Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

General-purpose utility helicopter

Power Plant:

(S-55C)

One 522 kw (700 hp) Wright R-1340-3 nine-cylinder supercharged air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

History:

Sikorsky began development of a general-purpose helicopter to meet US military requirements in 1948, a contract being received from the US Air Force for five examples of the new design, known as the S-55 or H-19.  In all, a total of 1,281 examples was built in civil and military guise by the Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Aircraft, and the type was built under licence in the United Kingdom by Westland as the Whirlwind, in France by Sud, and in Japan by Mitsubishi.  All-told the total built is believed to be 1,614 aircraft.

The first production batch for the USAF was known as the H-19A, the prototype YH-19 (49-2012) flying for the first time on 10 November 1949 fitted with a 448 kw (600 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1340-57 radial engine.  Subsequent development of the type for that service included the H-19B, which had a 522 kw (700 hp) Wright R-1300-3 engine, the SH-19B for the rescue role, the latter becoming known later as the HH-19B, and the UH-19B in the utility role.  In the US Army the H-19A and H-19B became known as the H-19C and H-19D and were named the Chickasaw, later being re-designated UH-19C and UH-19D.  US Navy examples were the HO4S-1 and HO4S-2, for the anti-submarine role, and the HO4S-3, which in 1962 was re-designated UH-19F.  US Coastguard machines were known as the HO4S-3G, later re-designated HH-19G.  With the US Marine Corps it was known as the HRS-1 and HRS-3, later re-designated CH-19E.  The initial US Marine order was for 60 aircraft, and in US Navy service it was also named the Chickasaw.

Civil certification of the type was obtained on 25 March 1952 as a nine to twelve-seat general-purpose helicopter.  It was fitted with the Pratt & Whitney S1H2 Wasp, or R-1340-57, -40 or –49M1 engine, or the Canadian-built S1H2 or H2 Wasp engine.  Variants produced included the S-55, S-55A with the Wasp S1H series of engines; the S-55B with the R-1340 series of engines; and the S-55C which had the Wright engine and which introduced a new tail configuration with the boom angle down slightly, a wide chord arm to carry the tail rotor, and small horizontal tabs without endplates.

The type was also built under licence in the United Kingdom for the British military services as the Westland Whirlwind.  The Royal Navy also received the S-55 as the HAR.21 and HAS.22 under the Mutual Defence Aid Programme.  Two service test YH-19s were sent to Korea in March 1951 and performed rescue duties before being transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  Frequently the type was used for dropping agents behind enemy lines.  In July 1952 two H-19As were flown from the Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts, USA to Wiesbaden in Germany, a trip of 6,412 km (3,984 miles) in 20 days with a flight time of 51 hrs 51 mins.  The S-55 saw service in the Korean War in the 1950s in the casevac, assault and supply roles.

In the 1980s Orlando Helicopter Airways in Florida, USA, rebuilt and restored ex-military and civil helicopters to meet the then growing needs of the helicopter market, and these conversions included ex-military S-55s.  In May 1984 Helicopters Brisbane Pty Ltd, in Queensland, imported a rebuilt S-55 and this machine VH-ORA (c/n 55102 – ex N8307, BuAer 129020) entered service on tourist and charter flights around the Gold Coast in June that year, being able to seat ten passengers. It was joined later by VH-ORL (c/n 55-967 – ex N37780, 55-3218). This latter machine had originally been built for the US Army as an H-19D-3 and operated with City Link Aviation from Archerfield, QLD.  However, these machines were only in service for a short time when VH-ORL was sold in New Zealand in 1991 as ZK-HSS.

The machine VH-ORL was shipped to Hastings, having not flown for four years, and was placed in open storage pending the installation of a new engine.  It commenced flying at Hastings Bridge Airfield on 22 December 1992 and was fitted with spray gear for aerial spraying work, the rotor disc providing a 21 m (70 ft) swathe.  However, it crashed at Te Apiti, Hawkes Bay on 14 July 1994.

After service on the Gold Coast, VH-ORA was sold to HeliMuster Pty Ltd, operating for a brief period from Bankstown, NSW.  However, it did not do much work and eventually was donated to the Australian Museum of Flight at Nowra in 1992, being airlifted to the museum by Navy Westland Sea King helicopter from Bankstown.  Later, when the museum returned to be the Fleet Air Arm Museum, the machine was transferred to the Australian Aviation Museum at Bankstown.  In 2019, following the closure of the museum at Bankstown, it was exported to the Wanaka Toy and Transport Museum in New Zealand.

Other examples of the series operated in this region include:  ZK-HSB (c/n 54-1148 – ex M6704, 56-4261) built as an H-19D for the US Army. It was imported to New Zealand on 16 September 1993, was fitted with an internal hopper, and was used for slurry spraying.  It was extensively damaged at Kelso on 17 September 1996 but never written off.  It was rebuilt in the United States with a fuselage from c/n 56-1549 (ex 55-1069) and became N90415 in Orlando, Florida in October 1975.

ZK-HSC was an S-55E (c/n 55-238) built as an HRS-2 for the US Marines, later becoming a CH-019E (ser Bu 130168) and was registered as N17754 in Orlando in 1972.  It became ZK-HSC on 26 April 1995, was registered to B A & J C Emeny trading as Helicopter Services, and was operated as a slurry sprayer but crashed in the Makirikiri Valley near Wanganui on 29 August 2000.

Examples of the series had previously visited New Zealand, being the US Navy HO4S variant employed on board ice breaking ships proceeding to the Antarctic in the 1950s, the latter vessels including the USS Glacier, USS Edisto and the USS Eastwind.  They operated in the Antarctic from helipads and scouted the icefloes for safe paths for the ships to follow, and were involved in conveying exploration parties, as well as carrying fuel, personnel and supplies. One visited Timaru on 10 December 1955 and gave a public display. On 14 December 1955 one (BuAer 138519), part of the equipment of the USS Greenville Victory, which was to be operated by Air Development Squadron 6 at McMurdo, took off from the wharf at Lyttleton to be flown to RNZAF Wigram for servicing but suffered a failure of the tail rotor, crashed into the harbour, and was written off.

Another was operated in New Zealand in 1961 by Helicopters (NZ) Ltd.  This machine N5096V (c/n 55617) was built for the US Army as an H-19B in 1953 and was sold to Alaska Helicopters in June 1959.  It was imported to New Zealand in 1962 and made a test flight at Penrose, Auckland on 23 August 1962.  It was used for heavy lift work in 1962, including lifting new trucks for an overhead railway, loads of greenstone, hardwood bridge stringers, and wool bales.  At one stage in 1962 it had been used as a platform for shooting deer near Karamea as part of the venison industry. On 13 March 1963 near Alton in Taranaki it was badly damaged in an accident.  It was not repaired and later was placed in storage at Wanganui, later still going to Nelson in December 1968. It eventually saw use as a mobile workshop and storage shed.  It always remained on the American Civil Aircraft Register.