Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Observation and light attack helicopter

Power Plant:

One 236 kw (317 shp) Allison T63-A700 turboshaft

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.62 mm (0.30 in) General Electric M134 Minigun (six-barrel rotary machine gun)

History:

The US Army in 1960 issued a proposal for a light observation helicopter and Bell Helicopter Textron submitted a variant of the Model 206, which became the YHO-4A. The prototype first flew on 8 December 1962, and five examples were produced in 1962 for test and evaluation. It was later re-designated the YOH-4A but lost out to the Hughes Tool Co submission, the YOH-5. In 1967 the competition was re-opened and Bell submitted a re-designed airframe, this being awarded a contract as the OH-58A Kiowa.

The Australian Army obtained the OH-58A Kiowa under contract as the  Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-32, the first 12 machines being built in the United States, then broken down and shipped to Australia for re-assembly.

The first Bell 206B-1 Kiowa was accepted by the Minister for Defence on 22 November 1971 and the first 12 were delivered to the Australian Army over the following two months. A17-001 in 1973 carried out trials on ‘HMAS Moresby’ to determine the suitability of the type for naval operations. First aircraft for the Royal Australian Navy A17-013 (c/n 44513 – CAC c/n CA32-13) was delivered to the Royal Australian Navy in April 1973 and embarked on the ‘HMAS Moresby’ in February 1974.

Examples for the Australian Army had the name ‘Kalkadoon‘ chosen, but this proved to be unpopular so the US military name ‘Kiowa’ was adopted. Serials allotted originally were A17-001 to A17-012 (c/ns 44501 to 44512), these being fully imported aircraft; A17-013 to A17-049 (c/ns 44513 to 44549) being partly imported and partly Australian-built machines; and A17-050 to A17-056 (c/ns 44550 to 44556).

A number of examples were operated by the RAN, becoming N17-013, N17-025 and N17-049. The latter were regularly operated from ‘HMAS Moresby’.

The Kiowa usually had a crew of two. Australian-built machines had the up-rated 298 kw (400 shp) Allison 250-C20 turboshaft.

Australian Army Bell 206B-1 Kiowas have been operated all over Australia with Nos 161 and 162 (Independent) Reconnaissance Flights, No 171st (Command & Liaison) Squadron, also known as the Air Cavalry Flight, this unit later being absorbed into No 161 Flight and the unit spending many years based at Holsworthy, NSW.

No 161 was initially formed at Oakey, QLD in 1970 before moving to Townsville, in 1971. Shortly after, that area was hit by Cyclone ‘Althea‘ and the helicopters were immediately placed into service in disaster relief. No 162 was based at Lavarack Barracks at Townsville, QLD. Kiowa training occurred at the School of Army Aviation at Oakey. In 1996 Rockwell Australia commenced delivery to the Australian Army of up-graded aircraft with a new avionics and communications suite.

Over the years some experimentation took place into finding the best colour scheme to paint the Australian Kiowas, eventually A17-042 being the first painted in a matt black, tan and mid green scheme. All aircraft eventually received that scheme in lieu of the overall high-gloss olive green paint scheme.

Army Kiowas lost in accidents have included: A17-009 at Holsworthy on 9 July 1975; A17-019 on 12 October 1987 at Lake Land Downs, QLD; A17-022 at Oakey on 26 June 1974; N17-025 on 28 July 1977 at Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, NT; A17-030 on 16 June 1976 near Townsville; A17-041 at Holsworthy on 19 August 1980; A17-042 at Bourke, NSW on 24 February 1980; A17-048 at Weipa, QLD on 23 September 1981; A17-053 at Oakey on 28 October 1985; and N17-056 in Tasmania on 21 September 1987.

Australian Navy Kiowas were operated by HC-723 at ‘HMAS Albatross’, Nowra,  the machines being embarked when required on board the Navy vessels ‘HMAS Moresby’, ‘HMAS Stalwart’, ‘HMAS Tobruk’, ‘HMAS Jervis Bay’ and ‘HMAS Success’. In 1984 the frigate ‘HMAS Adelaide’ took N17-013 on board and carried out civil air tasks in the south west Pacific. It also was on board when the vessel was deployed to Hawaii for exercises.

