Hippie Huey, or how the Volkswagen/Bell Helicopter made the world safe for Peace

[Alvis 3.1]

Where this departs from our timestream: The 1960 US Presidential Election: Nixon wins!

Things went badly for Richard Nixon and his country after that. Cuba became a serious hot spot in the cold war, and in 1962, it boiled over. There was a brief but terrifying nuclear exchange between the USA and the USSR, that fortunately was low in casualties, but pushed many voters towards the more pacifistic parties that emerged. By 1964, the US Peace Party was able to win all major federal and state elections, and there arose a new superpower: Hippie Nation.

President Abbie Hoffman charged his country with a new course, one of Peace, and "volunteers" flooded to join the new Peace Army. They travelled the world, bringing peace and love to strife torn areas. Often they flew in the newly designed Volkswagen-Bell Type 2 Helicopter, knows as the "Hippie Huey", or the "HippyHoppy".













Alvis 3.1

[Alvis 3.1]

Spray bar fitted "HippyHoppies" were instrumental in ending the Vietnam War. Professor Ellsberg, heading the Pentagon, and Dr. O'Leary, inventor of Aerial LSD, won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the Vietnam War in 3 days. The Viet Cong, after having been sprayed with LSD, spent 2 days running from imaginary dragons, and were quite happy to surrender to the US Peace Army. Truly, times, they were a changin'....













Alvis 3.1

[Silver Fox]

Groovy! Far out man!

[uncle les]

Inspiring stuff.  I'm digging what I'm seeing man..   Peace out.   ( I'm holding up two fingers in a non-threatening manner )

[Alvis 3.1]

Screaming, Richard Nixon sat up in bed. "What a horrifying dream" he thought, and he wondered what he'd eaten earlier to cause it. He was utterly exhausted, and hoped he would get back to sleep. He had a big day the morning, a televised debate against John F Kennedy...

Yes, it was all a dream!









I used the 1/24 Revell Germany VW Van as the main body for this project, and an old Revell 1/32 Huey Cobra for the main rotor, boom, skids and tail rotor. I scratch built most of the interior, to match what a helicopter would have, and scratch built the spray bars and tank as well. The green transparent top windows were made from a plastic Fresca bottle, which was already transparent green. The hippies came from Ebay. Decals are from my inkjet printer and Testors decal paper.

Alvis 3.1

[FAAMAN]

Brilliant cause of belly laughter!! :) Thankyou so much for this inspired Whiffing work . . . . man!!

[Volkodav]

Absolutely luv it!

[The Big Gimper]

Psychedelic man!! Was this funded by the CIA?

[Weaver]

Wow man, I just posted a reply to this and it totally vanished - freaky! (or did I just hallucinate it?) 

Anyway, cool chopper man - I dig it, like, totally. 

A while back I suggested a "Spirit of '67" GB that this would have fitted right into.

[elmayerle]

Coolness!!  If Bell can work with Boeing, they can work with VW (probably easier to do, too).

[CSMO]

That is one way to get a VW bus over 60 miles per hour.

It don't know what you've been smoking, but I need to score some of whatever it is.

That chopper is a 10.0 on the "Cool-o-meter".

Well conceived and executed.

Adios, Larry.

[Weaver]

Coolness!!  If Bell can work with Boeing, they can work with VW (probably easier to do, too).

Hmm, thinking about it, the helo part should really have been a B0.105, which is actually really close to the shape of the bus! Might be a bit small though.... tandem rotor?

[Modelling_Mushi]

10/10 for freaking out the squares

[Alvis 3.1]

I asked the local model club guys to guess which one of the Hippie figures was the "narc". One guy answered "They ALL are, they are all WAY too clean!"
 

Alvis 3.1

[Brian da Basher]

Let me guess, Owsley was the bombardier...

Yet another fantastic work from the infinite reaches of your boundless imagination, Alvis!

Brian da Basher

[Tophe]

 

[elmayerle]

Coolness!!  If Bell can work with Boeing, they can work with VW (probably easier to do, too).

Hmm, thinking about it, the helo part should really have been a B0.105, which is actually really clode to the shape of the bus! Might be a bit small though.... tandem rotor?

But was Bolkow even in the aircraft business at that time?  Besides, VW had quite a good reputation at that time and would make a logical partner (shoot, another Textron company, Kautex, is a major supplier of VW now).

[ericr]

absolutely fabulous !!!

[Antonio Sobral]

Great imagination allied to excellent modelling skills!

Loved the alternative history line!


Love and Peace, dude :)

[KiwiZac]

I love this, it's perfect! So well-executed, and I'm guessing it won't take up too much space on the shelf.

Excellent!

[Weaver]

Coolness!!  If Bell can work with Boeing, they can work with VW (probably easier to do, too).

Hmm, thinking about it, the helo part should really have been a B0.105, which is actually really clode to the shape of the bus! Might be a bit small though.... tandem rotor?

But was Bolkow even in the aircraft business at that time?  Besides, VW had quite a good reputation at that time and would make a logical partner (shoot, another Textron company, Kautex, is a major supplier of VW now).

Bo 105 first flight was 1967 - right on the money.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBB_Bo_105

[raafif]

well done !

Maybe a few more modern versions using the T3 Caravel ?  tho Alvis may not be a fan of the modern "T"s, I'm not ... but have done a few drawings for some ideas.

[Buzzbomb]

Ripper !
More great work Alvis.

[ericr]

Coolness!!  If Bell can work with Boeing, they can work with VW (probably easier to do, too).

Hmm, thinking about it, the helo part should really have been a B0.105, which is actually really clode to the shape of the bus! Might be a bit small though.... tandem rotor?

But was Bolkow even in the aircraft business at that time?  Besides, VW had quite a good reputation at that time and would make a logical partner (shoot, another Textron company, Kautex, is a major supplier of VW now).

Bo 105 first flight was 1967 - right on the money.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBB_Bo_105

the Bolkow does look relevant indeed !


I once had a try at a mixture with a Citroen 2cv, much more basic in skills though :





both ways actually :

[Weaver]

Nice one Eric!  :)

You can see what I mean about the Bo.105 there: it even has the louvres in the sides behind the windows.