The S-67 was a fine aircraft, built with company funds back in the late 60's to show what was possible. It had the rotor system lifted from an H-3, and good for about 22000 lbs GW, and it weighed about 10,000 lbs, so it could carry literally 4 tons of ordnance and 3+ hours of gas. It had speed brakes (set the speed at the start of a dive, and it would automatically hold the max speed during the dive!) Smooth as glass and very very fast. Held the world's speed record at about 219 mph for many years.
It was not built to any customer's request, so it was an uphill battle to try and sell it, back in pre-Apache days.
As the newest addition to Sikorsky's pilot's office, I flew it for a few hours as it was prepped for the Farnborough Air Show in 1974. Loops, rolls and split S maneuvers were taught to me then by Kurt Cannon. Those photos with it in desert camo were taken then (August 1974).
It crashed at Farnborough that year, in Sept. It dished out in a roll at low level, and settled into the ground where it came apart and burned, killing both crew. The pilot was Kurt Cannon, a very fine test pilot. The co-pilot was also a friend, Stu Craig.
It was hand-built with no hard tooling, so the cost to reconstruct it was high. With no firm sales, there was no impetus to do anything, so it faded from sight.
The design for tail cone and transition section were resurrected later in the Rotor Systems Research Aircraft for NASA. Some sharp eyes might see the similarity from photos.
Last edited by NickLappos; 19th October 2004 at 01:48.