Original vintage Cold War-era 1953 Sikorsky Aircraft H-19 Chicksaw transport helicopter advertisement, featuring the U.S. Army's H-19 helicopter - "To Move with Less Effort."
Dimensions: Roughly 9.5 inches wide by 12 inches high.
The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw was a multi-purpose piston-engined helicopter that was used by the United States Army and United States Air Force.
The H-19 pioneered the use of a nose-mounted radial engine powering a single fully articulated main rotor located above the cabin, which helped maintain a proper center of gravity under varying loading conditions without requiring ballast to maintain longitudinal stability as with prior Sikorsky designs. This layout gave the H-19 series a characteristic bulbous-nosed appearance and made it one of the first truly successful single-rotor utility helicopters, leading to a number of derivative designs including the Sikorsky H-34, which was produced in even greater numbers.
The H-19 Chickasaw holds the distinction of being the U.S. Army's first true transport helicopter and, as such, played an important role in the initial formulation of Army doctrine regarding air mobility and the battlefield employment of troop-carrying helicopters. The H-19 underwent live service tests in the hands of the 6th Transportation Company, during the Korean War beginning in 1951 as an unarmed transport helicopter. Undergoing tests such as medical evacuation, tactical control and frontline cargo support, the helicopter succeeded admirably in surpassing the capabilities of the H-5 Dragonfly which had been used throughout the war by the Army.
The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) made extensive use of the H-19 in the Korean War, and its operator, Marine Squadron HMR-161 arrived in Korea on 2 September 1951 with 15 HRS-1 helicopters, and started operations upon arrival. On 13 September 1951, during Operation Windmill I, HMR-161 transported 18,848 pounds (8.5 t) of gear and 74 Marines onto a ridge in the Punchbowl area. A week later HMR-161 shuttled 224 recon company marines and 17,772 pounds (8.1 t) of supplies to a remote hilltop in the same area. Their performance continued to improve and in Operation Haylift II on 23–27 February 1953, HMR-161 lifted 1.6 million pounds (730 t) of cargo to resupply two regiments.
Although HMR-161 helicopters were operating in "hot" landing zones near enemy troops, they did not lose any helicopters to enemy fire. HRS-1 helicopters were also used to relocate rocket launcher batteries; the rockets created a dust cloud when fired, making the launcher a target for counter-battery fire, so launchers and crews were moved twice a day. Each HRS-1 helicopter carried four rocket launchers and extra rockets as external cargo, with the crew in the cabin, and it proved to be durable and reliable in Korean service. One reportedly flew home after losing 18 in (46 cm) of main rotor blade to a tree.
A notable rescue involving a USAF H-19 occurred in April 1953 when a North American F-86 Sabre flown by leading American flying ace Joseph C. McConnell was riddled with cannon fire from an enemy MiG-15 during a patrol over MiG Alley. McConnell was able to turn and shoot down the attacking MiG, but his F-86 was badly damaged and began losing engine power. Realizing he could not make it back to base, McConnell headed for the USAF rescue base at Cho-do, spotting an H-19 below him. H-19 pilots Joe Sullivan and Don Crabb, alerted that two damaged Sabres were headed towards them, saw McConnell's F-86 and changed course to parallel it. McConnell ejected over the Yellow Sea near the helicopter and was pulled from the water within two minutes by H-19 medic Arthur Gillespie; McConnell later told his sister "I barely got wet."
France made aggressive use of helicopters in Algeria, both as troop transports and gunships. Piasecki H-21 and Sud-built Sikorsky H-34 helicopters rapidly displaced fixed-wing aircraft for the transport of paras and quick-reaction commando teams. In Indochina, a small number of Hiller H-23s and H-19s were available for casualty evacuation.
In 1956, the French Air Force experimented with arming the H-19, then being superseded in service by the more capable H-21 and H-34. The H-19 was originally fitted with a 20mm cannon, two rocket launchers, two 12.7mm machine guns, and a 7.5mm light machine gun firing from the cabin windows, but this load proved far too heavy, and even lightly armed H-19 gunships fitted with flexible machine guns for self-defense proved underpowered.
The H-19 was also used by the French forces in the First Indochina War. A small number of war-worn H-19s were given to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in 1958, when the French military departed. These saw very limited service in the early days of the Vietnam War, before being supplanted by the more capable H-34.
Pakistan ordered eight S-55s in 1956 to equip search and rescue squadrons of the Pakistan Air Force. They saw service during the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War, flying various missions including counterintelligence operations at Karachi in co-operation with the Army. They were retired from service in 1971
1,281 of the helicopters were manufactured by Sikorsky in the United States, with an additional 447 were manufactured by licensees of the helicopter including Westland Aircraft, SNCASE in France and Mitsubishi in Japan. The helicopter was widely exported, used by many other nations, including Portugal, Greece, Israel, Chile, South Africa, Denmark and Turkey.
The H-19 had a long military career worldwide in the late 20th century, and proved popular with civil operators.
