All the World's Rotorcraft HELICOPTER RECOGNITION GUIDE


Sikorsky S-70 / HH-60 Blackhawk

Sikorsky S-65 / H-53 Sea Stallion

Sikorsky S-70 / H-53E Super Stallion

Sikorsky S-70 / H-53E Super Stallion

Sikorsky S-70 / H-53E Super Stallion / Sea Dragon

Huge. It's the largest helicopter outside Russia. Sponsons on Marine Corps Super Stallion are larger than on Sea Stallion; Navy's mine-sweeping Sea Dragon (illustrated) has enormous fuel-holding sponsons. Projecting to starboard, the horizontal stabilizer is a "gull wing." Three engines (third one is on port side, above and behind the others; at rest, seven-bladed main rotor; vertical tail fin canted to port.

So totally unlike the CH-53 series Sea Stallions, the Super deserved a military model number of its own, not just the suffix E. Has double the lift capacity, whether you're counting troops or tons, and four times the range of the earlier CH-53s. The Sea Dragon is also used by the Japanese military for submarine hunting and as a minesweeper. The canted tail fin (now being retrofitted on non-Super models) acts as an airfoil, increasing range and lift at altitude.