Cobra Smoke Grenades - 1971
FireFly Had its taught me something about Cobras and had its rewards.
I flew lots of Firefly Missions in C-models around Central I-corps as a "Firebird" during my first tour. So, because I understood the mission, I flew with the Centaur light ship a couple of times.
On one occasion, I was flying as copilot and talking with the Cobras beneath us. I kept hearing the sound of rushing wind on the radio before during and after transmissions. When asked about the noise, the response was, “We’re opening the canopy to through our cans out!” I didn’t think the canopies could be opened in flight, but what did I know about Cobras?
That night, we assisted an infantry unit in contact and nailed a bunch of NVA soldiers. A couple of days later, the CPT who lead the unit visited Lia Khe to present me with a pistol that fired 7.62-25g rounds -- the communist version of our .45 cal. It was factory produced and has Chinese writing on it. I still use it at the local gun range here in Ohio. Interestingly, I was denied entry to a modern indoor gun range in Plano, Texas, because the owner said the round would damage his backing.
Note: Some Cobras had a smoke "can" dispenser in the belly activated from the cockpit; but it did not work well. It was a bit uncommon but some Cobra pilots would carry a couple smoke grenades in the cockpit. They would slow down below 40 knots, open the canopy and drop smoke.