Very Rare - Vietnam War UH 1 Huey Helicopter Tail Rotor Chain Original size 41"
It is about 41 inches ~ 105 cm long made of stainless steel. It will make really nice bracelets.
Legend hasit that Vietnam War helicopter crews who survived crashes in BellUH-1 “Huey” helicopters made bracelets, sometimes called “hard luck bracelets,” from the wreckage’s rotor chain (also known as “silent chains”, or “shoot down chains) to wear as a badge of honor (read:“Vietnam Veteran Comforted by Surprise Huey Helicopter Chain Bracelet“). The bracelet signified that the crew had survived a crash from being shot down, or a tail rotor failure of some kind. Often,the crew chiefs would simply file and pull a pin in the chain, size it, replace the pin, then hammer it closed. We now know, after personally communicating with over 100 veterans, that the legend is real.
Northwest Helicopters‘ president, Brian Reynolds, knew about the legend (watch video) – saw the old black-and-white photos of soldiers wearing the self-fashioned bracelets – and searched years for the rare chain so he could make a few for himself and others.
The Huey, first used by the military in the 1960s, initially used a 15-inch length of specifically manufactured chain to control the tail rotor pitch.
“The chain is particular to the BellUH-1 helicopter,” says Reynolds. “It’s only found on that model of helicopter and nowhere else.”
The chains, not well suited to the extreme challenges of combat that these helicopters faced, were eventually replaced by an updated, modernized version and were gone from service by the late 1960s. Today it’s extremely difficult to find the original design.
“People are hunting for these things. You just can’t find them,” Reynolds says of the original Vietnam-era bracelets. “And the ones you can find, the people have been wearing since the 1960s and they’re all worn out, basically.”
The chain, a series of a little plates and pins, moves in one motion.
“I’d been looking for a chain for 15 years, and then I found two by accident,” says Reynolds. “I was going through a box of other surplus helicopter parts and they happened to be at the bottom of it.”
Reynolds had finally uncovered the rare chain. Now he needed to find a local jeweler to help make his long-held dream a reality.
He opened his web browser and typed in “customer jeweler” and “Olympia.” He found three places to check out.
“Hartley Jewelerswas the most responsive,” Reynolds says. “I basically went in and said, ‘This is off a 1960s helicopter. Can you make a bracelet out of it?’”
In fact, Reynolds had an example to share with Hartley Jewelers: an old, worn version of the bracelet given to him by a European Huey owner many years before.
“It was old and tired, but it was a good example,” says Reynolds. “It was more of a field modification than a jewelry store product.”
Longtime Hartley Jeweler goldsmith, designer, and heirloom restorer Margit Phillips looked at the bracelet and chain, listening carefully to what Reynolds wanted.
With 25 years of jewelry expertise behind her – the first 10 of them in her homeland of Germany – Phillips examined the sample and knew that it was a durable design that could be duplicated.
The design uses a modified watchband clasp fit to the chain. “I really thought it was very durable and the design made sense to me,” says Phillips.
Using the original bracelet as a pattern, Phillips was able to divide out the length of chain and make five bracelets. A few months later, Reynolds had her do the same with the second chain.
“The overall chain is surprisingly heavy,” says Phillips. “But as a bracelet, it’s quite wearable.”
Phillips admits she was surprised by how soft the chain’s metal was.
“When I had to re-rivet things to put the clasp on, I had to drill through some of the holes in the links, I realized it ground away faster than I expected.”
Reynolds laughs when describing the bracelet he now wears every day.
“You’ve got to be careful with them, because they have sharp edges,” he says. “Most people would see it as something a punk kid would wear, that could cut someone.”
But to everyone in his industry, the piece is instantly recognizable. “Everybody who sees it says, ‘Whoa! There’s one!’” he says.
Phillips, who has worked on so many unique custom pieces over the years, counts this project as one of the most distinctive.
“And that’s something that’s really fun about working with jewelry,” she says. “There are still pieces that really catch your eye. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and you never stop learning.”
Phillips is part of Hartley Jewelerstalented teamof jewelry artisans. “It is so much fun to work with a team where you don’t have to second-guess everything.”
Recently, a young man came into Hartley Jewelers with a bracelet, given to him by his grandfather that was also made from a Huey chain.
“He had no idea about the significance of that bracelet until he came here,” says Phillips, who of course immediately recognized the piece and was able to share the history of it with him.
Reynolds has held onto a few of the custom-made bracelets, giving others to friends and people that work for him.
After so many years searching for the elusive rotor chain, and having a vision in his head of the finished product, was Reynolds happy with the final bracelets?
“Absolutely. It came together perfectly and it was exactly what I was looking for,” he says.
See Reynolds’ bracelet and a glimpse of Phillips at work creating it in thisHartley Jeweler video. If you have any information to share regarding the history of these bracelets, or the stories behind them, you are encouraged toemail travis, who is collecting as muchinformation as possible from those who were there.
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