Video by Sergeant Chloe Barns, C Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division’s OH-58D final flight, Afghanistan, 22NOV2014:
Video report of last flight of OH-58D over Hawaii, January 2015:
By the end of November 2015, the Tennessee Army National Guard became the last state militia to operate the OH-58D, sending 30 Kiowa Warriors to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB) in Arizona: “We don’t have to do anything when we drop them off. It’s their helicopter. They shake our hand, say thank you, and we walk away from it. It’s a different feeling, kind of painful, knowing we have flown all of these aircraft in different countries and now see them being torn down for storage. It hurts a little bit.”-Chief Warrant Officer 3 Peter Neveu
U.S. Army photo by Captain Joe Bush. Over Fort Polk, Louisiana, 2015.
2016 was a bad year for the U.S. Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, it was retired en masse. Kiowa Warriors based across the United States were ordered decommissioned by December 2016.
By January 2016, already more than 140 Kiowas had been interned at Davis-Monthan AFB.
The ‘D’ version of the Kiowa was being replaced with a recon version of the AH-64 Apache: “Reconnaissance is a mission, not an airframe. Making the transition with the Kiowa pilots will cross-pollinate the recon mindset to Apache.”-Major Adam Camarano, November 2015
Department of Defense photo by Kenneth Kassens.
In April 2016, the 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division made a dramatic en masse last flight over Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
USA photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher Freeman.
32 OH-58D Kiowa Warriors took part in the massive final flight.
USA photo by Sergeant Daniel Schroeder.
Video by Staff Sergeant David Birchfield, of what is claimed to be a Guinness world record for the largest formation of helicopters:
DoD photo by Kenneth Kassens.
Video, by Staff Sergeant David Birchfield, of what a Guinness world record for the largest formation of helicopters sounds like from the ground:
USA photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher Freeman.
This is what happens when a helicopter passes through the ceremonial water salute by air base fire trucks.
USA photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher Freeman.
A true rotor wash.
USA photo by Sergeant Neil A. Stanfield.
USA photo by Captain Adan Cazarez.
Two autographed final flight T-shirts were given to staff a Fork Polk’s elementary school, Kimberly Hampton Primary School.
USA photo by Sergeant Jesse Smith. Rodriguez Live Fire Range in Korea (South), June 2015.
2017 was the year OH-58Ds were retired from U.S. Army operations in Republic of Korea (South), when the 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry(cav-all-ry) Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division completed its rotation and was ‘re-deployed’ elsewhere.
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