| Kaman H-43 "Huskie" 1952 |  |
 |
|
| Kaman H-43 "Huskie" 1952 | |
|
|
Kaman won a US Air Force contract in 1956 for a Crash/Rescue/Fire-Fighting helicopter. Designated the H-43A the first Huskies were delivered in 1958 and eighteen of these piston-powered helicopters were delivered until 1959 when Kaman switched entirely to turbine power. Designated the H-43B/HH-43B, the turbine-powered Huskie was built in 1958 and lasted nine years. Powered by a Lycoming T53-L-1B the helicopters continued to be used in the USAF Crash/Rescue role. Later addition of an uprated Lycoming T53-L-11A engine re-designated the helicopter the HH-43F and a total of thirty-seven HH-43Fs were built up to 1968. The Kaman HH-43B set a world's altitude record for helicopters with a flight to 9850m and three world's time-of-climb records to 3000m, 6000m, and 9000m. P.Allen "The Helicopter", 1996
Charles H. Kaman established the Kaman Aircraft Corporation in December 1945 to manufacture a new helicopter rotor and control system of his own design. Development of the basic intermeshing rotor system and its servo flap control was completed in late 1946 and the first experimental Kaman K-125A helicopter was flown on 15 January 1947. From it was evolved first the K-190, flown in 1948, and then the K-225 three-seat utility helicopter; two examples of the K-225 were acquired by the US Navy in 1950. Used for evaluation purposes, they led to an initial contract for 29 HTK-1 trainers which, in 1962, were redesignated TH-43E. Contemporary with production of the HTK-1, Kaman developed the K-600, ordered for service with the US Marine Corps and US Navy under the respective designations HOK-1 and HUK-1; these were redesignated UH-43C and OH-43D in 1962. Eighteen aircraft similar to the US Navy's HUK-1s were also acquired by the US Air Force under the designation H-43A Huskie. One HOK-1 was flown as a testbed aircraft with an Avco Lycoming XT53 turboshaft engine, and service testing confirmed the considerable performance improvement offered by this powerplant. This led to the H-43B, first flown on 13 December 1958, which became the major production version of the Huskie with a total of 193 built; of this number 31 were supplied under the US Military Assistance Program to Burma (12), Colombia (6), Morocco (4), Pakistan (6) and Thailand (3). Slightly larger than the earlier H-43A (later HH-43A), the H-43B (later HH-43B) had a cabin seating up to eight passengers and was powered by a 615kW Avco Lycoming T53-L-1B turboshaft engine. Final production version was the HH-43F (40 built for the USAF and 17 for Iran). Generally similar to the HH-43B airframe, except for internal rearrangement to seat 11 passengers, this last version of the Huskie had an 858kW Lycoming T53-L-11A derated to 615kW for improved performance in 'hot-and-high' conditions. An interesting variant of the Huskie family derived from a conversion of one of the original K-225s. Under US Navy contract, Kaman installed in this aircraft a 130kW Boeing YT50 (Model 502-2) gas-turbine engine. When first flown with this powerplant on 10 December 1951, this was the first helicopter in the world to have its rotors powered by a turbine engine. D.Donald "The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft", 1997
- Ex-US Huskies have served with the air forces of Burma, Colombia, Morocco, Pakistan and Thailand. - The Huskie established seven world records using its T53-1 engine. - The first flight of the prototype in this series took place on 13 December 1958. - The USAF received 263 Huskies (18 H-43As, 203 HH-43Bs and 42 HH-43Fs) between 1958 and 1968. - The rescue hoist of the Huskie has a capacity of 272kg for lifting personnel. - A few civilian Huskies remain in use undertaking logging operations.
|
