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First (And Only) Look at a Secret “Seaspray” Helicopter?

by Jack Murphy · July 25, 2012 · Posted In: Special Operations

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64 comments

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The Midnight Philosopher

That antenna on the tail boom and the FLIR scream taxpayers dollars, i.e. goverment.

BrentSacks

What about this helo would keep it secret? It doesn't look terribly special, not like that stealth 60...

MattFanning

I find it funny that most aircraft used for Black Operations today are modified civilian models.

Old PH2 moderator

I was in the area of Va Beach around that time and do recall seeing one or two of these little birds. Ft. Eustis was a favorite stop of mine, they had a Hobby Photolab that you could use for your personal, (off the Books,) photo projects. It was common to call PH's Pornographer's mates, but that's another story. Any way while deployed with fighter squadrons the TARPS shop was located in the same spaces as the FLIR shop on the CVN's at that time. The newer hulls place the TARPS/ SHARPS shop off of the Hanger bay around where the old I level GSE shops where located. I know I'm rambling, here is the point. I know the NAVY/ USMC I level school for FLIR was out at El Torro during this time frame. I do not know if the USAF or ARMY used the same school. Since it had FLIR it could be possible to track down some of the guys that worked on it by looking at the school rosters. By now many would be retired. Possible to get some kind of comment from them.

DominiqueSumner

@Old PH2

Back in the late 90's it wasn't unusual to see little birds skimming along the tree tops near the VA/NC border area of Chesapeake, before the area became as built up as it is now.

AppFlyer

@JackMurphyRGR SH-6? :)

JackMurphyRGR

@AppFlyer Hughes 500 but not sure what model exactly

AppFlyer

@JackMurphyRGR was making a joke--Navy is "sea" everything, so I gave it an SH identifier...

FormerAFhelomech

I saw a helo like this in late 86 or early 87 timeframe. Remember the maintenance guys being pretty tight lipped but other wise nice guys.

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@FormerAFhelomech Where was it? I've read Ft. Eustis was a main hub for Seaspray with a contingent in Florida for C. American operations.

FormerAFhelomech

@JackMurphyRGR

Hurlburt Fld.

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@FormerAFhelomech That seems to fit.

SEAN SPOONTS

1 Like

Hmmmm. I thought I had read that the SeaSpray had a four bladed scissor type tail rotor. The pictured bird appears to have a two bladed rotor. I thought they also reworked the exhaust duct and the one pictured looked pretty standard. Definatively, the bird in the picture is a "D" model from the round nose canopy. If anyone can find a source saying that the Sea Spray was an E model that would take the pictured aircraft off the table. The "E"s had a pointed nose. The hat box on the tail boom appears to be an air search radar. Its small enough to be an Sea Spray Mk1 search radar, which makes more sense than having a surface search radar mounted under the nose or fuselage(A low level aircraft flying in the dark would want to know if any aircraft were behind and above it). There should also be a radar altimeter antenna on the aircraft but I can't make it out in the picture. The photo also looks like it was taken in Florida(I'm pleading to expert knowledge of Florida having been born and raised here). It is said that the Sea Sprays operated out of McDill in Tampa so that stands in its favor.

ArcticWarrior

1 Like

@SEAN SPOONTS

Good point on FLA, DEA practiced a bunch at McDill before going out and SeaSpray was always associated with DEA and some of Jacks friends working out of Nicaragua via Hondo.

SEAN SPOONTS

1 Like

@ArcticWarrior If you copy and magnify the picture you can make out a large radio antenna tower in the background painted red and white. MacDill has one of those that is about 130 feet tall.

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@SEAN SPOONTS @SEAN Oh, I was talking about the above photo not the tan "CIA" helicopter.

SEAN SPOONTS

@SEAN SPOONTS Incidentally the caption I saw for the tan hello said that it was a 5th SFG little bird recovering a captured Iraqi General. Which is what gave me pause and made me really look at it.

SEAN SPOONTS

@JackMurphyRGR @SEAN SPOONTS Speaking of the tan colored bird in the later Iraq picture. It appears to be carrying at least one M260 7 round rocket pod on the right side. The bottom of what could be a second rocket pod on the left side is visible in the picture as well. It doesn't appear to have any guns mounted. The barrels of which generally project forward of the rocket pods when mounted on the inboard station. If you make that pod out as something different I'd be interested in hearing your view. It seems the wrong shape for a fuel tank or external seating. The other thing about this tan bird is that as a 500E it isn't as powerful as the 530ff which has a bigger engine, thicker blades, a longer tail and tail rotor blades. All of which combine to allow it to lift more weight, like 8 guys, two rocket pods and a pair of miniguns. I guess my point here is that this tan MD500E is not really all that special beyond the appearance of the rocket pods. This is in contrast to the picture of the gray one taken in Germany which certainly is modified quite extensively. This tan one might be nothing more than a high speed courier bird with minimal armament and crew, which could explain the absense of any guns which add a lot of weight and need a guy in back to reload and clear.

