Bell AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter.
The first six AH-1s arrived at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam on 30 August 1967 for combat testing by the U.S. Army Cobra New Equipment Training Team. On 4 September, the type scored its first combat kill by sinking a sampan boat, killing four Viet Cong. The first AH-1 unit, the 334th Assault Helicopter Company, was declared operational on 6 October 1967. The Army operated the Cobra continuously up to the U.S. withdrawal from South Vietnam in 1973. Typically, the AH-1 provided fire support for ground forces and escorted transport helicopters, in addition to other roles, including aerial rocket artillery (ARA) battalions in the two Airmobile divisions. They also formed "hunter killer" teams by pairing with OH-6A scout helicopters; a team normally comprised a single OH-6 flying slow and low to find enemy forces. If the OH-6 drew fire, the Cobra could strike at the then revealed enemy
Safety last!
Photographers and camera equipment lined up in preparation for a nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, 1946.
This photo, taken on April 10, 1945, near Rentwertshausen, Germany, shows 22 American soldiers posing on a German railway gun captured by the U.S. Seventh Army.
