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I happened on the Flying Crane web site and it brought back lots of memories. The photographs are great!!! The web page stated that the U.S. Army purchased 6 Cranes in 1966 and they were used to unload container ships.
Actually the Army purchased 4 flying Cranes in 1965 and they were sent
to the 11th Air Assault Division at Fort Benning, Georgia. I was
one of the handful of enlisted men from the Division sent to the Sikorsky
factory to train on maintaining them (I still have the original training
manuals). We hauled just about everything that wasn't bolted down including
other Flying Cranes (I have the pictures) We were D company 170th Trans
Bn. Then the entire test division was converted into the 1st Cavalry
Division (Air Mobile) and we became the 382nd Trans. Detachment attached
to the 478th Flying Crane Unit. We did the maintenance and they flew them.
We shipped out for Vietnam in September 1965. Once there, the Cranes did
help unload ships but only for the division's equipment. We started hauling
downed aircraft, artillery, and
earth moving equipment. We also hauled the detachable pods with the
operating room, and troops seats on which I flew several times as door
gunner. I was there until May 1966. Up till that time we only lost one
of the helicopters. It was never determined if it was brought down
by enemy fire or accident. The aircraft had just dropped off a load of
artillery shells at a fire base and still had a large empty nylon cargo
net hanging on the cable when it took off at high speed. The net
floated up into the tail rotor and it pulled the steel cable up into the
main blades. The cable pulled the blades down and they cut through the
cockpit at chest height. This was the only flight that the crew chief didn't
fly on. He let our company clerk take his place. I apologize
for rambling on. I could go on for hours.
I ran across your page this A.M. and I just had to respond - So you
want to know about the CH-54 "Tarhe" Flying Crane - I could probably write
a book on this helicopter for the period starting in Mar 66 through Jan
71 since at that time I was Chief of Procurement and Production in the
Heavy Lift Transportation Project Office, US Army Aaviation Systems Command,
St.
Louis, MO. - This particular project office handled the CH-47 "Chinook",
the Ch-54 Flying Crane and the Research and Development program which was
to evolve into the prototype Heavy Lift Helicopter (HLH) with the capability
to lift 22.5 tons or a equivalent fully loaded "Conex" container. The program
office, during this time, was staffed with the following
personnel:
James Hesson, BGen, USA, (retired)
- Program manager, CH-47
William McKeown, Col, USA, (retired)
- Program Manager, HLH
Robert A. Filby, Col, USA, (retired)
- Program Manager, CH-54
William J Arink, LtCol, USA, (retired)
- Deputy Program Manager CH-47
Valcris O. Ewell, GS-15, Deputy
Program manger, CH-54
Benny Young, Maj, USA, (retired)
- Chief Test Pilot
James Handley, CW4, USA, (retired)
- Test Pilot
Carl D. Stephenson, GS-15, (deceased)
- Chief Engineer
Jay Rickmeyer, GS-14, (USAMICOM)
- Sr Engineer
George D. Shonerd, GS-14, (deceased)
- Chief Financial/Program Svcs
Larry Swan,GS-13, (Retired) -
Chief Logistics Support
Norman B. Dare, GS-13, (Kelly
AFB, Tx) - Chief Proc and Prod, Ch-54
Cecil Harden, GS-13, (retired)
- Chief Proc and Prod - CH-47
Joseph Murray, GS-13, (retired),
Contracting Officer, CH-47
Ralph Becker, GS-13, (Retired),
Contracting Officer, CH-54
Maurice Schnieder, GS-14, (Retired),
Contracting Officer, HLH
Kenneth
Horsey - CH-54 Program Manger - Sikorsky
Eugene
J. Tallia - CH-54 Deputy Program Manager - Sikorsky
Paul Holt
- Chief Contract Negotiator - Sikorsky
LtCmdr
Joseph B. Cassidy - Govt Acceptance Pilot - US Navy
William
E. Colby - Chief of Contracts - US Navy
Salvatore
Planeta - Logistics Support - US Navy
Joseph
Cox - Chief Quality Assurance - US Navy
These individuals are only a partial listing of those that participated and contributed to the success of these programs.
