One of the best things about the According To You series is how diverse the answers can be to our questions. Our last query about military vehicles brought out so many amazing choices. Perhaps Tinkerah from the Hagerty Community said it best:
“It is humbling learning how many veterans are involved in this community. It reminds me just how privileged I am to have the life I live, thanks in large part to all of you who have served. THANK YOU!”
We could not agree more with Tinkerah’s sentiment. So let’s start with some fantastic sentiments about an iconic helicopter.
“It can only be the UH-1 Medivac chopper for getting me from the field to the MASH unit in Vietnam and saving my life.” — Quintin
“I will second that: the Huey.” — Dennis
“When I say ‘Taxicab’, many folks will envision the iconic Checker, maybe the black London Cab, or a Crown Vic, or even some sort of Waymo contraption. But when I served in the USMC in Vietnam in 1969-70, the “taxi” I took most often was the Bell Huey—with some occasional longer distance commutes in larger eggbeaters like Chinooks.
It was the UH-1 that was mostly the ‘daily driver’ for hops into and out of areas of operations for us guys. It took us into some pretty hot areas, but it usually also returned to retrieve us (and I mean walking troops as well as fallen ones). I was surely thankful for those noisy danged “vehicles” in those days!
One of my best friends ever was a Huey driver (call sign “Queball”), who chauffeured me around a lot of places, and he and I have remained close still today. I have a feeling that many fellow Vietnam Combat Vets will join me in both cursing and blessing the UH-1 chopper.
On Memorial Day, I make it a point to salute my father, a WWII vet and POW (for 45 months!) and my teammate in Quang Tri Province, PFC ‘Dickhead Dave’, who died in my arms.” — DUB6
“UH-1H, Removed my butt from some precarious locations.” — JJC
“Years ago I left my trade and went to college as an adult student. I grew up a military “brat” and have always seemed to have made friends with folks who served, and in college—largely because of our similar age differences from the traditional students—most of my friends were recently discharged vets. Looking for some part time trade I could do to fit my hours as an adult student/new parent, I thought I’d use my truck to start a contractor business cleaning out houses, running scrap metal, etc.
But I needed a trailer to make the most of my time. A couple of the guys I hung out with talked about how tough Army trailers were, so when I saw one for sale on Craiglist, I ended up coming home with a M116A2 generator trailer for $200. It’s a pretty basic deckover trailer, sturdy as can be that used the same bolt pattern wheels as my truck. I fixed a few things, took a few things off, and to this day it is still my favorite trailer to use. On its 6 foot by 9 ft deck I’ve loaded everything you can imagine including a convertible Mercedes that needed removed from a creek after a flood.
That $200 trailer has been the basis of a small business that has kept my family afloat for years, after the college degree turned out to be worthless, and after multiple dips in the economy that forced me to rely on myself instead of others for jobs. It’s a business that I’m now able to let my sons take over, teaching them that they can always do something to earn a living. My son actually looking forward to his driving his first load towing the “Army trailer” behind his Squarebody truck, which looks enough like a 1970’s M1008 (military Chevy K30), because it’s a natural fit!” — Binksman
“The B-52.” — audiobycarmine
“B-29. It ended the war.” — UsedCarMike
“Airplanes for me are the coolest, B-1, SR-71 Blackbird, F-14, F-16, F/A-18, A-10, P-51, etc. I love tanks and vehicles like the classic Jeeps or Hummers, but planes just have the edge.” — Gary B.
“I am most thankful for the MRAPs built by 4 different manufacturers. Because when a HUMVEE ran over an IED, there was a 95% chance of fatality. But that number was reduced to less than 10% in an MRAP. I was an FSR for the MaxxPro for 4 years and respected the capabilities of all others.” — Tim K.
”M113 Armored Personnel Carrier—a platoon of “armor” was often around my base camp in Tuy Hoa—a company of engineers, all by ourselves out there. They provided protection to my troops—and me—during some hairy times after Tet 1969.
They were the ones, with their Starlight Scopes, who saw and engaged a VC unit coming through the paddies toward my wire. I’ve always appreciated those guys for being around when we needed some firepower.” — Mike H.
“USMC LAV-25 and 81mm Mortar variant.” — Rebounds
“I also appreciate your stories and your service. Reminds me of visiting my uncle while tooling around in our CJ2A (civilian jeep). He took one look at my jeep and said ‘Come on in, I have something to show you.’
He and his friend hit a mine while serving in Vietnam (1st Army) driving a Jeep which blew them and the Jeep into a rice paddy. A passing patrol saw bubbles in the water and pulled my uncle out and saved his life, but his partner died that day. After recovering from his injuries, he received photos of the jeep and the engine was sitting in the driver’s seat. He made a detailed model of the damaged Jeep years later and has it displayed in his home office along with many photos.” — Dean
I did not say planes because I though this was ground based.
The SR71 to me is the most interesting as it today is still unsurpassed by anything we know of yet. There are claims of a SR72 but till we know for sure will stick to the old bird.
If you have not read about stories of the pilots that have flown this plane you need to read them.
Leaving California and then flying to Florida to eat breakfast only to get back to California for Breakfast again.
Taking 4 states to turn the plane around.
Doing ground speed checks to embarrass smart a$$ f14 pilots.
Seeing a missiles coming and just speeding up to move away from it. All at the edge of space.
Keep in mind this is still 1950 tech here. Yet no one has superseded it.
Kelly was a master of air planes.
Since we are including aircraft, the C47/DC3. The aircraft that made airlines profitable in the 1930s in green paint it became the “jeep of the air” during WW 2– and beyond. In Vietnam they were the first gun ships (Puff the Magic Dragon) and also electronic warfare platforms. Our unit in Vietnam had a pilot whose father flew the same tail number aircraft in WW2. During my year there we flew 2300 missions without a loss–over the Ho Chi Minh trail and Laos as well as Vietnam.
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