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CH-54 Skycrane Medical Pod


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Looked around for a bit.  So far, just found this cutaway drawing of how litters would be set up.

Scroll down the page a bit.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/55-450-2/Ch1.htm

 

May not be a bad idea to contact Sikorsky here:

https://www.sikorskyarchives.com/S-64_Product_History modX.php

 

Edited by BrittMac
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I have found the Army Aviation Museum to be very helpful, : https://www.armyaviationmuseum.org/

 

Haven't tried here, but the Army Medical Department Museum may be helpful: https://ameddmuseum.amedd.army.mil/index.htm

 

Website of the guys who actually used the surgical pod in Vietnam:  https://15thmedbnassociation.org/Photos/15th-Med-Bn-Photos5.aspx 

There are pictures of the pods, and at least one of the rear end with  the door/ramp open.

 

Same open ramp picture, plus one with a surgeon at work here:   

Vietnam-Surgical Pod

 

Information about its use about halfway down  here: http://www.15thmedassociation.com/Saber/Saber2004Mar-Apr.html

 

 

 

 

Edited by jstar
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Ooh, that youtube video was good stuff.  It is weird that I saw this post Friday night, looked around the internet for a couple hours for the heck of it, then Saturday a HTS Skycrane came to my local airport for temporary base ops.  Great group of guys.  One of the pilots flew in 'Nam, and I mentioned the Medical Pod.  He said he didn't think he ever saw it deployed, aka super rare.  

This was an interesting rabbit hole to go down.  Learned an awful lot about the S-64 in the last few days.  Hopefully the OP will be happy with some info here.

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Thanks everyone for the information.  I'm a flight nurse/paramedic by trade and have always wanted to build a what if/fictional civil EMS medivac Skycrane.  

 

That is a freaking great idea.  I love WHIF's.  

I was talking to the Sky Crane pilot today, and to further back up what he said the other day, he said they rarely had any pods at all.  Almost always were hoisting loads or slinging them.  Very interesting helo, as they would have THREE pilots onboard.  

 

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I can't believe the pods were used much.  Great concept, but functionally and operationally not very useful.  But I it would make a cool build for the office, with a row of pods.  One for trauma patients, one for cardiac patients and one for pediatrics.  

 

Didn't one of the pilots sit facing the rear and could fly the helicopter when picking up sling loads?

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The 101st ABN. DIV. (AMBL) used 3-4 of them for a Tactical Operations Center (TOC) at Kae Sahn during Lam Son 719 in early 1971.  Bulldozers had cut a big X in the ground so that they were below ground level.  Looked like a pretty good set up from my vantage point.

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Didn't one of the pilots sit facing the rear and could fly the helicopter when picking up sling loads?

Yeah.  Interestingly, the Cyclic is removable and is connected electrically, but, the collective is still a physical connection.  The operation is automatically reversed for the guy flying from the back.

I missed the Skycrane leaving this morning, and I am bummed about it.  But, I gleaned a lot of info from them while they were here.

 

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One of the managers I work with worked Skycranes for a long time. He would crew them and run sling load ops all over the US. He said they had a cargo pod that they would throw all their gear in to take to each location. He said he never saw the medical pod. a WHIF would be awesome. Especially a modernized version of a medical aircraft.

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