Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave
The Sikorsky S -56 was a piston- engine driven American transport helicopter, which rose for the first time in 1954.
With a crew of 3 men 36 passengers and 5,000 kg of cargo could be carried. The two radial engines of the drive had been housed for reasons of space in two gondolas in the side of the fuselage -wing monoplane configuration. For receiving the cargo of the S -56 had in addition a lateral sliding double doors at the front, which made it suitable even for smaller vehicles.
History
After the start of production of the Sikorsky S -55 Sikorsky 's engineers began planning a major battle zone transport helicopter. The first flight took place on 18 December 1953. It was Sikorsky's first helicopter with two engines and at that time the largest helicopter in the Western Hemisphere.
Originally the S -56 was designed and built for the U.S. Marine Corps. Over time, however, the United States Army became the main customers; nearly two-thirds of the total production was used by the U.S. Army as an H- 37A Mojave. In the Marine Corps a few copies were given a powerful, disguised with a large radome AN/APS-20E radar antenna and as a patrol helicopter the name HR2S -1W.
During the Vietnam War, the S- 56 was often misused as a crane helicopter. So we developed the Sikorsky S- 60, which many components of the S -56 had, but never got beyond the test stage. Based on this S -60 Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane was designed later.
A total of 148 were built S -56. In his role as a transport helicopter, he was succeeded by the Boeing Vertol CH -47.
Variants
Military user
- U.S. Army
- U.S. Marine Corps