1 June 1978
Daily Archives: June 1, 2024
31 May–1 June 1967
At 0105 hours, 31 May 1967, two Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopters, 66-13280 and 66-13281, from the 48th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, United States Air Force, took off from Floyd Bennett Field, New York, and flew non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean to the Paris Air Show. They arrived at Le Bourget at 1351 hours, 1 June.
The flight covered 4,271 miles (6873.5 kilometers) and took 30 hours, 46 minutes. Nine in-flight refuelings were required from Lockheed HC-130P Combat King tankers. The aircraft commanders were Major Herbert Zehnder and Major Donald B. Murras. Each helicopter had a crew of five.
Major Zehnder, in H-211, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a Recognized Course for helicopters, with an average speed of 189.95 kilometers per hour (118.03 miles per hour). This record still stands.¹
Both Jolly Green Giants, serial numbers 66-13280 and 66-13281, were later assigned to the 37th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron. Both were lost in combat during the Vietnam War.
66-13280, “Jolly Green 27” crashed at Kontum, Republic of South Vietnam, 15 April 1970. The pilot, Captain Travis H. Scott, Jr., was killed, and flight engineer Gerald E. Hartzel later died of wounds. The co-pilot, Major Travis Wofford, was awarded the Air Force Cross and the Cheney Medal for his rescue of the crewmembers from the burning helicopter. Captain Scott was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross.
66-13281, “Jolly Green 28,” was shot down over Laos, 24 October 1969. The crew was rescued and the helicopter destroyed to prevent capture. The pararescueman, Technical Sergeant Donald G. Smith, was awarded the Air Force Cross for the rescue of the pilot of “Misty 11.” He was also awarded the Airman’s Medal.
Major Herbert Zehnder flew another Sikorsky HH-3E, 65-12785, to intentionally crash land inside the Sơn Tây Prison Camp, 23 miles (37 kilometers) west of Hanoi, North Vietnam. He was awarded the Silver Star.
The SH-3A Sea King (Sikorsky S-61) first flew 11 March 1959, designed as an anti-submarine helicopter for the U.S. Navy. The prototype was designated XHSS-2 Sea King. In 1962, the HSS-2 was redesignated SH-3A Sea King. Many early production aircraft were upgraded through SH-3D, SH-3G, etc. In addition to the original ASW role, the Sea Kings have been widely used for Combat Search and Rescue operations. Marine One, the call sign for the helicopters assigned to the President of the United States, are VH-3D Sea Kings.
The HH-3E is 72 feet, 7 inches (22.123 meters) long and 18 feet, 10 inches (5.740 meters) high with all rotors turning. The main rotor has five blades and a diameter of 62 feet (18.898 meters). Each blade has a chord of 1 foot, 6.25 inches (0.464 meters). The main rotor turns at 203 r.p.m., counter-clockwise, as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the right.) The tail rotor also has five blades and has a diameter of 10 feet, 4 inches (3.150 meters). The blades have a chord of 7–11/32 inches (0.187 meters). The tail rotor turns clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.) The tail rotor turns 1,244 r.p.m.
The HH-3E has an empty weight of 13,341 pounds (6,051 kilograms). The maximum gross weight is 22,050 pounds (10,002 kilograms).
The Jolly Green Giant is powered by two General Electric T58-GE-5 turboshaft engines, which have a Maximum Continuous Power rating of 1,400 shaft horsepower, each, and Military Power rating of 1,500 shaft horsepower. The main transmission is rated for 2,500 horsepower, maximum.
The HH-3E has a cruise speed of 154 miles per hour (248 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, and a maximum speed of 177 miles per hour (285 kilometers per hour), also at Sea Level. The service ceiling is 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). The HH-3E had a maximum range of 779 miles (1,254 kilometers) with external fuel tanks.
The Jolly Green Giant can be armed with two M60 7.62 mm machine guns.
Sikorsky built 14 HH-3Es. Many CH-3Cs and CH-3Es were upgraded to the HH-3E configuration. Sikorsky built a total of 173 of the S-61R series.
¹ FAI Record File Number 2092
© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes
1 June 1964
The F-104G is a single-seat, single-engine fighter bomber, 54 feet 8 inches (16.662 meters) long with a wingspan of just 21 feet, 9 inches (6.629 meters) and overall height of 13 feet, 6 inches (4.115 meters). The empty weight is 14,000 pounds (6,350.3 kilograms) and loaded weight is 20,640 pounds (9,362.2 kilograms).
