Joint Air Force Navy Project

Joint project, US Air Force and US Navy, June 1956

The Navy wanted to know the feasibility of towing a breached landing craft off of the beach, during an amphibious assault landing operation.

We had 2 H-21’s at Sewart AFB, TN. Modified with tow hooks, similar to a Navy jets landing hooks. These were mounted under the aft portion of the aircraft, just forward of the keel assembly under the engine compartment. They were hydraulically operated up and down to stow.

We flew from TN, to San Diego CA. We had the helicopters at Ream NAS Imperial Beach, and we were housed at the amphibious base at Coronado. I was A/1c and NCOIC of the operation.

The only tow cable indications were from the flight mechanic laying on the floor, and leaning out the back door talking to the pilots.

The first day of testing we went to the strand south of Coronado, CA. They had a D-8 CAT on the beach. We were able to tow it with no trouble. So they lowered the blade into the sand, and we were still able to tow it with no problems. I flew that day on A/1c Heine’s aircraft. He was on the beach with Navy personnel observing the operation.

The second day we moved to San Diego bay. A/1c Heine was flying on my aircraft. I was on the beach this time watching the operation. Towing the LCM (Mick) boat didn’t even straighten out the tow cable. They put the engines on the boat in full reverse. Still no problem.

They were towing in a large circle, the helicopter got a bit of a left yaw, and with the boat in full reverse, flipped it into the water. Heine was out the back door and the impact threw him into the smashed right side of the aircraft. He was the only one on board that required hospitalization.

We sat there for six more weeks while the accident investigation board reviewed every thing that had gone on.

Back at Sewart, 2 helicopters were modified with winch assemblies in the compartment forward of the engine. Where the cable passed through the fuselage there was a wiper assembly the indicated cable position in the cockpit.

Other crews went back to San Diego and successfully towed an LST at ½ its normal cruise speed.

I don’t know if the Navy ever used the procedure, but we proved it could be done.

(Note: This one of several stories that fellow ROTORHEAD Chuck Severns wanted to share with the group. Chuck passed away on 22 Feb 2007 and these stories are being posted in his honor).

HELOSID Testing

HELOSID (Helicopter-Delivered Seismic Intrusion Detector)

1967 HELOSID program. TDY from Shaw to Otis AFB MA. For tests and demonstration of McNamara’s new project HELOSIDs. 2 pilots and myself TDY to Eglin AFB FL.

Sikorsky factory crew would not fly test with HELOSID booby trap unit. Bought the aircraft from factory crew, loaded 6 booby traps in the launch tubes and planted then in a concrete slab from 1,000 feet to see if they would detonate on impact. Good test, no detonations, sold the aircraft back to Sikorsky crew and returned to Shaw.

(Note: This one of several stories that fellow ROTORHEAD Chuck Severns wanted to share with the group. Chuck passed away on 22 Feb 2007 and these stories are being posted in his honor).

Below is a link that talks about Operation Igloo White
http://www.afa.org/magazine/nov2004/1104igloo.pdf

During later operations, sensors were hand-dropped from CH-3 Jolly Green Giant helicopters by personnel of the 21st SOS Dust Devils (Special Operations Squadron). The picture above is not from the orginal testing that Chuck was involved in, rather taken in SEA, more than likely on an actual ADSID (Air-Delivered Seismic Intrusion Detector) mission.

Chasing Weather Ballons

1963 TDY to 59th Weather Recon, Goodfellow AFB TX. Flying balloon chase out of Sioux Falls SD. The requirement was 3 good balloons a month. High altitude air sampling, 100 to 110 thousand feet. The balloon would launch at 0600 in the morning. Take off with the H-21 and the C-47 command ship. Follow the balloon for 12 hours, and recover the package when it came down.

The package transmitted radio code all day long so we could tell if the blowers came on or not. If they didn’t the command ship could abort the mission.

Most balloons we recovered around Iowa or Wisconsin. When the package came down it was about 10’ x 20’. We had compressors on the chopper and would pump the air into a cylinder and it would be shipped to Cambridge Research Institute.

One got into the jet stream and was past Cape Cod in 12 hours. Easy life, per-diem, living in hotels, landing at any available airport, and signing for fuel.

(Note: This one of several stories that fellow ROTORHEAD Chuck Severns wanted to share with the group. Chuck passed away on 22 Feb 2007 and these stories are being posted in his honor).

Operation Eclipse

While at Goose Bay Labrador 2 H-19s, 4 pilots, and 3 mechanics were sent TDY to Knob Lake, Quebec, Canada, near Hudson Bay, on operation "Eclipse". We established and supplied 3 observation sites along the path of a solar eclipse, 1 site north, 1 at ground zero, and 1 south of the eclipse path. The scientists were from Cambridge Research Institute, Mass.

A Canadian Bush pilot flew us out one day to one of his VIP fishing spots. In about 30 minutes we filled a large tub he had in the aircraft. Lake trout like you can’t imagine 24 to 30 inches. The only fishing in the lake had been natives and VIPs that he had flown in.

(Note: This one of several stories that fellow ROTORHEAD Chuck Severns wanted to share with the group. Chuck passed away on 22 Feb 2007 and these stories are being posted in his honor).