US Army
Army Kiowa helicopters during a farewell flight.
- The Kiowa helicopter served the Army as a light observation and reconnaissance aircraft from its introduction in 1969 until the service started retiring it in 2013.
- Now 70 0f the Kiowa Warriors relegated mothball status in the Arizona desert are on their way to Greece under the foreign military sales program.
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The distinctive and venerable OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, mothballed and grounded in the dry desert of Arizona, after being retired from US Army service with almost 50 years of service, is finding its wings again in Greece.
For an Army aviator, this was also a chance to get back into the seat of a historic platform and to share his knowledge and flying skills to a new generation of Hellenic pilots.
"I lucked out with this (foreign military sales) case as I was an instructor pilot in the Kiowa prior to switching to the Apache," Chief Warrant Officer 3 John Meadows, a military aviation trainer from the US Army Security Assistance Command, said of his selection.
Chief Meadows is assigned to USASAC's Security Assistance Training Management Organization at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and is the team lead for the initial Greek OH-58D training program as well as the first OH-58D Technical Assistance Fielding Team deployed to Greece.