The maximum speed is 1,328 miles per hour (2,137.2 kilometers per hour). It has a combat radius of 420 miles (675.9 kilometers) or a ferry range of 1,630 miles (2,623.2 kilometers). The service ceiling is 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).
The Starfighter’s standard armament consists of a 20 mm General Electric M61A1 Vulcan 6-barreled Gatling gun, with 725 rounds of ammunition, and up to four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air heat seeking missiles could be carried on the wingtips or under wing pylons. In place of missiles two wingtip fuel tanks and another two underwing tanks could be carried.
On NATO alert, the F-104G was armed with a B43 variable-yield nuclear bomb on the fuselage centerline hardpoint. The B43 could be set for explosive force between 170 kilotons and 1 megaton and was designed for high-speed, low-altitude, laydown delivery.
Jackie Cochran set three speed records with this F-104 in May and June 1964.³ Under the Military Assistance Program, the U.S. Air Force transferred it to the Republic of China Air Force, where it was assigned number 4322. It crashed 17 July 1981. The pilot, Yan Shau-kuen, ejected.
¹ FAI Record File Number 12389
² FAI Record File Number 12392
³ FAI Record File Numbers 12389, 13037, 13041
© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes
1 June 1961
1 June 1961: San Francisco-Oakland Helicopter Airlines (also known as SFO Helicopter Airlines) begins operating scheduled passenger service between San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Oakland Metropolitan Airport (OAK), and the cities of Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland and Palo Alto, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The company initially used two Sikorsky S-62A helicopters.
Passenger fares ranged from $4.00 to $8.50.
One of the helistops was in the parking lot adjacent to the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco. The noise of the helicopters generated many complaints.
On 13 July, the San Francisco Port Authority warned the airline that it had 30 days to “abate” the noise of the helicopters taking off and landing at the Ferry Building “or to find another location.” After the airline notified the Port Authority that it would acquire quieter, twin-engine Sikorsky S-61N helicopters, the Authority rescinded its removal order on 9 August.
The Palo Alto Times reported:
‘Copter passenger service under way
San Francisco-Oakland today became the fourth metropolitan area in the United States to get scheduled helicopter passenger service.
The new San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines, Inc., this morning inaugurated regular flights linking the San Francisco and Oakland airports with downtown heliports in both cities.
Approximately 30 daily flights are scheduled between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m.
Flights to Palo Alto, San Jose, Berkeley and Sacramento will be added in the near future.
Initially the line is flying two turbine-powered Sikorsky S-62 amphibious helicopters. Each helicopter is capable of carrying 10 passengers, plus baggage, at speeds of 100 miles per hour.
The downtown San Francisco heliport is located on a new site just north of the Ferry Building and adjacent to the World Trade center. The Oakland heliport is near Lake Merritt on 10th Street, next to the Oakland Auditorium and the Exposition Building
An airlines spokesman said the firm has applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board for authority to carry passengers and cargo between any points within a 100-mile radius of the San Francisco and Oakland airports.
The firm has plans to acquire a third helicopter which would carry 28 passengers as soon as the traffic load increases, the spokesman said.
The new service makes the trip between downtown San Francisco and the San Francisco International Airport in eight minutes. Fares for the service range from $4 to $8.50.
Other cities which already have helicopter passenger service are Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
—Palo Alto Times, Vol. 69, No.130, 1 June 1961, Page 10, Columns 6–8
The president of the new company, Mervyn Frances (“Mike”) Bagan, was formerly an attorney for the Civil Aeronautics Board, and vice president of Los Angeles Airways. He also served as the Director of Research for Central Airlines.
The S-62A was manufactured by the Sikorsky Aircraft Division of the United Technologies Corporation at Stratford, Connecticut. It is a medium helicopter, flown by two pilots. It could carry ten passengers. The helicopter was powered by a single turboshaft engine. It used the dynamic components of the earlier Sikoprsky S-55 model (main rotor head, main rotor blades, intermediate gear box, tail gear box tail rotor head and blades). The main transmission was modified to bring the turboshaft engine’s r.p.m. to an acceptable speed (85.839:1 gear reduction). Tail rotor drive is 12.274:1 The fuselage features a “boat hull” for water landings.
The helicopter’s main landing gear is retractable into sponsons. The tail wheel is fixed.
