What a pleasant and unexpected sight along this desert route of NZ's South island! Began its life as UH-1E 151851 with the US Navy, then N9770N (converted in UH-1L by Garlick Helicopters) and finally ZK-HUE.

Eight UH-1L utility helicopters were delivered to the US Navy from November 1969. These were all assigned to HAL-3 'Seawolves' in Vietnam, and armed and armoured locally. 157851 crashed on approach to Binh Thuy, South Vietnam on 1 June 1970. Pilot killed. Photo from: Bell

Originally US Navy serial 157858 and one of only eight utility versions of the UH-1E built. After construction in 1969 it served in the Vietnam war and was retired to MASDC in 1983. Here it is on the way to a forest fire engagement in Canada, according to the pilot. While heli-logging on 19 September 1998 near Price/UT, it went out of control and crashed when tail rotor effectiveness was lost due to the density altitude being nearly 11,000 feet,

This aircraft is the former US Navy 154949. Most parts have been removed and it is destined for the scrapheap. The photograph is taken at Leeds Heliport which is a fully licensed heliport close to Leeds-Bradford Airport