Posted on 08/12/2005 8:33:22 AM PDT by pabianice
NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point to repair helos from ‘bone yard’ for fleet
Three H-53 Sea Stallion helicopters were brought out of retirement and transported between Aug. 9-11 to Naval Air Depot Cherry Point, N.C., where they will be upgraded before being put back into active service.
According to Lt. Col. David Owen, NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point H-53 program manager, this marks this first time H-53s have been recalled from the nation’s war reserve, also known as the aircraft “bone yard,” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. The Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center located there maintains more than 5,000 excess DoD and Coast Guard aircraft for the nation’s war needs.
The H-53 is critical to the fleet and is the only heavy-lift helicopter in the Marine Corps. These helicopters can carry internal and external cargo and transport up to 55 troops. Essential for bringing necessary supplies to Marines on the front lines, the aircraft are also used for long-range insertion and search and rescue missions, and they are capable of in-flight refueling.
“It’s very much the workhorse of the Marine Corps and is the most heavily utilized aircraft in the fleet,” said Owen. “Unfortunately, there are just not enough of them. The Marine Corps has lost many H-53s in the last few years because of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and we need to increase the amount available...”
(Excerpt) Read more at navlog.org ...
I feel like we never made enough of the Jolly Green Giants in the first place.
That's why we have it. Good to see that system works the way it should. We often think those aircraft are just out there waiting to be chopped, but the truth is much better.
History Channel ran a program on the Boneyard a few months ago. Putting aircraft back into service after storage is a big part of their effort. (As well as stripping parts off of B-52s to keep the active fleet flying.)
It's useful for aircraft that are still operational. For those that aren't, the supply chains could never be restarted; spares would have to come from cannibalization.
they make the bone yard sound like a pile of junk, it is not a pile of junk though...it's more of a holding area...plus they also retrofit vehicles there...
Maybe the Chinese can make some new ones for us. God only knows we don't have the industrial base anymore.
The resurrection of the these bonyard B-52 aircraft is feasible. It would be impractical to resurrect any of these services (i.e., Navy, AF and Marines) fighter aircraft due to their limited fatigue lifes though.
Depends. Many B-52's were guillotined (really!) to render them unflyable in order to meet treaty obligations. This was done in the open so Soviet sats could verify compliance.
Not to be a nit-picker, but the Jolly Green Giant was the HH-3, a version of the Sikorsky H-3. Another version is the VH-3D "White Tops" flown as Presidential transport by the Marines of HMX-1. The HH-3 had a gross weight of about 22,000 lbs and 5 main rotor blades.
The Air Force called the CH-53A & C the "Super Jolly Green Giant". The Marines & Navy called the CH-53A & D "Sea Stallion". The CH-53D had a gross weight of 42,000 to 48,000 lbs, had two engines of about 4,000 HP each, 6 blades on the 72 foot diameter main rotor and a 16 foot diameter tailrotor.
The H-53s mentioned in this article appear to be the CH-53Es. The "Super Stallion" has three 4,380 HP engines, 7 blades in the 79 foot diameter main rotor, and a 20 foot diameter tail rotor. Max gross weight with internal loads is 69,750 lb. External max gross (sling loads) is 73,500 lb.
Max speed on all CH-53s is 170 kts, close to 200 mph. Though not approved flight maneuvers, the CH-53 has done loops, barrel rolls, aileron rolls and split-S maneuvers.
I've seen a great photo of two CH-53Es, each carrying a USMC LAV-25 (24,100 lbs) on a sling while they are aerial refueling from a C-130 Hercules.
The first CH-53s came into service in the mid 1960's. I flew CH-53D 1974-78. The CH-53E's came into service soon after that. Awesome aircraft!
We usually refereed to the SH-3 as the Sea Griffin or sh*t house 3 by other crews. I can remember a graphic scene of a wrecked and burnt SH3A after a water strike being hauled back from the Gulf of Mexico by a CH-53A. We lost two crew members that day.
See post #6.
yeah
When I was in, we referred to the 53 as the sh*tter.
Yeh, true. I used to be a USN jet mechanic during the Carter administration 70's...so I understand cannibalism all too well...:(
Me too. When I was Maintenance Officer of VA-176, my average jet was 17 years old - not much younger than the guys working on them. But they served us well! Funny thing is, the ones in the boneyard at D-M have plenty of service life left, having all been re-winged .....just too expensive to fly them anymore.
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