| | Submitted by Ed Springer espringer4@cox.net 2013-11-03 01:08:14
In about 1970, this airframe was received by Helicopter Anti-Submarine Warfare Squadron 10, NAS Imperial Beach, CA. This helicopter was then an SH-3A and the first SH-3A airframe configured with the Bendix Corp. AN/AQS-13 Dipping Sonar (previous BuNos had the AN/AQS-10 Sonar). This model also had a later model radar altimeter than previous (APN-171). Earlier BuNos had the APN-117. All maintenance manuals listed this particular configuration as BuNo 152104 and subsequent. The aircraft was received from NAS Patuxent River (Test Center), MD. It had only around 200 hours on the airframe. After hundreds of maintenance hours tracking down some undocumented wiring modifications from the Test Center, the aircraft was put in service. HS-10 was the training squadron for all West Coast ASW sea-going squadrons. As part of the training syllabus, the sonar hydrophone was removed, a plug put in the hole and the pilot-in-training was instructed in single-engine water landings and take-offs in a nearby freshwater lake. On this particular airframe's first such training mission, the pilot must have given it a little more than the prescribed amount of forward cyclic and the blade tips hit the water. The aircraft ended up submerged in the lake. A few days later, I watched it come back to NAS IB hanging from the bottom of an H-53, dripping water, with pieces of the main rotors visible and missing the tail (foldable) section). I was one of the maintenance types (AT rate) who spent so many hours getting it mission-capable, so I was quite distressed to see her crashed. She was hauled off and it was the last I saw her. Based on other posts, I see that she must have been salvaged and re-born as an SH-3H. Note: Now 9H0042/AMARC |
