Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:08:28.332Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Sikorsky Crane Helicopter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

P. L. Michel*
Affiliation:
Sikorsky Aircraft, Division of United Aircraft Corporation

Extract

After many years of helicopter design, development, and operations, a practical flying crane helicopter is under construction whose particular features promise an unprecedented utility. The steps leading to this new helicopter configuration were evolutionary in nature dating back as far as 1922 when the deBothezat quadrotor machine hovered for one minute and forty-two seconds.

Early military interests in improved mobility of the armed forces and the experiences gained with helicopters in the Korean War gave impetus to the development of vertical lift capability. In addition to the basic helicopter developments specific crane flying test beds and parametric studies were sponsored by the military. These projects included the Hughes XH-17 flying crane, the McDonnell XHCH-1 rotor test programme and the Sikorsky HR2S-1 (H-37) helicopters. In addition design study contracts were sponsored which determined the feasibility of constructing crane-type helicopters of 8 to 16 ton payload capability.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1962

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Sikorsky, Igor I. (1952). The Story of the Winged-S, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1952.Google Scholar
2.Wood, Edgar C. (1956), Lt. Col. U.S. Army, The Army Helicopter, Past, Present, and Future, Journal of the American Helicopter Society, Vol. I, No. 1, January 1956.Google Scholar
3.Knapp, William G. (1956), Commander, U.S.N., Helicopters in Naval Aviation, Journal of the American Helicopter Society, Vol. I, No. 1, January 1956.Google Scholar
4. Anonymous Hughes Helicopter Completes Tests as Cargo Hauler. News Letter, American Helicopter Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1956.Google Scholar
5.Doblhoff, F. L. and Toder, S (1958). McDonnell Pressure Jet Rotor System, Summary Report, McDonnell. Aircraft Corporation Report 6191, 31st October 1958.Google Scholar
6.Novak, Lloyd R. (1959). The Evolution of the McDonnell Model 120 Crane Helicopter, Fourth International Congress on Rotary Wings and Vertical Flight, Paris, France, 15th-18th June 1959.Google Scholar
7.Graham, Robert R. (1958). Summary of Parametric Studies of Flying Crane Helicopters, Journal of the American Heli copter Society, Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1958.Google Scholar
8.Sikorsky, Igor I. (1959). Helicopters for Civil Defense, Sikorsky Aircraft, Division of United Aircraft Corporation, March 1959.Google Scholar
9.Katzenberger, Edward F. (1957). A Note on the Crane Helicopter, Western Forum of the American Helicopter Society, October 1957.Google Scholar
10.Barrios, Willie W. J. (1958). Some of the Operational Prob lems Encountered During Service Testing of the H37A Heli copter, Annual Western Forum of the American Helicopter Society, September 1958.Google Scholar
11.Delear, Frank J. (1961). The Miracle of the Helicopter, Sikorsky Aircraft, 1961.Google Scholar
12.Michel, Philip L. (1960). Downwash Impingement—Some Experimental and Operational Observations, TREC Technical Report 61-1, VTOL Aircraft Downwash Symposium, U.S. Army Transportation Research Command, 15th Dec. 1960.Google Scholar
13.Thompson, Donald M. (1954). Development of New Cargo Helicopters, Aeronautical Engineering Review, August 1954.Google Scholar
14.Dobhloff, F. L. (1957). Some Aspects of the Flying Crane, Fourth Annual Western Forum of the American Helicopter Society, 20th to 22nd October 1957, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, St. Louis.Google Scholar
15.Fradenburgh, Evan A. (1958). Flow Field Measurements for a Hovering Rotor near the Ground, American Helicopter Society Western Forum, September 1958, Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, Conn.Google Scholar
16.Smith, R. L. and Echeverria, C. M. (1961). Evaluation Report, S-60 Flying Crane Helicopter, Report No. SER-60017, Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, Connecticut, 1st May 1961.Google Scholar
17.Lysak, W. W. (1961). Progress in Skycrane Development, SAE International Congress and Exposition of Automotive Engineering, Detroit, 9th to 13th January 1961, SAE Preprint.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Fitzwilliams, O. L. L. (1951). The Giant Helicopter, Journal of the Helicopter Association of Great Britain, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1951Google Scholar