Warbird Information Exchange

I got the following e-mail today. Is this true? Did a national museum destroy a last survivor for no reason? Is there a story to this or is it just willful destruction of aviation history?

Jim

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All, it is with heavy hard that I must inform you of a travesty that took place last month at the Army Aviation Museum in Ft Rucker. The largest helicopter that the US ever built -- the Boeing XCH-62 HLH -- was willfully destroyed a few weeks ago. This heinous crime against helicopter history was apparently committed for -- well, for no good reason except that it was taking up space.

The Helis.com website confirms that the XCH-62 was indeed destroyed while at Ft Rucker. It leaves open the exact cause of the destruction, saying that it's possible the helo was severely damaged while attempting to move it. It also speculates that the aircraft may have been intentionally destroyed.

In any case, it's sad that the only example of the US's largest heavy-lift helicopter is now gone.

Walt

I have also written a letter to my Congreessman, asking that he inquire into the matter and let me know the results.

Walt

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Live to fly, Fly to live.....

Tis a shame. Another unloved ugly aircraft bites the dust
Were they moving it to reactivate it !.
The U.S armed forces are looking at a replacement for the CH-53!

Rgds Cking

Very disappointing if it's true...

Certainly we all make mistakes, and I'm sure that there's even "more to the story" than was stated in the response. But I'm more-than-a-little perplexed by some of Director Maxham's comments:

If the "incomplete concept model, shell of an idea" was truly such a "gross misrepresentation of the concept," then why was it displayed so prominently for so many (20+) years at Fort Rucker?

By Director Maxham's own admission, he does not consider himself to be a "purist(s) who would campaign to save every scrap of metal that at any time in the past belonged to or on an aircraft of any sort.." One would think that's exactly the type of person you would want in that position! And even if Director Maxham chooses not to carry out his responsibilities as a "purist," shouldn't he have recognized that the cursed purists of the aviation world might have had reason to preserve the remains?

I'm saddened.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Sometimes the "failures" and halted programs are as interesting as the design successes. SInce it was not a military aircraft and was not built using sensitive equipment, why couldn't it have been offered for sale to the public? It would have been a financially smarter move to sell it at any price than to have to pay someone to scrap it and haul it off and pay dump fees. What would it have hurt to sell it to a civilian to dismantle it and haul off the base?
Very short sighted and disappointing.

PS> not my statement:

Unique helicopter destroyed by Fort Rucker museum "did not qualify as an aircraft"
Recently, the unique XCH-62 Boeing "HTH" helicopter at the US Army Aviation Museum, Fort Rucker, was intentionally destroyed and removed - see details on this page, and in particular, this photo

http://www.aero-web.org/database/aircra ... p?id=11059

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

This museum director's ideas and comments are so wrong and filled with BS!!!!!

John

http://tinyurl.com/ar45b[/url]

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

The museum director owes me a new BS meter. While reading his response, mine pegged, bent, then shattered.

The attitude that this museum director has taken with his response is utterly unacceptable! He seems totally devoid of interest in that for which he has been entrusted to guard for future generations. Sure, the aircraft may not have been complete, nor have ever served, or even flown, but it was a unique representative of a rather fascinating project, and there is definitely a place in a museum for such a vehicle. There are any number of aircraft out there which could be considered to share this distinction (the bughatti racer at the EAA museum, or the Italian WWII ducted fan/jet come to mind... among others). He states that the army owned it, so it could do what it liked with it.... this is utterly false!!! The american people owned it... I mean we all paid for it right? There should have at least been attempts made to find an alternative home for it. I am sure that there would have been someone out there willing to take it on. Sometimes of course, this cannot be, and airframes do get scrapped, but it appears in this case that no real effort was made to find a solution which would have preserved this unique artifact. It is hard to infer the motive behind scrapping the airframe from what has been discussed so far, but it seems like the guy in charge was simply tired of it, and wanted to shed his responsibility for caring for it. From the tone of his response, it doesn't seem like he had any interest in the airframe at all. Just because it isn't a sexy attack helicopter doesn't mean it doesn't deserve preservation... why save it for 20 years, and prominently display it if it was so worthless an artifact? This sort of action is similar to those base commanders you hear about through the years who scrapped veteran gate guards just because they were old, or they considered them eye-sores.... how many rare or important airframes have been lost to such imbeciles. It is a great shame that this sort of attitude persists in curators of important museums. He seems to have a very low opinion of civilians too... what kind of language was that, and what gives him the right to have such a holier-than-though attitude? It's certainly not an attitude fit for someone in his position.

Richard

This is just so wrong....


What knuckle heads!

His response reminds me of the fellow at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds who said in the early '70s that they didn't have any vintage or classic aircraft stored there, just some old B-29s . At least he was overruled... So where's the scrapyard this poor thing was hauled off to? And why didn't they at least save the cockpit section?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)