In the 1950s, the Marine Corps was much more interested in developing large assault helicopters that could carry 20-24 fully loaded Marines over beachhead defenses from well off-shore. First introduced in 1954 by the US Navy as the HSS-1 Seabat to hunt Soviet submarines, the USMC procured the HUS-1 Sea Horse (though the helicopter was rarely referred to by its official name) in 1957 as an interim medium-lift assault helicopter to replace the Korea War-era Sikorsky HRS. Weiss and the Association purchased the helicopter and moved it to their workshop on Long Island in July 2001.Īlthough the UH-34D wasn’t the assault helicopter that the Marine Corps wanted, its service in Vietnam would assure its legacy in Marine Corps aviation history. ![]() The helicopter’s logbooks revealed that it had served in Vietnam almost continuously from July 1964 to May 1969, including three tours with HMM-361. Weiss and a small band of supporters formed the Marine Helicopter Squadron 361 Veterans Association and located UH-34D BuNo 150570, then nothing more than a hulk, in an Arizona aircraft salvage yard. Thus started a 13-year journey to acquire, restore, and operate a veteran UH-34D. Seeing the very emotional reaction of the other veterans around him, Weiss became determined to purchase and operate a UH-34D as a flying memorial. In 1998, Alan Weiss, a retired USMC Vietnam-era HMH-361 Sikorsky CH-53 crew chief attended a USMC Helicopter Association reunion, during which a Sikorsky UH-34D did a fly-by.
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