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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1554.PDF
(Above, left) One of Okanagan Helicopters' Bell 47Ds, whose share in the constructional work on the British Columbia hydro-electric project is described in the article. (Above, right) Another British Columbia operation: a Sycamore lifts fuel drums for a copper-mine at 6,000 ft above sea level. (Right) Police work: an Agusta-Bell with pontoons, used by Italian currency-control officers. HOW FARES THE HELICOPTER? . . . were unfounded. Helicopters returned safely with holed blades,and crews had no hesitation in making escorted rescue flights to collect pilots who had forced-landed up to 125 miles behindenemy lines. New techniques promise to have an even greater influence onthe course of land battles. Kaman, for example, are developing a pilotless remote-control helicopter that could be used forbattlefield reconnaissance with either cini or television cameras (see Flight, October 19). The same company has a contract toproduce a design study for an easy-to-maintain flying crane able to lift large bulk loads over distances of 10 to 100 miles acrossany kind of obstacle. An indication of the possibilities of such an aircraft were given when the gawky Hughes XH-17 flew at agross weight of over 20 tons, carrying a radar van under its fuselage. There is almost certainly a future, also, for a collapsible, light-weight personal helicopter like the Goodyear GA-400, or the Hiller XROE-1 and Gyrodyne XRON-1 rotorcycles now beingdeveloped for the U.S. Marines, who have gone in for helicopter transportation in a big way since they proved its value in Korea. The Marines' latest idea is to use helicopters in conjunctionwith troop-carrying submarines for surprise assault or recon- naissance operations in enemy territory. They tested the ideain July of this year when eight HRS (S-55) aircraft of HMR-261 and 262, Marine Helicopter Transport Group 26, flew 55 combat-equipped troops to the U.S. submarine Sea Lion a short distance offshore. The pilots experienced no difficulty in landing atfive-minute intervals on the after casing of Sea Lion to transfer the Marines, who spent two weeks aboard the submarine, duringwhich time they practised embarkation and disembarkation and night landings through surf. Not long ago this would have been considered a stunt; butwhere helicopters are concerned the stunt of today is often the operational duty of tomorrow. Ten years ago, when we watchedthe first unprofessional demonstrations of "victims" being hoisted from a rubber dinghy in the middle of a field, it was difficult toforesee the efficient, everyday rescue services of the present time, whereby even a badly wounded or unconscious person can beliterally scooped out of the water in a net and carried speedily to safety. Sailors have been hoisted off the decks of vessels thathave met their end on the rocks or sand- banks around our coasts. In Korea, morethan 23,000 casualties were whisked to hospital, reducing to an unprecedented lowpercentage the number who died from their wounds. Nor should we dismiss all the "one-off"jobs as being of no consequence. Why should not a helicopter be used to raise aheavy weathercock to the top of a church spire, or to remove a piece of equipmentfrom a 320ft parachute training tower? In the latter case, at Camp Lejeune, NorthCarolina, a Kaman HOK-1 did in ten minutes what would normally have takenfour men a day and a half to do with block and tackle. Other jobs in this category have rangedfrom dropping daymark beacons ashore on inaccessible coastlines in the Arctic, insupport of the DEWline radar chain con- struction project, to lifting a 300-lb sheetof plate glass to the roof of a 23-storey A Hiller of Fison-Airwork, Ltd., spraying cotton in the Sudan.
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