N17-025 was lost when it crashed off Sunday Island in July 1977 and A17-005 was transferred to the RAN, the Navy later obtaining A17-006. It was returned to the Army in October 1984 and replaced by A17-056, which became N17-056, but this was ditched in the ocean in March 1986. The Navy in May 1986 received A17-031, A17-034 and A17-049. Navy machines have been used for inserting and extracting survey teams, search-and-rescue, and vertical replenishment.

Australian personnel operated the Kiowa in South Vietnam from early 1971, eight US Army OH-58As (serials 70-15236 to 70-15243) being leased for operation by No 161 (Independent) Reconnaissance Flight, crew training taking place with the 5th Aviation Detachment of the US Army at Vung Tau. These machines augmented, and later replaced, the Model 47G-3 Sioux. All eight OH-58s had been received by 28 August 1971 and main area of operations was Phuoc Tuy Province, but occasionally operations were made into the Mekong Delta. These machines were not armed, although fitted with the necessary wiring looms and mountings. One (70-15241) was shot down by enemy fire but was later recovered by a No 9 Squadron UH-1H Iroquois. On 29 February 1972 the Australian unit was withdrawn and the OH-58As were returned to the US Army. In Vietnam the leased OH-58As flew 3,766 sorties and a total of 3,534 flying hours.

In 1976 an Australian Army Kiowa A17-042 was entered and took part in the Benson & Hedges Australia Air Race from Perth, WA to Sydney, NSW over a period of five days.

In mid-1986 Bell’s Model 406CS (Combat Scout) model (registration N406CS), an armed variant of the Model 206, made a sales tour in Australia with a view to selling this model to the Australian Army, this model being able to carry Stinger air-to-air missiles, 7.62 mm (0.30 in) machine guns, 70 mm (2.75 in) rockets and TOW missiles, and being fitted with a 485 kw (650 shp) Allison 250-C30 engine, it being contemplated the Australian machines would be up-graded to Model 406CS configuration. No orders were forthcoming.

The Kiowa was retired from No 1 AVN in favour of the Eurocopter Tiger in 2009 but the type remained in service for a period with the Australian Army in the training role at Oakey.

In January 2017 Defence Disposals issued a tender for the disposal of 14 ex-Australian Army Kiowas, these machines having been up to that time used as spares recovery airframes for the active fleet, these being provided to a number of museums, which included the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin, VIC A17-006, A17-045 and A17-055; The Australian Aviation Heritage Centre at Caboolture, QLD A17-005, A17-007, A17-033, A17-034 and A17-035; HARS at Albion Park, NSW A17-050 and A17-052; Evans Head Memorial Heritage Centre, NSW A17-020; South Australian Aviation Museum A17-010; Merredin Military Museum, WA A17-014; Museum of Army Aviation at Oakey, A17-001 and A17-031. In addition A17-027 went to the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor; and A17-013 was presented to the RAN Historic Flight in 2013.

In later years the type reached the end of its life in service with a number of military operators, being replaced by newer designs, and examples became available on the civil market. A number of these have been imported to Australia and converted for civil use, still being registered as the AMT Helicopters AMT OH-58A, and after refurbishment are given a new serial number. These have included VH-TES/VH-JWF (c/n 44060/009 – ex 136260, 71-20925); VH-BQT (c/n 44060/008 – ex N6348U); VH-ODI/VH-DJW (c/n 44019 – ex N615, 136219, 71-20884); VH-FFZ (c/n 44053); VH-JEH (c/n 44-49); VH-MZN (c/n 44-51); VH-AGK (c/n 44023); VH-XED (c/n 44073) and VH-ABB (c/n 010).

Examples registered in New Zealand have included ZK-HPW (c/n 42104 – ex 72-21438).

A number of ex-Australian Army aircraft have been placed on the Australian Civil Aircraft Register, and these have included VH-XKH (c/n 44547 – ex A17-047); VH-ZDI (c/n 444546 – ex A16-046); VH-NKH (c/n 44526 – ex A17-026); VH-NPY (c/n 44515 – ex A17-015); VH-LTL (c/n 44528 – ex A17-028); VH-IKH (c/n 44529 – ex A17-029); VH-VJP (c/n 44511 – ex A17-011); VH-JJP (c/n 44531 – ex A17-031); VH-XKY (c/n 44532 – ex A17-032); VH-HRF (c/n 44539 – ex A17-039); VH-EJZ (c/n 44516 – ex A17-016); VH-AWU (c/n 44540 – ex A17-040) and VH-JQN (c/n 44538 – ex A17-038).