Ah...the Good Ol' Days!

[SASless]

Ran across this photograph earlier.....gosh...but I am getting old.

http://photos.airliners.net/photos/photos/1/2/1/0914121.jpg

[fhvn4d]

i wouldnt worry too too much, im pretty sure that that things at the pima air museam outside the gate at davis monthan in tucson.. its an antique LOL

[mikelimapapa]

It looks like an airplane fuselage with a rotor system instead of wings. What is it?

[Cyclic Hotline]

It's a Sikorsky CH-37 or in civilian configuration, the S-56.

Ah, the joys of the twin radials, retractable gear, a 5 bladed, greased, crane main rotor and the fully articulated tail rotor!!!

That this monsterous behemoth took to the air so soon after the first practical helicopter is mindblowing. The projects that followed in its footsteps with the transition to turbine engines were equally mindblowing!

:)

[B Sousa]

I hate to say this but I was on flight status when these were flying.......
Nicknamed the "Mojave" Went for a ride with some buddies who wanted to scare me. Aurotoation did the job. Falls like a Greased Safe...
For those who are not familiar with Pima Air and Space Museum, its worth a visit if your ever near Tucson, AZ
www.pimaair.org

And yes OIl was Primary, also in the CH-34...Lots of Oil and then some gas..... If it stopped dripping, it was empty.

[SASless]

We twisted the name to Moe Jay Vee....and it is a delight to fly. Great big ol' cockpit even Nick could get into without a squeeze (well...slight squeeze maybe)...emergency intercom was a yard long stick so you could reach over and tap the other guy and get his attention. NFP had to control throttle levers to ensure you had sufficient twist grip throttle. The sound of the two radials....ah pure bliss.

Upon landing....fill it up with oil and check the fuel! We normally carried a 55gal (us) drum of oil along....not that it used much. :rolleyes:

[Hilico]

Milt Thompson was a test pilot at Edwards AFB during the sixties. He flew the first wingless aircraft that later formed the basis for the Shuttle. Those prototypes had 'glide' ratios of 3.5:1, came down at 15000ft min, landed at 230mph and would PIO if you looked at them the wrong way. Here's what he had to say about the CH37, which was used for dropping models:

'The lift helicopters used for these tests were fairly heavy for that time. The main rotor was driven by two R-2800 Pratt and Whitney radial engines, connected to the main rotor through massive gear boxes that were inside the cabin. I often wondered what would happen if tossed a handful of bolts into those two gear boxes. I could picture an explosion of gear teeth riddling the fuselage of the helicopter. That made me concerned about something accidentally getting into those gear boxes. They were exposed and vulnerable. I did not like what I saw. Helicopters were dangerous. I was thankful that I wasn't a helicopter pilot.'

(Flying Without Wings, Milton O Thompson / Curtis Peebles)

[Arm out the window]

Typical biased fixed-wing (or no-wing) comment!
:eek: He'd rather fall out of the sky in a slightly aerodynamicised brick and try to flare it with 15000 fpm on, than operate a hovering marvel like that...what's his problem?

[PPRUNE FAN#1]

Sounds like Uncle Miltie was one pretty sharp cookie.

[SASless]

I wonder if the Mojave had been turbine powered....would there ever have been a 61?

The R-2800 engine weighed 2360 pounds each...wonder what the T-55 Lycoming weighed...maybe 800 pounds?