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Irish Coast Guard S-61N.


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And finally, a few shots of the markings on this helicopter. Some of these shots might be repeats of earlier photos.

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Somewhat fittingly, my camera battery gave up the ghost immediately after I took this photo!

I hope this set of photos has been of interest and will inspire at least one S-61N model.

I have had a quick look at the scans of my photos of EI-SAR from 2000 and they came out OK. That set contain plenty of interior shots. I also have some shots of EI-CNL, an S-61N maintenance relief ship in use at that time, including shots of its under nose avionics bay. If anyone wants to see those photos, let me know and I'll get to work on them this week. Thanks.

LD.

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Here are the first of my photos of EI-SAR from my visit to the CHC hangar at Shannon Airport in 2000. They are all scans of original negatives so the quality isn't great but they are better than nothing. I don't have as many interior shots as I thought I had but there are enough to get a feel for what these machines look like in SAR configuration and I'll add as much detail as I can in the captions to those photos, which I'll post in one group. The interior shots show the full range of equipment of an on-call aircraft. These photos are probably more relevant at the moment to building an Irish SAR S-61N as the markings for the following paint scheme were available on the now deleted Max Decals sheet MAX7216. It should be noted that no two CHC S-61Ns are absolutely identical. They all differ very slightly in minor detail configuration such as antennae location and in markings such as stencilling. The model of FLIR camera is different from the current model in use but generally the aircraft are similar in detail despite the intervening 13 years. I would imagine the interior layout is unchanged with only the medical equipment and stretcher being updated.

These photos are from a visit to the Shannon base in July 2000 when I was hoping to do a small article on the CHC S-61N for the World Helicopter SIG newsletter. The newsletter went kaput before I had my article ready. Derek Nequest and Richard Goodbody were the pilots on duty when I visited and I believe John Manning was the winchman present also. They generously spoke with me for a half hour, describing their work and their helicopter. They were heading out on a training flight while I was at the base, rendezvousing with a ferry off the coast for some winching practice and as you'll see, they were getting ready to go while I was still in the aircraft taking photos!

Exterior shots first.

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The interior shots will appear next.

LD.

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Here are the interior photos of EI-SAR. The first two cover the instrument panel.

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This photo shows the very rear of the cabin. Working from the rear bulkhead forward, there is a life-raft in the yellow bag on the floor. The orange bag might contain immersion suits or spare clothing for rescued persons. The large white chest on the left contained various spare medical supplies. The large piece of equipment on the right that looks like a coffee machine is the life-raft for use in the case of a ditching. In the left foreground is a single seat which is situated approximately inside the third-from-last window. In the right foreground on the wall, just forward of the life-raft, is a green fire extinguisher, hidden behind the headrest of the crewman's seat which is situated in front of the FLIR console.

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The FLIR and daylight camera console. The control box is seated on top and it looks like the orange cable is going into the back of the control box. The operator's seat is in the left foreground. Today, the two small screens have been replaced by a large computer screen mounted higher. Just forward of the camera console is the large internal auxiliary fuel tank.

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Standing at the rear of the cabin, looking forward. In the left foreground is the FLIR console and seat. On the right is a pair of standard seats that are situated just behind the rear door. A second pair of seats, covered in plastic sheeting, are situated just forward of the air-stairs door. The fuel tank and stretcher is visible on the left. On the floor near the rear of the stretcher is the rear crumpled section of the plastic floor covering.

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Standing a little further forward, the floor on the right is relatively clear. Just forward of the yellow strap on the stretcher is the rear of a single forward seat for the winch-man to occupy while visually searching for survivors. This seat is just inside the forward bubble window. In front of that is a small silver locker on the floor while the rear of the left forward bulkhead is fitted with various smoke markers and other equipment. Two safety straps hang from the ceiling for use by the winch-man and winch operator when the forward door is open.

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The plastic sheeting over the two forward seats is visible in this photo.

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The winch-man's position. Moving from left to right, it looks like a small spotlight is mounted on the bulkhead. Next, under the gloves, is a large wire cutter/bolt cutter, which is presumably used to cut a winch cable that gets snagged on a boat. Next is what is I believe to be the hand-held control unit for the winch. I believe the side-control stick on the wall is for the winch-man to take very limited control of the aircraft to fine tune the helicopter's position over a rescue scene. The pilots are in their seats at this stage and are probably hoping the idiot with the camera would clear off!

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The air-stairs from the inside, looking out.

LD.

Edited by Loach Driver
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Here are the final photos of EI-SAR as it headed out for a training flight on the day of my visit to Shannon.