The S-62 has an overall length of 62 feet, 3 inches (18.974 meters) with rotors turning. The fuselage is 45 feet, 5.5 inches (13,856 meters) long and 5 feet, 10 inches (1.778 meters) wide. The three-blade main rotor diameter is 53 feet, 0 inches (16.154 meters), and tail rotor diameter, 8 feet, 9 inches (2.667 meters). It has a maximum height of 15 feet, 11.8 inches (4.872 meters). As is common with American single main rotor helicopters, the main rotor turns counterclockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the right side of the helicopter.) The two-blade tail rotor, which is mounted on the left side of the tail boom, turns clockwise, as seen from the helicopter’s left. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.) The S-62A has an empty weight of 5,083 pounds (2,306 kilograms), and maximum gross weight of 8,300 pounds (3,765 kilograms).
The Sikorsky S-62A is powered by one General Electric CT58-110-1 turboshaft engine, offset to the left of the aircraft centerline. The engine has a 10-stage axial-flow compressor, an annular combustion chamber, 2-stage gas producer turbine, a single-stage power turbine. The CT58-110-1’s maximum continuous power rating is 1,050 shaft horsepower (783 kilowatts). The engine is derated to 670 shaft horsepower (500 kilowatts) as installed. This engine is 1 foot, 4 inches (0.406 meters) in diameter and 4 feet, 7 inches (1.397 meters) long. Without the reduction gear box, it weighs 285 pounds (129 kilograms).
The helicopter has two fuel tanks with a total capacity of 325.0 U.S. gallons (1,230.26 liters). The unusable fuel is 1.07 gallons (4.050 liters).
The S-62’s normal cruise speed 85 knots (98 miles per hour/157 kilometers per hour), while its maximum allowable speed (VNE) is 109 knots (125 miles per hour/202 kilometers per hour) with the gross weight below 6,500 pounds (2,948 kilograms). Sideward flight is limited to 25 knots (29 miles per hour/46 kilometers per hour), and rearward, 20 knots (23 miles per hour/37 kilometers per hour). The maximum range is 400 nautical miles (460 statute miles/741 kilometers), and the service ceiling is 11,200 feet (3,414 meters).
A total of 151 Sikorsky S-62s were built. The United States Coast Guard purchased 99 S-62Cs, designated HH-52A. These differed from the commercial variant by having three axis automatic stabilization equipment, LORAN navigation, and a rescue hoist, and a General Electric T58-GE-8 engines rated at 1,250 shaft horsepower (919 kilowatts), derated to 730 shaft horsepower (553 kilowatts). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries built the S-62J variant under license. The HH-52 was in service with the USCG from 1963 until 1989. According to Sikorsky, the HH-52 series has rescued more than 15,000 people while in service with the Coast Guard, far more than any other helicopter type up to that time.
Two S-62As were operated by San Francisco-Oakland Helicopter Airlines. Sikorsky S-62 N978 (serial number 62009) was manufactured in 1960. Its FAA registration was cancelled 18 September 2009. N323Y (serial number 62014) was manufactured in 1961. It was destroyed and its FAA registration cancelled 18 November 1980.
© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes
1 June 1943
The DC-3 had been delivered to KLM by ship, the Holland-America passenger liner, SS Statendam, which arrived 11 September 1936. The airliner was assigned Netherlands registration PH-ALI and named Ibis. It was the first of ten DC-3s ordered by KLM, and it regularly flew a London–Amsterdam–Berlin schedule.
KLM’s DC-3s were configured with a three-seat flight deck. A third seat was placed behind the first pilot, for use by a radio operator/navigator. A chart table was behind the second pilot’s seat.
When Germany invaded Holland in May 1940, Ibis was flown to England and was then leased to BOAC. Once in England, it was re-registered G-AGBB. Although it remained a civil aircraft, Ibis was painted in the standard Royal Air Force dark green, dark brown and gray camouflage. The original KLM flight crew continued to fly the airliner for BOAC.
At about 12:45 p.m., a flight of eight Junkers Ju 88C fighters, which were patrolling the Bay of Biscay to protect transiting U-boats, encountered the camouflaged DC-3 and shot it down.
All those aboard, 13 passengers and 4 crew members, were killed. Actor, director and producer Leslie Howard, who portrayed “Ashley Wilkes” in the 1939 motion picture, “Gone With The Wind,” and R. J Mitchell, designer of the Supermarine Spitfire, in 1942’s “First of the Few,” was one of the passengers who died.
Ibis had been attacked by German fighters on two previous occasions. On 15 November 1942 a Messerschmitt Bf-110 twin-engine fighter damaged it. On 19 April 1943, six Bf-110s attacked. Both times the DC-3 had been damaged but was able to land safely.
© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes