Sikorsky Skycrane attempting to lift a Corsair ...

[Mark Allen M]

Looks like it didn't go too well. Any idea when and where? What and who's Corsair this was? Wonder how much damage the Corsair sustained by that drop. Looks like the Corsair never fully got off the ground though. Quite confusing as to why the Skycrane felt the need to release the Corsair instead of slowly lowering it back down. At least that is how I'm seeing it. I could be way off with these photos.
Photos have no source and no data.

[Scott Rose]

[CoastieJohn]

The first pic suggests the ground man connected the pendent to the sling harness and is clearing out. I do not see that red sign in the background nor do the scrub trees look the same in the background. The photog must have changed position. The 3rd pic is a reverse. Just speculating, the pick up angle was by design but I'd think it would oscillate in flight unless the was a drag chute somewhere or they have a slow, short haul. I wonder if the vert fin hit the manual release on the pendent and inadvertently pickled the load?? It would be good to find out the actual story on this. Maybe judge the timeframe by the helo model?? Would it be possible the helo was slinging these airframes from an island runway to a ship or barge??

I didn't post it but there is another pic in that Flicker series of a helo carrying a Corsair with "FAS" on the side. Someone should be able to ID hangers in the background. The title says it's a "Stratford Corsair". It doesn't look like the same Corsair as the first one.

Last edited by CoastieJohn on Tue Jan 02, 2018 1:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[JohnB]

It was the 70s or early 80s.
The Skycrane is a U.S. Army (or NG) CH-54....which has been out of military service since the 80s.

I vaguely remember this, IIRC, it was done near the Sikorsky factory, perhaps it's the pole mounted Corsair.

[Stoney]

rigged wrong, the helo can lift much more weight then the F4U

[Mark Allen M]

Looks like the RCAF had it figured out.

[helinut]

The CAF did this one too ,in 1986

[airknocker]

How it's done today:
https://www.facebook.com/george.dumond/ ... 945053557/

[k5083]

Yes, Chinooks can lift a fair amount of warbird.



August

[caseyrosz]

I can tell from the picture that is is a B model so it was at least 1969 when these pictures were taken. My dad was a crew chief on the sky crane in the Alabama army guard. Their unit hauled many aircraft over the course of his career. He even hauled a Corsair. If memory serves they hauled it from Florida to a museum in the north east. I believe it was for the Smithsonian, or some other federal museum. One of the wings folded while they were in flight and the tip hit the cable and the insuing flopping of one wing and the aysemetrical lift of the other wing almost caused them to drop it before they could get it slowed down. Hauling aircraft was fairly dangerous, since they could and would start to fly, and there is a lot of momentum on a pendulum to stop the forward motion. Attached are two pictures My dad took of their corsair move. The only note on the back says 85. I assume that was the year the picture was taken.

Attachments

[hercules130]

Any clue on Hellcat?

G

[Lon Moer]

Looks like it didn't go too well. Any idea when and where? What and who's Corsair this was? Wonder how much damage the Corsair sustained by that drop. Looks like the Corsair never fully got off the ground though. Quite confusing as to why the Skycrane felt the need to release the Corsair instead of slowly lowering it back down. At least that is how I'm seeing it. I could be way off with these photos.
Photos have no source and no data.

The Corsair and Hellcat are the training "toys" for the rotor guys.
Back in the '80s the Skycrane Air Guard unit that was at Reno Stead had some toys they used; a giant (GIANT) tire from a construction/mining rig, an old fire engine and an old tanker trailer.
One year when we were camping out in the desert on the back side of the course during the air races we hiked out to the toys area during the night just to check them out.