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Milton Keynes Chiropractic Clinic 01908 37 27 37 mkbackpain.com |
The Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave (company designation S-56) was a large heavy-lift helicopter by the standards of the 1950s.
[edit] Design and developmentThe S-56 came into being as an assault transport for the United States Marine Corps (USMC), with a capacity of 26 fully-equipped troops; the order was placed in 1951, the first prototype flew in 1953, and production deliveries of the HR2S began in July 1956 to the Marine Corps' HMX-1, sixty aircraft in total being produced. The United States Army evaluated the prototype in 1954 and ordered 94 examples as the CH-37A, the first being delivered also in summer 1956. All Marine and Army examples were delivered by mid-1960. Army examples were all upgraded to CH-37B status in the early 1960s, being given Lear auto-stabilization equipment and the ability to load and unload while hovering. In the 1962 unification of United States military aircraft designations, USMC examples became CH-37C. At the time of delivery, the CH-37 was the largest helicopter in the Western world, and it was Sikorsky's first twin-engined helicopter. Two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines were mounted in outboard pods that also contained the retractable landing gear. This left the fuselage free for cargo, which could be loaded and unloaded through large clamshell doors in the nose. The single main rotor was five-bladed, and designed to function with one blade shot away in combat. The CH-37 was one of the last heavy helicopters to use piston engines, which were larger, heavier and less powerful than the turboshafts subsequently employed. This accounted for the type's fairly short service life, all being withdrawn from service by the late 1960s, replaced in Army service by the distantly-related CH-54 Tarhe. Four CH-37Bs were deployed to Vietnam in 1963 to assist in the recovery of downed United States aircraft. They were very successful at this role, recovering over 7.5 million dollars' worth of equipment, some of which was retrieved from behind enemy lines. [edit] Variants  
[edit] S-60The S-60 was prototype "sky-crane" developed from the S-56 in 1958. The S-60 was equipped with an autopilot for stable hover, and featured a skeletal fuselage with a crew cockpit; the copilot could swivel his seat to face both fore and aft, and control it from either position. The skeletal nature of the helicopter allowed it to carry customizable, underslung 'modules' - nearly 100 troops, a medical outpost, a radar structure, etc. Its development led to the larger, turbine-engined CH-54 Tarhe military helicopter, and its civil S-64 Skycrane counterpart. [edit] Other derivativesWestland Aircraft, a manufacturer of license-built Sikorsky designs used the S-56 physics and the rotor and gearbox as the basis for their Westland Westminster. The Westminster had a tubular frame and used the Napier Eland turboshaft for power. It would have been clad for the passenger role (50 troops) or been left open-framed as a cargo aircraft (4 jeeps or equivalent). The Westminster project was terminated in favour of the Rotodyne design that had been acquired from Fairey Aviation. [edit] Operators[edit] Survivors
[edit] Specifications (CH-37 Mojave)
General characteristics
Performance
[edit] See alsoRelated development Comparable aircraft Related lists [edit] External links
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