Only Sikorsky HO3S-1 in USN markings on display in a museum

[daveswarbirds]

The USS Midway Museum has finally finished the restoration of its Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter, know by some as the "Dragonfly". It is believed to be the only HO3S-1 in US Navy markings to be on display to the public. There are a number of H-5, R-5, and HO3S helos out there in the world, but none appear to be in Navy markings - all of the HO3Ss are in USMC or US Coast Guard markings. (There is a another HO3S in USN markings existing in Spain, but last I heard it was privately owned by an air cargo company and was not on display to the public.)

This particular helo was manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft in 1947, with the serial number of 5154. Upon acceptance by the US Navy it received BuNo 122515, and served in the USN until it was retired. It eventually found its way to the Canadian Forestry Service, where it was used until it had a bad landing which bent its tail boom and destroyed the tail rotor. No longer able to get parts for such a vintage aircraft it was permanently retired. The Midway Museum found it in an unrestored state in the collection of the Olympic Flight Museum in Washington State during our search for an HO3S to add to our collection of Navy helicopters. Initially believed to be an S-51 (the civilian version of the Dragonfly), an inspection of the data plate revealed it to instead be a genuine HO3S.

The HO3S was purchased from the Olympic Flight Museum and brought down to San Diego, where restoration began at our hangar. We had a couple strokes of good luck in that we were able to find a complete transmission new in the crate from one source, and a mint condition tail boom from another source. A new tail rotor was created, and many of the bent or corroded external aluminum skin pieces were recreated/replaced. All of the main rotors were replaced, as our volunteers custom built the wood and fabric covered rotors according to spec and diagrams from the Sikorsky archives, which took many months. The final part of the restoration was finding the two highly curved plexiglass bubble windows for the front of the greenhouse cockpit. Unable to get those parts, we had a plexiglass fabricator make us new ones (at a large expense). We have now got the new windows in place, and the restoration is finally considered to be complete.

The helo is painted in the markings of an HO3S that served on the USS Midway in 1950 (as seen in photographs from that year's cruisebook). It makes the perfect bookend to our collection of Navy helos (HUP, H-34, SH-2, SH-3, H-46, UH-1, and SH-60). We even temporarily had it relocated next to the large screen in the hangar bay when we had a "Bridges At Toko-Ri" movie night recently.

Our on-board restoration team is now working on our TBD Devastator (mentioned elsewhere on WIX), while the team at the restoration hangar is working on our Vought F7U-3 Cutlass. These are likely to be the last aircraft added to our collection, as we are considered "full" in terms of deck space. With over 30 aircraft in the collection, The USS Midway Museum is well worth visiting if you are ever in San Diego.

[sandiego89]

Wow, she looks great, nice job! Hope get back to the Midway soon, its been a good 10 years or so since I last went.

Is that hanger deck full? Know they all can't fit, but I would wonder about the fabric and wood blades long term being topside.

[airnutz]

Really nice work! It's unfortunate there are no more flying Dragonfly's. Aptly named, they hold such an iconic image in the air for early rotorwing fans.

[p51]

I wondered what happened to that as it vanished from the Olympia museum a while back. Glad to hear it went to a good home!

[Cubs2jets]

The last aircraft restored by the volunteer staff at the (now closed) Carolinas Aviation Museum was an HO3S (S-51). It was finished up just as USAir 1549 was integrated into, i.e. took over, the museum display. I do not know for sure, but assume the HO3S now resides out of sight (but under cover) in the old original hangar.

Despite bold claims that the museum will reopen in 2022 in a "state of the art" facility in an unknown location; I strongly believe that the museum is gone forever. There are some nice, interesting aircraft in the collection that technically belong to the USMC and probably could be transferred into the collection(s) of (an)other museum(s). I'd hate to see them destroyed on site like Chanute.

C2j

[Craig59]

Spectacular! Looks as though I’ll have to plan another San Diego vacation - dang! The Midway Museum is indeed a “must do” for anyone visiting the area.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Beautiful!
The Marine Corps Museum in Quantico has one in Navy blue, but it's in USMC markings.
Jerry

[daveswarbirds]

Wow, she looks great, nice job! Hope get back to the Midway soon, its been a good 10 years or so since I last went.

