I only flew in the WS70 for a short time but had to make a quick assessment of what I thought of the cabin. My opinion was that the transverse arrangements of the rear seats (WITHOUT troops or Bergens) appeared to leave very little/no space from the front of the seat and the rear of the load hatch on which to walk behind the load hatch in order to see vertically down onto the hook for pick up and drop off. With no troops in the seats the crewman could sit on the seat and 'work' the load from there (luxury!) but with troops and Bergens filling the rear seats you would have to stand straddled over the open hatch in order to 'work' the hook from above. Furthermore, when the doors are opened in order to see movement tendency on drop off or pickup, if you had a cabin full of kit and soldiers IMHO , there was a bloody good chance of losing something or someone out the door. ( I know they should be secure!) The crewman wears a 'gunner's belt' (monkey harness) at all times. The combination of troops (gun crew) not necessarily a cabin FULL of troops, and USL gun was a common load in my experience.
Last edited by Dundiggin'; 5th Jun 2017 at 19:10.