Warbird Information Exchange

This is supposed to be a Sikorsky R-4, inside a C-47, but however I turn it, it doesn't seem to fit the R-4 shape or structure. Could it be an R-6? Is it perhaps not even a helicopter?



It is one of a set (I think) featuring Sikorsky R-4 helicopters (and NOT R-6 types) being loaded into C-47s

Original caption:
Interior view of Douglas C-47 showing one of helicopters shipped to China from the U.S. The helicopters were being used to rescue personnel who have been forced down or had to bail out in remote and inaccessible areas of China. The planes were equipped with all of the necessary first aid supplies in case the man may be wounded. The helicopter was able to carry one passenger in addition to the pilot. The Air Search and Rescue Section, haeded by Col. Richard W. Treiber, is operated by the 14th A.F. Service Command. (US National Archives)

Thanks to Ryan Short for the image, btw.

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James K

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www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Perhaps it's an S-51?

Don't think it's one of the YR-4B's headed to the 1st Air Commandos via India. They had 6 of them in 1944 operating in Burma. They were assembled and tested in India and then flown over the Hump into Burma. Somewhere in all of my stuff in storage I have a tape copied off the combat film of one taking off of a special built platform on the side of a mountain during the transit.

The lines look more like the R-6 seperated just in front of the the rotor pylon

If the caption is correct and it's going to the CBI, it would be a R-4.
No R-6s or R/H-5s went there from any of the histories I have.
But I agree with JDK that it doesn't look like an R-4...their fuselage frame work is VERY square.

I'm not sure what part of an aircraft is in the photo

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It is an R-6.
They are a bit smaller than the R-4 and I do believe some were shipped to the CBI after or near the end of the war. I don't think they were used in any combat OPS.
This link shows a photo of an R-6 and the caption states that it is "U.S. Army Air Force R-6A parked on a road in China, 1945".

http://tri.army.mil/LC/CS/csa/r6001.jpg

Found on this website: http://tri.army.mil/LC/CS/csa/aahist.htm

Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."