Welcome
to the Sikorsky HRS Gallery
Here is where you will find interesting
and indepth looks at various aspects of the
Sikorsky HRS helicopter - updated
with something new every month or two.
During WWII, it was not uncommon for aircraft to be modified
in the field in order meet specific operational needs. Often,
these same field modifications were later incorporated into production
aircraft.
HMR-161 tested many field modifications in Korea. One
of these was likely a result of pilots finding the front wheels
unsuitable for holding position on sloping terrain. HRS-1, BuNo127803,
had it's front wheels removed and replaced with fixed skids. There
is no evidence to indicate the experiment went any further than
this one aircraft.
127803 was written off in an operational accident
on March 1, 1952, when it's tail rotor shaft failed.
HRS-2, BuNo130145 was upgraded to an
HRS-3 in mid 1955 and by the end of the year was assigned to HMX-1
at MCAS Quantico as XM-8. While there, it and at least two other HRS's,
XM-5 and XM-9, were modified with the experimental, 'Rocket-On-Rotor'
system. A tiny rocket motor was fitted to each blade tip providing
additional power for takeoffs and emergencies. Seven minutes of fuel
was located in the rotor hub dome and the entire system weighed only
67 pounds. The system increased the payload weight and also extended
the "glide distance" in the event an autorotation was necessary. BuNo130145
finished it's career with the US Navy and was Struck-Off-Charge in
1963.
S-55
historian Sid Nanson sends along this photograph of an unknown
HRS-1 or -2 at an airshow in Philadelphia, circa 1955.
The Glossy
Sea Blue paint has been replaced with a mottled camouflage scheme
that covers the aft cockpit windows and the sliding cargo door
window. With the exception of the national insignia and the word,
'MARINES,' it is devoid of all other identifying marks - bureau number,
squadron, and callsign.
One of the primary reasons for rushing HMR-161 to Korea was
to test concepts of vertical envelopement as they applied to
amphibious operations under wartime conditions. But the squadron also
found time to provide humanitarian relief as well.
The squadron
had "adopted" about one-hundred nearby orphans and on Christmas Day,
1952, gave them quite a nice surprise!
HRS-1, BuNo127789 was
originally marked as callsign HR-6 (How-Roger Six, using the phonetic
alphabet of the time) but was changed to HR-69 for reasons unknown.
As HR-69, it received a painted caricature of Santa Claus on it's
nose and Merry Christmas on the fuselage. It was then used to deliver
presents to the orphanage as well as to forward echelon Marines of
the 1st Marine Division.
BuNo127789 was released to the Military
Assistance Program in 1955 and lent to Indochina. It was later transferred
to the USAF as Serial Number 51-17663. It likely never wore that number
and may have been lent to the South Vietnamese Air Force.
