Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King Helicopter
The first time my wife Cathy and I saw a Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopter, we were on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum. Among the helicopters on display, the SH-3 caught my eye.
I had spent the majority of my career in the spacecraft business, so the decals that called out the recovery of Apollo 8 and Apollo 10, 11, 12, and 13 were certainly interesting. Of those Apollo recoveries, the most historic was on July 24, 1969, when Apollo 11 with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins splashed down after their successful moon landing and were taken to the USS Hornet (CVS 12) as the primary recovery ship.
On the first manned mission to photograph potential landing sites for future Apollo missions, Apollo 8 rookie astronaut Bill Anders, on December 24, 1968, took a photo now known as 'Earthrise.' The moon is in the foreground, and the Earth is near the top of the picture. It is the most reproduced photograph in history. Nature photographer Galen Rowell, correctly, I believe, called it the most influential environmental photo ever taken.
If you are in San Diego and have an interest in military and aviation, and history, a visit to the most frequently visited military museum in the country is a great way to spend a few hours or more. Manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft of Stratford, Connecticut, the company was established by aviator Igor Sikorsky in 1923.
The first SH-3 flight was on March 11, 1959. Carrier trials were on the USS Champlain and were successfully completed in March 1961. The introduction took place that year. The SH-3 has a varied and interesting history. It was utilized as the recovery helicopter on May 24, 1962, for the Aurora 7 spacecraft with astronaut Scott Carpenter on board when the Mercury-Atlas 7 was delivered to the USS John R. Pierce, serving as the primary recovery ship. On earlier missions to space, astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom had a HUS-1 as their 'get-me-back-home' helicopter; Sikorsky SH-3's followed.
The Sikorsky SH-3 was the first twin-engine Anti-Submarine Warfare helicopter. Utilizing turboshaft engines, it was the first amphibious helicopter ever built.
At the outset of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Russian Navy had constructed more than 200 submarines. The U.S. Navy opted for a countermeasure that focused on updated ASW technologies that included the Sea King. With its amphibious hull, it was capable of water landings, a significant design feature. The earliest aircraft had General Electric T58 turboshaft engines.
The Sikorsky S-61R was simultaneously built for both transportation and Search and Rescue missions by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard. Late 1961 and early 1962 saw modifications that resulted in a helicopter speed record of 210.6 miles an hour.
Production was ended in the 1970s. Showing its durability, in 2009, approximately 600 Sea Kings were still up and running.
For anti-submarine operations, a four-man crew was standard; the pilot and copilot in the cockpit and two in the cabin monitoring detection equipment and data obtained from sensors. The cabin section of the aircraft was multifunctional. It could accommodate up to twenty-two survivors, or nine stretchers and two medical officers in a Search and Rescue operation. While serving as a transporter, it had a 28 soldier capacity. For naval ops, the main rotor blades and the tail section could be folded for storage onboard a variety of ships.
As a retired engineer, I found the Sea Kings having deployable airbags on the sponsons for floatation and stability when contacting the sea to be an interesting design feature. During anti-submarine operations, armament included either four torpedoes or four depth charges. Some Sea Kings were armed with one or two Sea Eagles or Exocet missiles during anti-ship operations. A single B57 nuclear weapon was an option. They have a Service Ceiling of 14,700 feet and a travel range of 540 nautical miles.
Sea Kings were deployed in close proximity to aircraft carriers serving as a safety factor as planes launched, ready to respond to a crash during a takeoff or landing. In Vietnam SH-3's rescued crews of downed aircraft both over land and at sea. They were equipped with self-sealing fuel tanks, machine guns, and armor for recovery operations in hostile territory.
Throughout their service time, Sea Kings were instrumental in Medevac evacuations as well as disaster relief.
The President of the United States has used them as the official helicopter. Those aircraft carry the Marine 1 designation.
Over the years, there have been photos of them on the south lawn of the White House. In the 1990's it was replaced in the Anti-Submarine Search and Rescue functions with the newer Sikorsky SH-60 Sea Hawk. The SH-3, however, continues to operate in reserve functions. As well as the USS Midway Museum, you can see an SH-3 at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, Aviation Heritage Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Hickory (North Carolina) Aviation Museum, the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, and the Quonset (Rhode Island) Air Museum.
For those of you that have spent time in a Quonset Hut, yes, they were designed in Quonset, Rhode Island.