The CH-54 in particular was a most noteworthy program for the Army as it was desperately needed to off load container ships in "Nam" since "Nam" has no deep water ports to accommodate large freighters.
The evolution of the CH-54
began at Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, in approximately 1960 when Igor
Sikorsky envisioned at heavy lift helicopter with the capability to move
large loads through the air. The first Crane looked somewhat similar to
the current version however it had limited lift capabilty due to the use
of the older CH-37 drive and engine systems. This was corrected in the
early 60s with the use of 2 Pratt and Whitney J60 engines fitted with free
turbines which were designated JFTD12-4a. These engines turned up 4,400
shaft horsepower each which created a lift capability of 12.5 tons in the
later airframe version of the crane. It was
this later version that the Army first procured in 1966 in the quantity
of 6 each.
Your picture of the Erickson crane (Ser #490) was indeed in the last
group of 6 A/C we procured in 1969 for delivery in 1970-71. As a matter
of history this group of 6 had the US
Marine CH-53D helicopter drive system and uprated JFTD12-4 engines
rated at 4,800 shaft horsepower each. This series as with prior series
also had engine air particle separators developed by Sikorsky in 1967 to
filter out dust and sand experienced in "Nam". These particular cranes
were CH-54Bs not CH-54A
The original 6 each the CH-54As procured by the Army in 1966 were made from the basic design used for the first 3 cranes ever built in 1963 after the 1960 prototype and leased commercially to the then Federal German Republic (West Germany). They were "hand built" aircraft using limited production jigs and fixtures - More in keeping with the model shop type manufacturing environment. These 3 aircraft were returned to Sikorsky in 1966 refurbished and a few of them were sold to Evergreen International.
One was retain by Sikorsky for company demonstration purposes and FAA
testing under FAR Part 29 to achieve a commercial airworthiness certificate.
Meanwhile in 1966, Sikorsky proceeded under Army contract to build the
first 6 aircraft as CH-54As. These 6 were, I believe, delivered to the
Army 1st Calvary at Ft. Gordon, GA. I also recall that 1 of these 6 aircraft
was delivered to Ft. Rucker, AL, for the purpose of providing candidate
crane
pilots with 25 hours of transition flight training and mechanics with
limited repair instruction since few manuals and MOs existed for this new
helicopter. Mainly the pilot training was limited to operating and controls.
The Aft Facing Pilot was provided with training in the operation of the
Breeze-Eastern main cargo hoist and the 4 point suspension systems to include
how to "guillotine" a load if problems were encountered. As an aside, in
order to get feel for the time it took to manufacture, assemble, flight
test and deliver a crane we must look at the subcontractors tasked with
this responsibility. It took a relatively short time to manufacture and
assemble the airframe however to complete the crane the dynamic drive system
proved to be the pacing production element. From the time Sikorsky placed
a main transmission order with Buehler Corporation (Indiana Gear Works)
and the main transmission housing castings with Alcoa to the time of delivery
of the "kits" to Sikorsky was a period of 18 months. So essentially it
took almost 2 years to build a flightworthy crane. Luckily Sikorsky had
a few CH-37 transmissions, which are the same as the CH-54, on hand so
that production flow was much shorter. Half way through this production
run of 6 the Army held a design review at Sikorsky prior to the second
buy of 12 aircraft. This design review resulted in the modification of
the rear cylinder shaped aft facing pilot canopy and the extention of the
aft portion of the cabin area to form what was then called the "rear porch".
It allowed for more space in the cabin pod for movement and storage.
Hi, sporth, I enjoyed your web page on the Sky Crane. I used to be a flight engineer on the Mighty Tarhe until 1991, the year the Army phased them out. Erickson bought them from the government, and the one that took the statue of freedom off the U. S. Capitol building was from my unit (tail no.18490, the last CH-54 built.)
Glad to see them still flying all over the world. Nice pictures, hope to visit your site again soon.
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I do not know much/anything about the SC. If you do, flew one or crewed
one in "the Nam" or perhaps you are one of the pilots/crew for this bird,
please eM me with some good stuff
to add here....... Thank You
.
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