You may think that Darth Vader was flying an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, by looking at the following cool photograph taken by Rob Birmingham.
However, the one worn by the airman leaning out of the chopper’s left hand door is not the mask of the main character of the Star Wars saga, but a Maxillofacial Shield (MFS) attached to the standard HGU-56 helmet.
The MFS is used to safeguard the wearer’s lower face from rotor wash, flying debris and windblast during helicopter operations.
David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.
The following pictures, taken by Antonio Muñiz, show the F-22 Raptors from Holloman landing at Moron airbase, in Spain, on Apr. 17, 2012. As already explained with many exclusive details, the six 49FW F-22As were […]
The F-35B aircraft refueled 15 times (in total) during their trip across the Pond. And here’s some cool footage that shows the difference between the A and B variants. On Jun. 29, the first British […]
Take a look at the following screenshots taken from a Youtube video taken with a helmet-mounted camera by US Special Forces (Delta Force’s A Sqn) rescuing Italian and Polish contractors from a hideout in Iraq […]
This website makes use of cookies, both proprietary or by third part, in order to improve your browsing experience. For more information check our cookies policy.
By closing this message, proceed surfing or using this website, you accept to use cookies. Don’t show this again
