How I Got My Start On Helicopters

I was thinking of how I got my experience in helicopters. It all started in San Marcos in 1951. I volunteered to work on helicopters from fixed wing Piper Cubs.

We had six Piper Cubs and I was a gas and oil man for eight hours a day on the flight line. The Line Chief came by and said they needed mechanics to crew helicopters on the other end of the field. So off I went.

I was assistant crew chief on a Hiller H-23 . I went to OJT school in morning and helped keep the aircraft flying in the afternoon. It was all new learning how to grease the rotor head and drive shaft. The H-23 the H13 were the smallest trainers we had. The big helicopter was the H-5 and the H-19 hadn't come out yet. Those were the days.

As I learned more I got to work on the H-5 and it need a lot of care. I remember some days we would track the blades both morning and night. The blades were fabric over a steel spar, what a night mare. Additionally the head had to be greased every day, but I loved every minute of the work and learning. I even got to be a crew chief.

When the H-19 came out I got to go to the factory school. We picked up the first five aircraft and flew cross country to Texas. It took nine days as we flew VFR with no wind.

I think the ferry flight real made it for me as we flew with the pilot and crew chief, so I had to help fly. We were an attraction where ever we landed for fuel, mostly military bases but some civilian fields. (Otto Kroger)