Warming up the engines while still connected to the ground battery.

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Disconnecting the battery.

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Final walkaround by a ground crew member.

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Rolling out.

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Lift off!

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A few final words about EI-SAR. It is the first ever S-61N constructed, apparently, and today is the oldest S-61N still flying. Its components were manufactured in the U.S.A. and shipped to Japan where the airframe was constructed by Mitsubishi in August 1962. They planned to start up a production line for the S-61N but in the end, only EI-SAR was constructed. It was originally built as an S-61L before it was converted into the first S-61N in 1964. For some reason, it is a few inches longer than the rest of the CHC S-61N fleet and it is believed that perhaps this might be due to small differences between the US and Japanese jigs! It went back to Sikorsky in 1970 and from there went to the UK until 1998 when Bond purchased it and it has served in Ireland ever since. Stavanger in Norway is where deep maintenance was carried out on the CHC fleet and probably also where these helicopters were converted into SAR ships. This helicopter has over 36,000 hours (4.1 years) logged in the air. The remaining S-61N helicopters, including EI-SAR, are due to be retired by CHC Ireland this month and apparently Sikorsky want to acquire the airframe and bring it back to the U.S.A. for preservation. It is no more than EI-SAR, a truly elegant queen of the skies, deserves. :salute:

LD.

Edited by Loach Driver
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Thanks Norbert. I hope you are correct.

Here are the first photos of EI-CNL. This was the maintenance relief ship that was called into play when the primary full-spec SAR S-61N is off-line for maintenance. I think the main difference between the full-spec SAR bird and the maintenance bird lies in the avionics suite fitted. The full-spec machine will have a more advanced autopilot fitted as well as an auto-hover system. It looks like the FLIR and its mounting and winch all have to be transferred from EI-SAR to -CNL when it (-CNL) would go into service. It looks like the little side-stick control for the winch operator in EI-SAR is probably run through the auto-hover system because there is no side-stick control in EI-CNL. The other thing EI-CNL is missing is markings! It was actually quite interesting when -CNL turned up one year at the Salthill Air Show. I'd guess the spotters weren't too happy when the plain helicopter arrived.

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More to come tomorrow.

LD.

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Hi Norbert. I have never seen any detailed scale drawings of the S-61N in any book or magazine. I'd guess the only drawings that might now be available can probably be found in the pilot's handbook or one of the maintenance manuals for this helicopter.

Here are the last photos of EI-CNL.

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Note the maintenance work-stand for the tail in the last photo.

That is it as regards my photos of the S-61N. I hope this set of photos has been of interest and will help anyone building the Whirlybirds S-61N conversion for the Revell Sea King kit. I will post up a few photos of the Whirlybirds conversion set in the next week.

Incidentally, I drove past Weston Airport today and EI-SAR is back there, parked up again. This time it has been washed and is now spotlessly clean. It is likely now that the helicopter has been retired and is waiting to go to its new owner, if CHC are now finished with the airframe. If I find out anymore info on EI-SAR and its fate, I'll let you know. Thanks.

LD.

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  • 2 weeks later...

To wrap things up on this thread, here are a few final photos. First up are two photos to illustrate the difference between a weathered airframe and one that has been washed and is in pristine condition. The second photo was taken when EI-SAR had returned to Weston for about two days before disappearing again. It looks like the FLIR turret had been removed so that means she has more than likely been retired from service here in Ireland. The SAR base at Dublin Airport has an S-92 now.

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Next up are some photos of the Whirlybird decals resin conversion set for the Revell 1/72 Sea King kit.

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The Police/EMS sprue that comes with some versions of the 1/72 Revell EC135/EC145 kits has a few items that could be useful in building a SAR S-61N like the winch unit, FLIR, searchlight and stretcher.

Finally, some artwork of EI-MES available from www.greypencils.com.

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Thanks.

LD.

Edited by Loach Driver
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  • 8 months later...
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  • 1 year later...

Some mention was made earlier in this thread about the likely fate of EI-SAR after finishing up in Ireland. I had hoped Sikorsky would acquire the airframe and preserve it back in the U.S.A. The most recent info I have indicates the helicopter was shipped to Canada in May 2014 for conversion into a logging helicopter. It would have been fitting to see her retire gracefully but it appears there is life in this old "Queen of the skies" yet.

I have long-term plans to build a model of this machine and with that in mind I have ordered the Eduard photo-etched brass set for the Fujimi SH-3D kit. Quite a bit of that set can be used on an S-61N model and it will compliment the small etched brass set included with the "Whirlybirds" S-61N conversion kit.

LD.

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  • 4 years later...

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