Pictures of Cold War aircraft. (42 Viewers)

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Australian UH-1 Iroquios
 
Well over 50 years ago I built both the Revell and Aurora models of the Sikorsky H-55, USAF designation H-19. It seems to have been the first US helicopter to really have significant capability as well as true reliability. It was flown by the USAF, USN, USMC, and US Army.

Then, long after those model kits were built and destroyed, I graduated from college with a Mechanical Engineering degree and went on active duty in the USAF.
And at my first assignment I was assigned to "design" a part for the H-19! While the the chopper had been phased out of the Air Force many years before, we still had to supply parts to the allied nations that flew them. The copter had a 115 VAC 400 HZ electric fan that I guess was used for ventilation, and the fan had a clear plastic cover over the power terminals, consisting of an L shaped piece of plastic and a U shaped piece of plastic that went over the L shape. And they had lost the drawing for the L shaped piece, which prevented procurement of new ones. So I got one of the fans out of supply and made an official USAF drawing of the L shaped piece.

Odd, to be making a drawing for a part for a helicopter I had made models of.

By the way, in his book "War Pilot" Richard Kirkland, who flew P-38's in the Pacific including flying in formations with Charles Lindberg, went into helicopters after the war and was ordered to fly his H-19 from AK to CT for overhaul and mods. It being winter, his crew chose to fly their bird all the way down the West Coast, across the southern US, and then back up the Eastern Seaboard. Arriving at the factory in CT, they were informed they had just flown the longest flight in a helicopter ever made.

Screenshot 2026-07-30 at 15-38-37 151285.jpg (JPEG Image 1800 × 1209 pixels) — Scaled (78%).png
Screenshot 2026-07-30 at 15-31-19 Revell Sikorsky HO4S-1 Famous Aircraft.png
Screenshot 2026-07-30 at 15-21-08 Aurora Sikorsky S-55 Wind Mill.png
 

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