21–25 April 1944. First Helicopter Combat Rescue

21–25 April 1944

Lex Anteinternet: Monday January 3, 1944. The Turner Explosion.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday January 3, 1944. The Turner Explosion.: 

Monday January 3, 1944. The Turner Explosion.

George C. Marshall was Time's Man Of The Year.

The USS Turner suffered a series of internal explosions while in harbor off of the Ambrose Light in New York.  138 of the 256-man crew died during the incident.  A Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS-1 flown by Lieutenant Commander Frank A. Erickson flew two cases of blood plasma, lashed to the helicopter's floats, from New York to Sandy Hook, saving many of the injured crewman, and providing the first incident of a helicopter used in that fashion.

Commander Frank A. Erickson, USCG and Dr. Igor Sikorsky, Sikorsky Helicopter HNS-1.  The HNS-1 had been in service for slightly under a year at this time.

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was shot down and became a Prisoner of War of the Japanese.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, January 13, 1942. Things that fly.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, January 13, 1942. Things that fly.:   

Tuesday, January 13, 1942. Things that fly.

 

On this day in 1942, a German test pilot became the first individual to deploy an ejection seat.

You can read more about that here:

13 January 1942

On the same day, the Sikorsky R4 flew for the first time.

The helicopter was produced through 1944, with 131 examples being made.  One was used for the first combat rescue of wounded men, in Burma, in 1944.

Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk, Natrona County International Airport

Osa's Ark - A strange Plane

Osa's Ark

I was looking through pictures I took to find an interesting picture to start off the blog. I think this fits nicely.

This is a Sikorsky S-38. A quote gleamed from it's Wikipedia Page explains it nicely.

"The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined 8-seat amphibious aircraft. It was sometimes called 'The Explorer's Air Yacht' and was Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious flying boat which in addition to serving successfully for Pan American Airways and the U.S. Army, also had numerous private owners who received notoriety for their exploits."

This particular aircraft (this might actually be a replica, not sure) is the "Osa's Ark", which belonged to Martin an Osa Johnson, two American explorers. There is a whole gallery of original photographs of this plane here.