Today in WW II: 8 Jul 1940 Tea rationing begins in Britain.  More ↓
8 Jul 1941 Jews living under German occupation in Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania ordered to wear a Jewish Star.
8 Jul 1942 US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Chester Nimitz orders invasion of Guadalcanal, Solomon islands, to seize a strategic Japanese airfield.
8 Jul 1944 US forces on Saipan mop up after surviving a 15-hour banzai charge, one of the largest ever, defesting over 3000 Japanese soldiers plus wounded and civilians who participated.
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.

Bell Textron TH-67 Creek Training Helicopter

The TH-67 Creek is a helicopter used for initial entry rotary wing training. Built by Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., it replaced the UH-1H Iroquois (Huey), the Army's interim trainer since the 1988 retirement of the TH-55 Osage. The TH-67 Creek entered Army service in 1995.

The TH-67 Creek is a Commercial-Off-the-Shelf purchase, with minimal military adaptations, designed to save initial expenditures and make it possible to eventually resell surplus units in the commercial market. Since it is not built to military standards, it has the fittings and accessories of a commercial craft, including the luxury of air conditioning.

The TH-67 Creek is a three-seat, single engine, training helicopter with two main rotor blades, a variant of the Bell 206B-3 helicopter. It is used at the U.S. Army Aviation Center, Fort Rucker, AL, for Initial Entry Rotor Wing (IERW) training. A mix of aircraft with Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) are used.

The VFR version is ideal for early stages of flight school because it is lighter, simpler, and less sensitive to the harsher flight maneuvering generated during the students' primary training. The IFR is equipped for the more advanced instrument phase and is more complex and heavier, but does not undergo the harsher primary flight maneuvering generated in earlier training phases. An enhanced configuration of the VFR is in production which offers a training environment for the acquisition of basic navigation, night, and night vision goggles skills.

All versions of the Bell Textron TH-67 Creek Training Helicopter are designed to provide safe, effective, and economical in-flight training when used to demonstrate and practice basic helicopter pilot skills. The enhancements in the latest production models permit training in combat skills. However, in the tactical portion of pilot training, the fully military OH-58 Kiowa has been used.

Bell Textron TH-67A Creek Training Helicopter Specifications and Performance

Rotor diameter 33 ft. 4 in.
Length 39 ft. 1 in.
Height 9 ft. 4 in.
Weight 3,200 lbs. loaded
Armament None
Engine 420 shp Allison 250-C20J Turbo
Maximum speed 139 mph
Range 437 mi.
Service ceiling 13,500 ft.

Bell Textron TH-67 Creek Training Helicopter
Bell Textron TH-67 Creek Training Helicopter in flight.

Bell Textron TH-67 Creek Training Helicopter
Seventy TH-67 Creek helicopters fit nose-to-nose in a hangar at Cairns Army Airfield, Fort Rucker, AL, in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Ivan, 15 September 2004.