Is that hanger deck full? Know they all can't fit, but I would wonder about the fabric and wood blades long term being topside.

While it might be physically possible to fit more aircraft into the hangar deck, with the exception of the Devastator which is hoped to go back into the Battle of Midway exhibit alongside the F4F and SBD, we won't add any new planes to the hangar deck as we need to save deck space for the frequent large events that are held there after hours. Knowing that the elements would take a toll on the new wood & fabric blades, they were well painted and coated, and may even have been encapsulated in a protective plastic coating.

[daveswarbirds]

Really nice work! It's unfortunate there are no more flying Dragonfly's. Aptly named, they hold such an iconic image in the air for early rotorwing fans.

Back in 2008 we were in negotiations with the Misawa Museum in Japan, who had a flyable HO3S that had just been retired from power line repair work. They wanted to trade it for a Hellcat or Zero, which we were unable to acquire for trading.

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Next we talked to an air cargo company in Spain who said that their HO3S was in "mint condition" after a 10 year restoration effort, but I don't know if that meant it was flyable as well. That deal fell through when they asked for a half million dollars to sell it.

Classic Rotors here in San Diego Country had an HO3S that was supposedly planned to be restored to airworthiness, as they want all of their helos to be flyable. However, I heard that when they saw the corrosion to the internal framework and fuselage they sold it to another air museum, where it was unfortunately destroyed in a tragic fire.

As much as I would love to see a Dragonfly fly today, I'm afraid that they're much too rare to risk on such an endeavor. I feel the same way about the Cutlass that is being restored to flight status at Project Cutlass. It would be awesome to see an F7U in flight, but there are even fewer Cutlasses left in the world, and they always had a fairly high accident rate.

[Craig59]

Back in 2008 we were in negotiations with the Misawa Museum in Japan, who had a flyable HO3S that had just been retired from power line repair work. They wanted to trade it for a Hellcat or Zero, which we were unable to acquire.

While the Japanese one looked nice, it appears to have been a license-built S-51 by Westland. I’m really happy that you guys found an actual HO3S with a Bureau Number. Any idea as to its actual service history?

[Craig59]

Guessing this may be your HO3S...

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[daveswarbirds]

Guessing this may be your HO3S...

Any idea where or when that photo was taken? What unit is that?

[daveswarbirds]

Any idea as to its actual service history?

Here is what little we know:
?? 1947 - Constructed as a HO3S-1.
Taken on Strength/Charge with the United States Navy with BuNo 122515.
6 January 1956 To salvage.
7 January 1957 To Ming-Ayer Inc, Linden, NJ with c/r N4145A (S-51, 5154).
14 January 1974 Civil registration, N4145A, cancelled.
unknown date - served with the Canadian Forest Service
unknown date - damaged in landing accident, retired
unknown date - Fitted with the tail boom from HO3S-1 USN BuNo 124345.
unknown date - To Olympic Flight Museum/Bryan Reynolds, Olympia Airport, Olympia, WA.
?? 2017 ? - purchased by and transferred to USS Midway Museum, San Diego, CA

Here is a photo of it as it was initially at the Olympic Flight Museum (though when we got it it had been disassembled into sections, assumably for easier storage):

It was still in its pale yellow Canadian Forest Service paint scheme (note CF-FDF marking on tail boom).
The spray-painted S51 on the side caused the owners to believe that it was an S-51 instead of an HO3S, which was later clarified upon inspection of the data plate.

[Craig59]

Guessing this may be your HO3S...

Any idea where or when that photo was taken? What unit is that?

Dave,

All I know about the image is that I found it online and that it was serving at the time with HMX-1 at Quantico. You might try having the Naval Heritage Center search for the Aircraft History Card. The AHC will provide the full extent of the service history of the airframe. Sadly, the late WIX member Sid Nanson May have already had the information but, I doubt that it has been as yet transferred to the Sikorsky history group, but, I will certainly check.

Again, love the restoration!

Quick edit, see here:

https://www.quantico.marines.mil/News/P ... 001748161/

[daveswarbirds]

I found page 2 of the data card in our files...