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 five books and contributed to many more ones.
On Apr. 26, 2012, a Bulgarian MiG-29UB (“11” white), involved in the Thracian Star 2012 exercise with the U.S. Air Force F-16s from Aviano, crashed into a river between the southern villages of Tsarimir and […]
The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, a massive 30,000-lb bomb that can destroy deeply buried bunkers, has been upgraded and ready to be carried by the U.S. Air Force B-52 and B-2 bombers. “If it […]
An interesting video filmed with GoPro cameras aboard a Hughes 500 helicopter of the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (CFS, Italian for Forestry Service). Among the Italian Armed Corps, the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (CFS, Italian […]