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Most Under-Appreciate Helo

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  • Member since
    September 2015
  • From: The Redwood Empire
Posted by Aaronw on Sunday, December 25, 2005 6:17 PM

I was going off what our aviation people were telling me, they said they were building new airframes, not rehabing old ones. As you work for Erickson you are in a better place to know whats going on.

Neat aircraft regardless, I love having them on a fire so long as they don't put my beloved P2Vs out of work Smile [:)] 

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Southern Oregon, USA
Posted by gedenke on Friday, December 23, 2005 8:44 PM
 Aaronw wrote:
 gedenke wrote:

 fallmonk wrote:
Wot about the CH54 Skycrane ?
the amout of "downed " aircraft that machine brought back saved the USAF lot of money during the vietnam war.
it was a tough old bird and once the US army was finished with lots of civilian contracters used it for many years ,its probably still in use now!

 

This link might interest you. By the way all the Skycranes you see on the site are refurbished and modifed old Army CH-54A/Bs. The videos are especially cool.

http://www.ericksonaircrane.com/

 

Actually most of Erickson's aircraft are new aircraft, Erickson bought the rights to the CH-54 and they are building completely new aircraft. These are properly Erickson Skycranes, not CH-54's or Sikorsky Skycranes. Several other companies are still flying referb CH-54's though.

 

 

Not be argumentitive, but "new build" Erickson birds are actually "conversions". Erickson takes an old A or B model airframe, and completely rebuilds them, modifing various components, and "converts" them to either an E or and F model, respectively. Some research will show that the serial numbers on the Erickson birds were late 1960's manufacture dates. Just my two cents, 'nuf said.

p.s. My employer (Erickson) actually has three of these such conversions in the hangar right now.

-Geoff There is an art . . . to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. — Douglas Adams, 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'.
  • Member since
    September 2015
  • From: The Redwood Empire
Posted by Aaronw on Friday, December 23, 2005 1:43 PM
 gedenke wrote:

 fallmonk wrote:
Wot about the CH54 Skycrane ?
the amout of "downed " aircraft that machine brought back saved the USAF lot of money during the vietnam war.
it was a tough old bird and once the US army was finished with lots of civilian contracters used it for many years ,its probably still in use now!

 

This link might interest you. By the way all the Skycranes you see on the site are refurbished and modifed old Army CH-54A/Bs. The videos are especially cool.

http://www.ericksonaircrane.com/

 

Actually most of Erickson's aircraft are new aircraft, Erickson bought the rights to the CH-54 and they are building completely new aircraft. These are properly Erickson Skycranes, not CH-54's or Sikorsky Skycranes. Several other companies are still flying referb CH-54's though.

 

In California SAR is primarily flown by law enforcement, medivac is typically private. BO-105, Bell 222 and AS A-star / Twin star are pretty common medivac ships around here.

 

What kits are there for the H-43 besides the 1/32 Testors kit? If you are interested in the H-43 here is a pretty good site for the Pedro rescue service in Vietnam, the crews of the H-43 made several records for rescue in Vietnam, from the fastest to the most, also the first and last rescues of the Vietnam war.

http://users.acninc.net/padipaul/pedrohome.htm

 

Least appreciated? I think the H-43 is definately in the running, for all the development that resulted both in design and use it should be better known. It held numerous helicopter records, it was the first helicopter designed for rescue service, the only flying fire truck ever built and used (not just a water dropper). The early Sikorsky's would qualify too.

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Aaaaah.... Alpha Apaches... A beautiful thing!
Posted by Cobrahistorian on Friday, December 23, 2005 10:03 AM

Hmmm.... I'd go with the Seasprite too, but then again the Sikorsky R-6A has my vote too...

Chris, you're thinking the R-4B.  The R4D was the Navy designation for the C-47.

 

 

"1-6 is in hot"
  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Southern Oregon, USA
Posted by gedenke on Friday, December 23, 2005 7:26 AM

 fallmonk wrote:
Wot about the CH54 Skycrane ?
the amout of "downed " aircraft that machine brought back saved the USAF lot of money during the vietnam war.
it was a tough old bird and once the US army was finished with lots of civilian contracters used it for many years ,its probably still in use now!

 

This link might interest you. By the way all the Skycranes you see on the site are refurbished and modifed old Army CH-54A/Bs. The videos are especially cool.

http://www.ericksonaircrane.com/

-Geoff There is an art . . . to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. — Douglas Adams, 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'.
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: phoenix
Posted by grandadjohn on Sunday, July 3, 2005 10:24 PM
CH-54 is fighting fires here in Arizona has I type
  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: Rowland Heights, California
Posted by Duke Maddog on Sunday, July 3, 2005 4:21 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by fallmonk

Wot about the CH54 Skycrane ?
the amout of "downed " aircraft that machine brought back saved the USAF lot of money during the vietnam war.
it was a tough old bird and once the US army was finished with lots of civilian contracters used it for many years ,its probably still in use now!


