CDF land utility helicopter

Air Service land utility helicopter squadrons, as their name implies, serve Sober Thought's armed forces in a variety of ways such as tactical troop transport, light cargo transport, light assault, simple search and rescue, and aerial observation.

While serving in wings subordinate to field armies and field corps of the Land Service, they are the terrestrial equivalent of the CDF naval utility helicopters. While serving in composite helicopter squadrons aboard assault ships of the Naval Service, they support the two embarked marine assault companies during amphibious landings.

All the land helicopter utility squadrons belong in a single ordinal sequence, e.g., 4th Land Helicopter Utility Squadron, 12th LHUS, 24th LHUS, 32nd LHUS. On the helicopter fuselages themselves, there is an Air Service-wide three-letter squadron code, a Sober Thought roundel and a fourth letter which identifies each aircraft in the squadron. The Community Defence Forces raise twelve squadrons in every wave per one hundred million national population.

Additionally, land utility helicopters form the majority of the rotary wing aircraft included in the composite helicopter squadrons , which maintain their own separate ordinal numerical sequence. One of these squadrons are embarked on each of the nine landing ships the CDF Naval Service commissions each wave.

Command and aircraft crew in land squadrons

The commanding officer of a fighter squadron is always a Chief Lieutenant, the executive officer a Lieutenant and the Squadron Sergeant a Warrant Officer. Together with a Flier-gunner, they comprise an extra flight crew.

The three airborne Flights of four choppers are led by Lieutenants, with Vice Lieutenants piloting the other two helos in each flight. Co-pilots are all Vice Lieutenants, cabin chief-gunners are Vice Warrant Officers when serving flight commanders and Leading Fliers when serving other detachment commanders, and the gunners Fliers. Squadrons are invariably merged into divisional or corps wings, so the 52 aircraft crew of all ranks become the staff of a combat-only unit.

Ground crew in land squadrons

The spare aircraft crew theoretically belongs to the Administration Flight, which otherwise consists of 44 all ranks under a Vice Lieutenant. It is responsible for maintaining the people of the squadron in good working order, with food, pay, military records and first aid.

The Air Maintenance Flight consists of 104 all ranks under a Lieutenant and three Vice Lieutenants. It is responsible for maintaining the helicopters of the squadron in good working order, with fuel injections, engine tuneups, airframe inspections and ammunition top ups.

Unlike actual transport squadrons, there is no official Supply Detachment. The responsibility borne by loadmasters is carried (punny guy!) by the cabin chiefs of the aircraft crew, in addition to their other jobs.

Crew in assault ship squadrons

Assault ships, because of their limited size and combat-focused scope, have few helicopters than usual and even fewer crew proportionately. Anybody that is not directly related to putting and keeping its helicopters into combat is left on shore with the heavy maintenance and administration elements of the notional wings and notional group created in each wave. That amounts to about 50 people per composite squadron.

Aircraft crew for the two Flights of three helicopters each are proportionate to their land-only counterparts. Total HU-70 aircraft crew 24, viz.: two Lieutenants, ten Vice Lieutenants, two Vice Warrant Officers, four Leading Fliers, six Fliers. The CO, XO and SS, along with a Flier, make up an additional spare crew.

Ground crew servicing the six HU-70 utility helicopters are much reduced proportionate to their counterparts. Total HU-70 maintenance crew 32, viz.: one Vice Lieutenant, one Vice Warrant Officer, three Leading Fliers, three Master Fliers and twenty-four Fliers. Such administration as there is exists with the spare aircraft crew who also double as the command staff.

When the six HU-70 and 60 crew are combined with the two HT-55 transport helicopters and 25 crew for the helicopter transport flight, and the two HG-9 attack helicopters and 15 crew for the helicopter assault flight, they make a complete composite squadron. Plus a few dozen in the Administration and Heavy Maintenance Flights on shore.

Land utility helicopter

The Community Defence Forces' HU-70 land utility helicopter is similar in concept and execution to the real world UH-1 Iroquois/Huey and its successors. A single powerful lift engine, a robust fuselage and relatively open and large cabin make it ideal for all sorts of ground support tasks. A proper series of silhouettes and firmer technical details will follow as time permits.

In the front, the two flight crew share between them the duties of piloting, navigating, communicating and flight engineering. In the back, the cabin chief directs the loading of passengers and supplies, or operating the 12 mm machinegun mounted in the portside door. The cabin technician does what the chief says, which is often to operate the MG on the starboard door.