A UH-1N Huey assigned to the 459th Airlift Squadron approaches Mount Fuji during its final operational flight at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Aug. 29, 2025. (Jacob Wood/U.S. Air Force)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — A Vietnam War-era helicopter made its final landing Friday at the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo, marking the retirement of the UH-1N Huey from Yokota’s 459th Airlift Squadron.
The helicopter swooped past a hangar in heavy rain with lights flashing before touching down on a ramp during a ceremony that retired four Hueys from the squadron.
The event came a week after the Hueys made a series of farewell flights, including one to Akasaka Press Center, Stars and Stripes’ Pacific headquarters in central Tokyo.
Developed in the 1950s by Bell Helicopter, the UH-1 series became an icon of the Vietnam War, serving in roles from troop transport to combat air support.
459th Airlift Squadron commander Lt. Col. Thomas Nolta and UH-1N flight engineer Tech. Sgt. Jeovany Vasquez speak to reporters at a retirement ceremony for the squadron’s Hueys at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Sept. 5, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
One of Yokota’s retiring Hueys — tail number 6614 — flew missions out of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, in 1971, Senior Airman Kayli Rodriguez, a flight engineer with the squadron, told around 200 U.S. and Japanese airmen and civilians gathered for the ceremony.
Twin-engine UH-1Ns supported Army Special Forces patrols, search-and-rescue missions and even carried Gen. Creighton Abrams, then commander of U.S. forces, she said.
After returning to the United States in 1972, the helicopter served in Florida with the 1st Special Operations Command, ferried law enforcement to remote Caribbean islands during anti-drug operations in the 1980s and supported nuclear test operations in Nevada.
The Huey joined Yokota’s fleet in 1995 and was part of Operation Tomodachi, the U.S. military’s response to the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan. The Hueys conducted reconnaissance and low-level radiation mapping flights over the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Rodriguez said.
In recent years, the Hueys have also been used as air ambulances for Yokota and nearby bases, including Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji, a Marine Corps base in Shizukoka prefecture.
The Vietnam-era helicopter will remain on display at Yokota, while the other three retired Hueys will return to the U.S., squadron commander Lt. Col. Thomas Nolta told reporters after the ceremony.
AloJapan.com