A Skycrane had a normal crew of three people; pilot, co-pilot and rear- facing observer. It could pick up and transport 20,000 pounds. That's about the same weight as four Chevy Silverado 1500 pickup trucks. The helicopter was 70 feet long, almost 19 feet tall and the six main rotors had an overall diameter of 72 feet. To give you a sense of scale, the rotor blade diameter is about the same size as two tennis courts, side-by-side. I heard they had a passenger compartment that could be fastened to its underside but I never saw one. It had a range of about 200 miles on a full load of jet fuel which didn't seem very far.
Small bulldozers were used to build firebases in the jungle. The only aircraft capable of picking one up and dropping it off was a Skycrane. They carried even larger bulldozers sometimes, but in pieces. Mechanics would remove the tracks from a bulldozer, transport them as a separate load then reassemble at the firebase. I also saw Skycranes pick up and transport 155 mm howitzers to a firebase along with a load of ammunition. It was an amazing site seeing a Skycrane land when there was a lot of weight under it. During the dry season, an enormous cloud of dust would lift in the air as it slowed to a hover then began to touch down. They wouldn't let us near the landing zone because the wash from the main rotors was so strong, you could get blown over or pelted with rocks and dust. Once on the ground, they looked like a giant praying mantis. They were totally vulnerable when landing if fired upon by the enemy. They didn't have any firepower at all to fight back that I remember
It would have been neat to fly in one but I never had the chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment