First AH-64E's.

[gary1701]

Gents,

Nearly eighteen months after first arriving at Wattisham, and getting on for five months after first UK based flight, I finally got to see a couple of these close earlier this evening when Ugly section went out for a local sortie. First trip up since last summer but no change, business as usual.

Ugly 2/ZM712 on climb out.









I know that Tom has gone into some detail on the external differences between a AH1 and a AH-64E elsewhere, so I won't cover that again but these are the second pics I've seen of these loaded on the stub stations and I notice there's no rounded cap on the rocket pods. Even though we used the CRV-7 on the AH1 compared to the standard US spec 2.75" that others used, I always believed that the actual pod was the same, just that the rockets fired at a higher velocity. I still don't know if we're carrying the CRV-7 over from the AH1 or if we've gone with the standard US 2.75" rather than integrate CR-7, which would be a downgrade. Also note the HIDAS antenna is different. Old AH1 for comparison, also flying this evening.



Ugly 1/ZM714.





Gary

[Snoop 95]

Really have to look hard to see the difference between old and new! Did the 'E' sound different to you Gary?

[gary1701]

Really have to look hard to see the difference between old and new! Did the 'E' sound different to you Gary?

Not enough to tell them apart without looking. These are the first I've seen close up but I live close enough to hear them running on the pan, let alone operating in the circuit so I've heard them constantly in the last couple of months and if there is a difference, it's very subtle.

Gary

[paddyboy]

Great catches Gary

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

[johnwickenden]

The serials look bigger on the E version !!

[tommc]

The serials look bigger on the E version !!

The serial numbers are larger and MUCH easier to read.

There IS a difference in sound, but as Gary says it is subtle. The old RTM engined Apache AH1s sound a bit more "agricultural", and the new AH-64Es are slightly more refined, and less rough. If close enough to them, the AH-64E blades also have a distinctive "swishing" sound, similar to that of Merlins, though less noticeable.

[toom317]

They're easy to recognise, they have two black vertical bands of paint on the engine housing and a distinctive aerial between the rear of engine housings. There's lots of other points as well, as there was a thread about it some months ago either on here or UKAR.

[XWP29]

Great photos Gary and thanks for the visual differences.
From my perspective the engine noise is much in terms of dB - decibels. They fly right over us often at low and high level - and I find it easy to tell the difference.
The new engine is quieter, in that it is really easy to hear the older, agricultural sound Tom mentions at some way out from us at cruising speeds. I keep the camera ready but there is much less warning of their approach that way with the new engine.

Maybe our tiles won’t rattle so much when they are low level night flying.

[Tim Holden]

Now the lighter evenings are here I no doubt se you up there soon.