g-mady,
I have a few hours in a Crane, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I never had a full check-out, CP only, so I waited a bit here, hoping one of those Ericksen crane-drivers who really know it would post.
The aircraft is built from the ground up as a flying crane. The main rotor shaft is vertical (unlike the 3 to 5 degree forward tilt of most helos). This means it is perfectly level in a hover, but is about 10 degrees nose down in cruise. Lock your shoulder harness as you rip along at 110 knots, 10 degrees nose down!
The main shaft leans 2.5 degrees to the left, so that the fuselage has no roll attitude in a hover, again, to make it a perfect hook platform. It lands on all three gear simultaneously!
The back seater looks at the hook, and flys the aircraft with a side arm joy stick that "talks" to the autopilot - a sort of fly by wire. The precision is unbelievable, with perfect visibility.
The power was awesome, it easily carried its rated hook load - 10 (A model) to 12.5 (B model) tons. The rotors were stolen from the S-60 experimental crane,
and were also first cousin to those of the S-56 (H-37 Mohave).
They were precourser to the H-53A/D rotors.
The hook is connected to a winch drum that takes the load up, and lets the aircraft just hover. The drum is isolated to allow very stable hook operations without vibrations making the load bounce up and down.
The aircraft had a 4 point load-leveler system that was actually 4 small winches in each corner of the underside. This allowed the aircraft to hold a standard pallet that could be loaded up prior to the arrival of the aircraft, which could taxi up, attach the pallet, lift it into position, then fly away.
Several standard load carriers were developed, in addition to the pallet. A box like a Conex was one, and also a hospital module.
The Crane was Igor's dream, and the last aircraft that had his full attention. It was a marvel!
Here is a fine site with some details about the A model crane (one main wheel per side) The B model was somewhat heavier and more powerful:
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraf.../info/info.htm