Night Stalkers Part 1
Conception to GOTHIC SERPENT

Werner's Wings, various scales

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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The US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) – the Night Stalkers – was created after the unsuccessful Teheran hostage rescue mission in 1980.  The unit’s unique rotary wing capability has been employed in most if not all subsequent US conflicts, perhaps most famously in 2011 when Operation NEPTUNE SPEAR resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden.

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These nearly identical 1/35, 1/48 and 1/72 decals sets provide markings for a whopping 17 helicopters operated by the Night Stalkers, from the early 1980s to the ill-fated Operation GOTHIC SERPENT in 1993.  The specific aircraft featured are as follows:

• AH-6C, 68-17298.  The instructions note that this was one of the unit’s first Little Birds, and was used in weapons testing.  This and the remaining AH-6/MH-6 aircraft on the decal sheet (options 1-8) were painted black.

• AH-6C, 68-17191.  Another of the unit’s early Little Birds, 68-17191 was used in the US invasion of Grenada in October 1983, code-named URGENT FURY.

• MH-6E, 81-23631.  An early MH-6, a type the instructions indicate was “fitted with specially built platforms to carry three operators a side”.

• MH-6E, 81-23630.  Another URGENT FURY machine, used to evacuate wounded personnel.

• AH-6G, 84-24678.  This aircraft was lost with both crew members during the December 1989 invasion of Panama (Operation JUST CAUSE).

• AH-6J, 85-25348.  Photographed at the Yakima Training Centre in Washington state, 85-25348 is described as having “unique sliced through numbers and US Army markings”, and being “very heavily weathered overall”.

• AH-6J, 88-25351.  Fred Pushies’ book ‘Night Stalkers’ (Zenith, 2005) is cited as a reference for this aircraft.

• MH-6J, 95-25371.  Described as a “late model MH-6J prior to the introduction of the A/MH-6M”, the current version of the type.

• UH-60A, 77-22725.  An early UH-60A that was severely damaged during Operation URGENT FURY.  This and the following option were camouflaged in FS 34031 (US Army Helo Drab). 

• UH-60A, 84-24010.  Another early UH-60A that was used in Operation PRIME CHANCE, aimed at protecting US-flagged oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War in 1987-88.  This marking option portrays 84-24010 before its PRIME CHANCE deployment.

• UH-60A, 84-24010.  The same aircraft after its arrival in the Gulf, painted FS 36375 (Light Gray) to match US Navy SH-60Bs.

• UH-60A, 84-23983.  Another PRIME CHANCE machine finished in FS 36375.

• MH-60L, 91-26324/‘Thunderstruck’/‘Super 61’.  This and the remaining options on the decal sheet were painted black and took part in Operation GOTHIC SERPENT in Mogadishu, Somalia, on 3-4 October 1993.  ‘Super 61’ was one of two MH-60s shot down during the operation.

• MH-60L, 83-23882/‘Super 62’.  This aircraft carried the two Delta snipers who were dropped off at, and died defending, the crash site of ‘Super 64’.  It was then hit and damaged, but crash-landed safely outside the battle zone.

• MH-60L, 89-26188/‘Venom’/‘Super 64’.  The instructions note that ‘Super 64’, the second Black Hawk lost on 3 October, was kept very clean by its crew chief.

• MH-60l, 91-26363/‘Gun-Slinger’/‘Super 66’.  This aircraft carried Chalk 3 of Rangers on 3 October.

• MH-60L, 90-26288.  One of the Combat Search and Rescue helicopters on 3 October 1993.  The instructions tantalisingly note that a more recent version of this aircraft will be included as an option in the forthcoming Night Stalkers Part 2 release.

The instructions for these sets are amongst the most comprehensive I’ve seen for any decal release – four full colour, double-sided A4 pages that include the following:

• Port profiles of all featured aircraft (and front view scrap drawings for the H-6s), accompanied by brief descriptions of their operational use and/or distinguishing characteristics.

• Nearly two pages of detailed information on the history of the 160th SOAR (A), covering the unit’s formation and subsequent involvement in Operations URGENT FURY, PRIME CHANCE, and GOTHIC SERPENT.

• A Memorial Wall of unit personnel lost between 1980 and 2011.

• A detailed guide to decal placement and options, including descriptions of the differences between the 1/35, 1/48 and 1/72 decal sheets.  (This approach keeps costs down by allowing the same instructions to be used for all three scales.)  The main differences are that the 1/35 and 1/48 sheets include main blade stripes, FLIR turret laser warnings, and fire extinguisher and first aid markings that are not feasible to include on the 1/72 scale sheet.  Another compromise of scale is that while the 1/35 ‘UNITED STATES ARMY’ decals for the H-6s are slightly smaller than the same markings for the H-60s, their 1/48 and 1/72 equivalents are the same size.

The decals are by Cartograf, and beautifully done; I could find no imperfections on any of the sheets.  Letters and numbers are crisply printed, and legible down to the smallest 1/72 stencil.  The nature of the markings means that a reasonable amount of carrier film is present, so make sure you apply the decals to a high gloss surface.

Floyd Werner is already working on a follow-up 160th SOAR (A) release, which will presumably cover the period from 1994 onwards – although the intensity of operations in Afghanistan from 2001, and then Iraq from 2003, could mean that even more releases are required.  Let’s hope so, because the quality of these initial 1/35, 1/48 and 1/72 releases is outstanding, and clearly reflects a passion for the subject.  If you have any interest at all in the Night Stalkers, or in modelling special operations helicopters, then you need this release – I can’t see it being surpassed for a very long time, if ever.

Highly recommended. 

Thanks to Werner's Wings for the samples.

Review Copyright © 2013 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 19 September, 2013
Last updated 19 September, 2013

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