Sneaky Bell 407s caught on camera
For a long-time it was believed that all thirty-five Bell 407 helicopters ordered by the US Army Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aircraft Project Management Office (NSRWA PMO*) were intended for the Iraqi military. But that some were retained in the United States for trials and development work.
As it turns out, this is only partially correct. On 29 April 2009, a Pentagon contract announcement refers to a USD 60 million firm fixed price contract for Bell Helicopters Textron Inc in Hurst (TX). The contract covered production and delivery of twenty-four Bell 407s destined for Iraq, with an option to purchase up to 26 additional 407s. Some of these options seem to have been converted into actual orders, since in total thirty of these helicopters were delivered to Iraq.
The first three Bell 407s delivered in 2010 were unarmed T-407 training helicopters, they were followed by twenty-four IA-407 armed helicopters between August 2011 and April 2013. In an official US Army press release in March 2013, three additional IA-407s were retained in the USA for trials and development work. The following years, reports reached Scramble of 09-00111, 09-00112 and 09-00113 being flown by the US Army trials unit Aviation Flight Test Directorate (AFTD) at their main location in Huntsville (AL) and satellite location Fort Huachuca (AZ). It is unclear when these were also delivered to Iraq, but most likely this took place before 2017.
The thirty 407s delivered to Iraq were allocated FMS serials 09-00111 until 09-00140, and subsequently took on Iraqi serials YI-111 until YI-140. But five additional Bell 407s were being reported in the USA with serials 12-01141 until 12-01145. For quite a while it was believed that these were intended for Iraq as well. But that does not seem to be entirely correct...
First, more details about these five 407s, which all are believed to be Bell 407GX models:
The first three of these have been reported on and off in the USA several times. Most often this was in the Newport News (VA) area. On 12 January 2021, when three arrived at Hollywood Burbank Airport (CA). These helicopters flew over the next days several missions over the greater Los Angeles (CA) area. Most of these missions were in the evening or after sun-set, and interestingly it included several rooftop landings on heli-pads on the top of (commercial) high rise buildings. Some pictures surfaced on the internet of these manoevres, with their tail numbers clearly readable on the tailboom.
Given the sightings of these helicopters in the Newport News area, it is very well possible that they are used by a black ops unit known under the name “Flight Concepts Division” at Felker AAF, Fort Eustis (VA). This unit is believed to use a mix of civil and military registered aircraft and helicopters including Mi-17 and UH-60 helicopters, but also Beech 350 fix-winged aircraft.
Looping back to the Iraqi FMS story, it looks like additional helicopters were delivered at a later point in time since YI-143 and YI-145 were confirmed in use by the Iraqi military. The big question therefore is if the five helicopters for which we listed the details were or were not delivered to Iraq. It would be very well possible that complete other airframes took on the identities of some of them and are used for classified US-black ops missions. Hopefully over time we will be able to obtain confirmation of the exact details.
On their way back from the training mission over Los Angeles (CA), the helicopters performed a fuel stop at Kickapoo Downtown Airport (TX) where they were caught on camera.
*) On 23 January 2010, the NSRWA PMO was absorbed into the Multi-National Aviation Special Project Office (MASPO).
Photos by Sebastiaan Does