It is. While fishing at Lake Irvine one time, I watched one fill up a water tank that was slung beneath it before heading back out to fight a nearby brush fire. That was about two years ago. It's still around since it was shown on the news this past month fighting another fire.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, July 3, 2005 3:34 PM
Wot about the CH54 Skycrane ?
the amout of "downed " aircraft that machine brought back saved the USAF lot of money during the vietnam war.
it was a tough old bird and once the US army was finished with lots of civilian contracters used it for many years ,its probably still in use now!
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Cincinnati, Ohio
Posted by ridleusmc on Sunday, July 3, 2005 3:19 PM
what about the original Sikorsky's VS300?
or Sikorsky R4D (very similar to VS300) - first helo used in WWII in the CBI theater.
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Australia
Posted by Helo H-34 on Thursday, June 30, 2005 4:37 PM
I agree with salbando about the HH-3E/CH-3/HH-3F helicopter kits for modelers. I've Built 2 of Lindbergs HH-3E's but snap fit kits are very basic as any detail go's. [Their canopy's are a poor fit to the fuselage]. I did come across a photo in an old issue of FSM June 88 reader gallery section of a nice loocking CH-3C from Revell ; but have never seen this kit in the hobby stores -[not in Australia at least]

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: phoenix
Posted by grandadjohn on Thursday, June 30, 2005 12:40 PM
salbando
Here in Arizona and when I lived in Colorado, most MAST missions are carried out by state and local police departments or private companies. Military units(both active and reserve), rarely get involved. Which is ironic since Ft. Carson in Colorado was one of the first to start the program.
  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Utereg
Posted by Borg R3-MC0 on Thursday, June 30, 2005 4:59 AM
My vote goes to the Mil Mi-4. Build in numbers, used very long but also very unknown.

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 30, 2005 3:52 AM
Grandadjohn,
The MAST mission is alive and well, and here in Alaska the 68th Medco is very active doing MAST and even SAR missions. My own Squadron's peacetime mission is Civil SAR along with supporting any DOD SAR taskings. We often work with Lifeguard and the 68th as well as the several ARNG units.
Civil SAR is still very much a military involved mission....at least here in Alaska (and I'm sure US and world wide).

derekms,
The Polish SH-2's came from AMARC at Davis Monthan AFB, AZ. They were then sent somewhere on the East coast for Mods and upgrades.
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: phoenix
Posted by grandadjohn on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 7:43 PM
I would have to go with the HH-43, SH-2 and HH-3, never hear much mention of them and the roles they did.

As for civilian medivac birds, they are an offshoot of the military "Dust-Off" birds from SEA. After the war was over and those units rotated home, they were used to aid in evacuating injuried from civilian auto accidents close to were they were based. There was a two-fold mission here, one was to aid the community (and train the aircrews) and the other was to help improve the military's image after the war. As emergency medicine evolved and helo's became surplus from the military, local governments started thier own programs or civilian companies formed to provide that service
  • Member since
    January 2004
Posted by derekms on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 6:08 PM
There are some photos of the Polish Seasprite on http://www.airliners.net/. Snake. I stumbled on them a few weeks ago. Apparently Poland bought (or more likely were given for their support on the war against terrorism?)two Oliver Hazard Perry frigates and 4 Seasprites off the US Navy sometime around 2003.

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Central Massachusetts
Posted by snakedriver on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 3:26 PM
No kidding...a Polish Seasprite? Anyone got any pictures? This is one of my absolute favorite helicopters. A good friend flew them during the Vietnam War. I've seen the Aussie and Kiwi versions ( they make grey look good) and I envy the guys who get to fly them. Of course a dirty OD Snake is still the sexiest bird in the sky...welllll, in a rather odd way!
Don't mean nothin'
  • Member since
    January 2004
Posted by derekms on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:07 PM
Well military wise I would have to say the SH-2 Seasprite also. I think it is neat how this helicopter has recently been added to the navies of Austrailia, New Zealand, Egypt and Poland (always cool to see a former Warsaw Pact nation using US equipment) after its lengthy service with the US Navy.

But perhaps the least appreciated helicopters are the various civilian Life-Flight helicopters. In fact I can't name them all adds to my reasons. But I am sure they are appreciated by the many lives they have saved.
  • Member since
    June 2005
  • From: MCAS Miramar
Posted by SSgtD6152 on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:51 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by supercobra

H-19/HO4S. Probably the first practical/mass produced troop hauler. Not too under-appreciated by the model manufacterers though - just under-appreciated in general.


Sign - Ditto [#ditto] that are the H-34
  • Member since
    June 2003
Posted by supercobra on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:21 AM
H-19/HO4S. Probably the first practical/mass produced troop hauler. Not too under-appreciated by the model manufacterers though - just under-appreciated in general.
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Connecticut
Posted by DBFSS385 on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 7:01 AM
I agree on The HH 43.... For the same reasons not to mention it was the 1st "modern helo" in service.
Be Well/DBF Walt
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 2:19 AM
I agree that the HH-43 and the SH-2 are underappreciated, however at least with the HH-43 there's several offerings to the modeler. The HH-3E/CH-3/HH-3F have little to no representation from model manufacturers which is a travesty in my opinion. We can get 30 different AH-64's in 4 different scales, but only a few out of date, poor and hard to find HH-3's.

I'd also add the H-300/TH-55 to the list of unappreciated. I for one spent 50+ humbling hours flying the Matel Messerschmidt.

Maybe the AS-350 belongs on the list as well.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Most Under-Appreciate Helo
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 27, 2005 8:03 PM
I posted a "fixed wing" version of the question in the Aircraft Forum. In your opinion, what do you think is the most under-appreciated helo.

My input would be the HH-43 Huskie and the SH-2 SeaSprite. Both had vital roles during Vietnam in picking up downed pilots and getting them home to fight another day, but don't get the "frontpage" like the Jolly Green Giant. Lt Lassen, USN, received the Medal of Honor flying an SH-2 to pick up downed flyers with HC-7 in Vietnam.

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