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@SEAN SPOONTS @JackMurphyRGR Well, Seaspray helicopters were intended to transport troops in a clandestine manner so I guess it would make sense. What makes you think that this helicopter was modified to fire rockets?!

SEAN SPOONTS

@JackMurphyRGR I think he's solo because its a civilian MD500E modified with rockets. Generally, military variants of the MD series have their primary flight controls on the right side, while civilian versions have their's on the Left. Even the civilian version of the 530ff has its primary controls on the left. It suggests that the Company is using civilian variants to keep them 'off the books' and possiblly because they need lots of them and can't fill out their inventory with the 530ff military version. Perhaps SOF has the production pipeline all bought up. You can tell its not the 530ff because the tail rotor transmission housing is shorter and the engine access doors on the rear are different. As for electronics, the bird looks really clean. No bulges or antennas showing, no external rails or seats. It looks to me like it's meant to just flat out haul ass.

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@SEAN SPOONTS @JackMurphyRGR Why do you think he was flying solo? To make more room for electronics?

SEAN SPOONTS

@JackMurphyRGR It means something that the guy is flying solo from the Left seat. It's also not the MD530FF model that SOF seems to favor.

SEAN SPOONTS

@JackMurphyRGR I should have known. If your guy says this is Germany then it must be. But it sure fooled me good.

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@SEAN SPOONTS I posted that one in my Seaspray article a while back.

SEAN SPOONTS

A couple of interesting things in that photo. Let's see who spots the big WTF first.

SEAN SPOONTS

@JackMurphyRGR @ArcticWarrior Germany? Man, I don't see Gemany in that picture. You might get a kick out of this photo. It may be the modern version of this A/C flown by the Company; http://media.militaryphotos.net/photos/5th-SFGA/abj?full=1

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@SEAN SPOONTS @ArcticWarrior The photographer had it in an album of photos he took in Germany.

SEAN SPOONTS

@ArcticWarrior Well, like I said, I'm born and raised in Florida. The grass, the flora on the trees grown low to the ground(suggesting lots of sun and no snow, the white concrete(lots of shell in our aggregate) the galvinized fence(not rusty like you see up north). It just looks like Florida to me. I've been in and out of MacDill a bunch of times on cross countries out of Jacksonville. In Helos you tend to keep an eye out for 130ft radio towers on your approach and departure. They have the right of way.

ArcticWarrior

1 Like

@SEAN SPOONTS

Fuckin A Sean good job on that, Damn. I honestly dont remember the flora and fauna in detail of McDill or Eglin for that matter, but to you does it match?

ArcticWarrior

A NY Times article from 87 that mentions SeaSpray and the modded 500D's

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/22/magazine/who-s-in-charge-here.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

DominiqueSumner

1 Like

@ArcticWarrior

There were several articles in the NY Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, and Newsweek that covered the Army's Special Operations Division, Seaspray, Yellow Fruit/BSI, ISA, etc. If you dig around on the net, you can pull them up in their archives.

CJCJ

@ArcticWarrior Really interesting article. Good find. While it's hard to know the truth, it seems that a lot of military folks who get involved with CIA black ops get hung out to dry when the politicians or their own DOD bureaucracies get wind of it.

ArcticWarrior

@CJCJ

The fact that an accountant busted the program ala Al Capone is the really goofy thing considering the jobs and people they were running you would think the paper trail would have gone cold.

How much is CIA and how much is Army trying to build a mini-CIA? I had heard stories from a guy at Campbell in 2/17 that there was this "other 160th" back in the day, this is what he was probably referencing, and I thought he was crazy. But the more I look into Seaspray/Yellowfruit seems a lot more was going on down in Central America then I ever thought.

ArcticWarrior

@CJCJ

Good find on SAT, I remeber seeing the 130(L100) while passing through the Emerald City, I didnt realize they were that far involved in other things (transporting Lions?) after Iran-Contra.

CJCJ

@ArcticWarrior

Got to fly down there a few times when things were busy. Always interesting to see local kids who looked to be maybe 15 years old guarding the runway with AKs or to be on a plane with the non de-script low profile dude whose only luggage was a briefcase. Brandon's "buddy" Chuck Pfarrer in his book "Soul Warrior" wrote about a close call one night with a gunboat that had a Russian speaker on board while doing some work down there. While he may have been taking some "literary license", lots of stuff going on there, probably more than we'll ever know. Remember this company; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Air_Transport ? And this guy; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hasenfus ?

