Bell UH-1Y Venom

UH-1Y Venom
A UH-1Y in flight
General information
TypeUtility helicopter
National originUnited States
ManufacturerBell Helicopter
StatusIn service
Primary usersUnited States Marine Corps
Number built160[1]
History
Manufactured2001–present
Introduction date8 August 2008
First flight20 December 2001[2]
Developed fromBell UH-1N Twin Huey

The Bell UH-1Y Venom[3] (also called Super Huey)[4] is a twin-engine, 4-blade, medium-sized utility helicopter built by Bell Helicopter under the H-1 upgrade program of the United States Marine Corps. One of the latest members of the numerous Huey family, the UH-1Y is also called "Yankee" for the NATO phonetic alphabet pronunciation of its variant letter.[5] Bell was originally to produce UH-1Ys by rebuilding UH-1Ns, but ultimately used new built airframes.

In 2008, the UH-1Y entered service with the Marine Corps and also began full-rate production.[6] The new UH-1 variant replaced the USMC's UH-1N Twin Huey light utility helicopters, introduced in the early 1970s. The helicopter (and related Bell AH-1Z Viper) were ordered by the Czech Republic and the helicopter is in production in the early 2020s. Visually, some features that differentiate the Y model are a slightly longer cabin and larger twin engine exhaust vents compared to the earlier N model.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bell_resumes_prod was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "UH-1Y Achieves First Flight". Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2007.
  3. ^ "Model Designation of Military Vehicles" (PDF). U.S. DoD Defense Technical Information Center. 12 May 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2007.
  4. ^ "Bell UH-1Y Super Huey". GE Aviation. 2008. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
  5. ^ Jane's Information Group (2008). "Bell 205 (UH-1) – Bell UH-1Y Viper Upgrade (United States), Aircraft – Rotary-wing – Military". Archived from the original on 26 January 2013.
  6. ^ "UH-1Ys to be built new starting in 06". Naval Air Systems Command. 22 April 2005. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024.