An HC-16 helicopter lifts a rescue swimmer canditate from the water during a Pensacola Bay training session.

If there was but one aircraft symbolic of the Vietnam War, it would be the UH-1 Huey helicopter.

The Huey played such an important role in the war in Southeast Asia that a Austin, Texas-based film production company-Arrowhead Film & Video-is in the process of making a unique feature-length documentary- "In the Shadow of the Blade."

The documentary crew flying a restored Huey helicopter will shoot at various locations across America including The Cradle of Naval Aviation.

According to Arrowhead Film & Video spokesperson, Cheryl Fries, the Vietnam-era Huey, with Medal of Honor recipient retired Army CWO Mike Novosel in the left seat, will lift off from Fort Rucker, Ala., Oct. 2, and land at Wall South around 11:40 a.m. After interviewing a number of area Vietnam veterans for the documentary, the workhorse of Vietnam aircraft will depart for its next LZ, Eglin AFB, around 2 p.m.

Fries said the film isn't about the Vietnam War, but rather the men and women who fought in that war.

According to Fries, it's really a discovery project-discovering what a generation of Americans have become since the Vietnam War.

"The image many Americans have of Vietnam veterans," said Fries, "is one of despair. It's an image of long-haired middle-aged men and women running around in remnants of fatigues adorned with ribbons and medals. But that's not a correct image.

"Certainly nearly everyone who served in Vietnam went through many changes when they returned home.

But for the most part, the changes that took place within them have created artists, poets, corporate leaders and high-ranking leaders within the military. And, all of them share a connection to the war. That connection in the conflict's icon-the Huey helicopter."

For director Patrick Fries, flying in helicopters comes with the job. Whether it is used for transporting to locations or getting those spectacular aerial shots, a helicopter ride gets to be commonplace. But two years ago, Fries took a ride that changed his life.

The pilot, a Vietnam veteran, mentioned that he had flown in Vietnam. Fries then asked the pilot to tell him what it was like to fly the Huey in combat. From that conversation the idea for a film was born.

Meticulously researched for authenticity by Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association historian, Gary Roush, each story will unfold before the cameras at pre-planned landing zones, such as Wall South.

When you talk to people who served in Vietnam-Soldiers, nurses, medics, photographers, reporters, etc.- you'll find that most have a Huey story: the ride in to the landing zone, filled with fear and anticipation, the ride out, exhausted and relieved. Many of them talk about the Huey in the fond tones one uses to recall a beloved childhood pet. They'll tell you how it felt and how it smelled. And every one of them will tell you how it sounded. The WHOP WHOP WHOP of the Huey was Vietnam's soundtrack, echoing through the landscape like a drum call to war.

Even now, 30 years and more later, most veterans will tell you they can sense an approaching Huey long before anyone else can either see or hear it. Like any good icon, the Huey was always there, and its ubiquitous presence still hovers in the collective memories of Vietnam veterans, whose lives, 30 years later, are tinted by the shadow of the blade.