SEAN SPOONTS

@ArcticWarrior "D" models? Good the aircraft depicted is a "D". It still looks like it has a two bladed tail rotor though.

Ullr

Seaspray's trips to Lebanon may be an explanation for the Germany location, but Germany seems like quite a hike from Lebanon. Not as close as say...Cyprus. Then again, wasn't Hammadi arrested in Frankfurt in '87 for that TWA hijacking?

Was there any info on what date in '87 this photo was taken?

ArcticWarrior

1 Like

Slime lights, tinted rear glass and FRIES gear, certainly add to the coolness, looks fairly new,skids are clean.

Ullr

@ArcticWarrior Maybe I'm blind, but I don't see anything for a FRIES system. Wouldn't that have a pole mounted at the top of the door frame and sticking outwards?

ArcticWarrior

@Ullr

Appears that the FRIES hardpoint between the doors is there, above the forward door mount and one behind the tinted door.

ArcticWarrior

@Ullr

For a supposed 500 on paper its modded like a 6, I have never seen a 500, other then some LEO or a civvie SR, have hardpoints like that. So the "Owner" heavily modded this egg like a M6.

Ullr

1 Like

@ArcticWarrior rog, I see the 2 hardpoints now. Third one at the top is probably there in the rotor's shadow. Good stuff!

ArcticWarrior

@Ullr

The hardpoints are on all 6s arent they? Least the ones I saw had the 3 hardpoints. Doors off, FRIES on.

CJCJ

@ArcticWarrior Here's a picture of some older technology, but definitely cool. If there's such a thing as an aviation "money shot" then this surely qualifies;

http://cencio4.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/blue-angels-low-pass.jpg

AF138

4 Like

This is the same helicopter that chased me through the streets of NYC the last time I bought a copy of The Catcher In The Rye.

McPosterdoor

Looks like there is a raydome or ewcm on the rear stabilizer strut as well.

CJCJ

2 Like

It's difficult to make out what might be an FAA aircraft registration number on the engine cowling below the rotor assembly. I plugged "N1111U" into the FAA registration number look up site here;

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Inquiry.aspx

and came up with this;

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N1111U

That current number belongs to;

a "PIPER...Model...AEROSTAR 600...Type Aircraft...Fixed Wing Multi-Engine"

which does not match.

Ullr

@CJCJ Rotorspot has an online database w/ latest regs for a particular aircraft. Latest regs up to 2009, that is.

Try plugging in N26RV in the FAA database....

CJCJ

@Ullr

Well done Sir.

It looks like the manufacturer started off with the 369D/MD500/H-6 frame and then modified it with the visible exterior add-ons and undoubtedly more internal upgrades which aren't visible. The chin, tail boom, and saddle bag add-ons are "interesting".

http://www.rotorspot.nl/searchdb.php

"2 results found H/c TypeC/NHistory [last one most recent]FateHughes 369D > 369FF11-0864D > 0085FFN4986B,N1111U,N9159A,N26RVHughes 369D > 369FF11-0864D > 0085FFN4986B,N1111U,N9159A,N26RV"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD_Helicopters_MD_500

"MD 500D (369D)New commercial version from 1976 powered by an Alison 250-C20B rated at 420 shp (313 kW), Certified in 1976."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-6

"The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (nicknamed "Loach", after the requirement acronym LOH—Light Observation Helicopter) is a single-engine light helicopter with a four-bladed main rotor used for personnel transport, escort and attack missions, and observation. Hughes Helicopters also developed the Model 369 as a civilian helicopter, the Hughes Model 500, currently produced by MD Helicopters as the MD 500."

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@CJCJ There is a good chance that the registration number was bogus to begin with I would think. Certainly it would have changed hands since the 1980's.

ArcticWarrior

@JackMurphyRGR @CJCJ

The Helo was not in the Army Gold Book inventory, it was registered to Aviation Tech Services. Im thinking this bad boy worked out of Tampa for Central American vacations.

DominiqueSumner

1 Like

@ArcticWarrior IIRC Aviation Tech Services was one of several front companies used by the CIA during that time frame.

CJCJ

@JackMurphyRGR Agreed.

ArcticWarrior

@CJCJ

Sometimes they get sloppy, after all this photo shouldnt have existed but someone right place, right time. What is the story behind the photo? Anybody know the date and accompanying history on or around that date? Reagan was in Germany in June 87 for the Brandenburg Gate speech.

CJCJ

@ArcticWarrior

There may be a way to track the history, but if so I'm not aware of it. As Jack pointed out, if a history could be found it is likely bogus.

ArcticWarrior

@CJCJ

Does the old reg adress match the new reg address or company?

First (And Only) Look at a Secret “Seaspray” Helicopter?

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