suprised to not see the H-34 there. It was a Pre-Huey workhorse, and took a beating and kept on flying. Plus, it had a radial enginge, which is cool.