Italeri 1/48 H21C Shawnee Flying Banana Helicopter Kit
Model Airplane Depot
As the sun beats down, the skin of the "Flying Banana" heats up. Inside, soldiers in full gear drip sweat and try to ignore the constant "whump-whump" of the twin rotors. The engine noise changes. The .30 in the door opens up spraying rounds wildly. Points of light fill up the fuselage as bullets blast holes in the thin skin. The helicopter slews drunkenly in the air, rudderless. The nine-cylinder engine roars under the strain. Everything stops. As the dust settles around the crippled helicopter, a single warrior crawls from the wreck across the red soil of Vietnam.
The H-21 Shawnee is known for its nickname "flying banana" which derives from the particular upward angle of the aft fuselage. The fuselage designed, in this original way, has been developed to permit the adoption of the two powerful tandem rotors and the oversized propellers. Thanks to the two rotors and the strong aerodynamic structure, the H-21 became a real and reliable “workhorse” able to successfully perform the most demanding transport tasks in any kind of environments. Widely used by the United States Army since the first half of the 50s, it was also deployed in the Vietnamese operation theater for use in transporting troops and tactical supplies since 1961. To increase the defensive capability the H-21 was often armed of mobile machine guns to the side doors. It was gradually replaced by the more modern UH-1 and CH-47.
Kit features super decals sheet.
