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Updated 6/19/09
The Main Database Page also contains the latest "Update Information." Here is where you'll find
what has changed in the database - additions, deletions, or modifications - since your last visit.
NEW! 6/20/09

To its builder, Sikorsky Aircraft, it was the Model S-55.

To the Army and the USAF, it was the H-19.

To the Navy and the Coast Guard, the H04S.

To the Marines, it was known as the HRS.

 

WELCOME TO THE USMC SIKORSKY HRS DATABASE

You likely came to this site via a web search or via a link on another website dedicated in some way to Marine Corps helicopter aviation.

 

The purpose of this site is to enlist your aid in helping to compile as complete a database as possible for the over 250 HRS-1, HRS-2, and HRS-3 helicopters planned for delivery to the USMC. 

 

(H)helicopter, (R)transport, (S) Sikorsky

 

As both the history of the Sikorsky S-55 / HRS and its use by the Marine Corps is told so well on other sites, I won't attempt to duplicate those efforts here. Instead, I'll provide links wherever possible.

 

My goal is to attach a squadron (or squadrons) to as many Bureau Numbered HRS helicopters as possible and then to attach an individual squadron identifier (e.g., HS-4, HP-8) to each Bureau Number. It's reasonable to expect that any given HRS would have been assigned to many squadrons and therefore, carried many different markings during its career . There were at least ten Marine squadrons which flew the HRS:

 

HMR-161, HMR-162, HMR-163, HMR-261, HMR-262, HMR-263, HMR-361, HMR-362, HMR-363, and HMX-1.

 

Compiling this data can only readily be done through photographs, personal logbook entries, and through accurate personal recall. Can you help?

WHY THE INTEREST?

 

My father, Roy N. Thorson was a PBJ (B-25) pilot in WWII. When he was recalled for Korea in 1951, he transitioned to rotor wing and became the 523rd Naval helicopter pilot. He flew the Sikorsky HRS helicopter at Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana, primarily with HMR-162, until April, 1953. These guys were a unique breed of pioneers who tested and proved the tactic of vertical envelopment and operations from aircraft carriers. The project is dedicated to them.

Capt. Roy Thorson and Sikorsky HRS-2, BuNo 130153, at Dallas NAS on a ferry flight from the factory at Bridgeport, CT. to MCAF Santa Ana, CA., August 15, 1952.
In Loving Memory: Maj. Roy N. Thorson, USMCR
December 27, 1923 - January 21, 2009