H-3 Sea King
The potential utility of the helicopter for anti-submarine warfare was obvious from the start, and by the mid-1950s the USN was operating the HSS-1 Seabat version of the S-58 in this role – these operated in hunter-killer teams, with one aircraft carrying a dipping sonar, while the other functioning as the “killer” with homing torpedoes. However, the Seabat would only be in service a short while before the Navy started looking for a larger, turbine-powered helo that could simultaneously carry both weapons and sensors.
First flown in March 1959, the HSS-2 Sea King had an amphibious boat
hull, and was powered by two GE T58 turboshafts. The Sea King began
equipping USN squadrons in the fall of 1961, and the type began the
SH-3A during the designation consolidation of the following year.
Variants
RH-3A: Early airborne mine countermeasures test aircraft,
converted from nine SH-3As.
HH-3A: A dozen SH-3As converted to CSAR configuration for use
over North Vietnam, with machine gun armament and self-sealing fuel
tanks.
SH-3D: Improved model with -10 engines, enlarged tailplane, only
two torpedoes. Last employed by HC-16.
SH-3G: Utility conversions without ASW mission equipment
Sea King Bibliography:
* Sikorsky ad showing an HSS-2 mockup
Aviation Week November 24, 1958 p.98
* Robert I. Stanfield “Sikorsky Designs
HSS-2 as ASW System” Aviation Week March 30,
1959 p.30-31 includes two photos of BuNo 147137
* Photo: S-61 gunship testbed with nose-mounted
turret Aviation Week & Space Technology December
20, 1965 p.61
* Photo: SH-3A of HS-3 above the Apollo 9 command
module Aviation Week & Space Technology March 24,
1969 front cover
* Photo (small): SH-3D BuNo 156484/HS-7, USS Wasp
Air Pictorial November 1970 p.412
* “Superior Sub Hunter and other variations on a
helicopter theme by Sikorsky” Air Enthusiast November
1972 includes SH-3H cutaway
* "Aging Helicopter Facing Soviet Threat"
Aviation Week & Space Technology September 29, 1975
p.70-71, 73
* Photo: YSH-3J LAMPS testbed Aviation
Week & Space Technology January 31, 1977 p.147
* Larry R. Teteak “Sikorsky Sea
King” Scale Modeler October 1981 building the 1/72 Fujimi
SH-3H kit as aircraft BuNo 154107 of HS-2 from USS Enterprise.
* Bill Cumming “Hunting Sea
Dragons” Air International April 1989 Covers the
history of the Canadian CH-124s – includes a large photo of aircraft
12405
* Salvador Mafé Huertas “Sacred Cows Serve
On” Combat Aircraft Monthly February 2014
p.88-89 Spanish Navy Fifth Squadron’s SH-3 operations
* Photo: side-view of Iranian Navy ASH-3D
8-2303 in blue/gray camo Combat Aircraft Monthly
March 2014 p.76
Jim Winchester American Military Aircraft: A History of
Innovation p.411: color profile of an HS-7 SH-3H