The Sycanores had a bad time at first in the Far East. Thet had wooden blades and when they caught the de Havilland Mosquito disease they would delaminate.
Not a good thing to happen to a helicopter.
They eventually solved the problem and so they carried on until the mid sixties.
I had a friend who was SAR at El Adem with Sycamores. The pilot would operate the winch via a mirror and the winchman would go down the wire. As there was insufficient power to lift both out of the dinghy then he would send the survivor up first. He would then be winched up unless there was insufficient power or fuel in which case he would be left behind in the dinghy and the Sycamore would take the survivor back and then return for him.