Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Ch-47 Chinook, Sh-3 Sea King, Ch-53 Sea Stallion, Westland Sea King, Sikorsky S-61, Sikorsky S-61r, Aérospatiale Super Frelon, Amphibious Helicopter, Kamov Ka-27, Ch-113 Labrador, Sikorsky S-62, Mil Mi-14, Vought-Sikorsky Vs-300. Excerpt: Amphibious helicopter An amphibious helicopter is a helicopter that is intended to rest and take off from either land or water. Amphibious helicopters are used for a variety of specialized purposes including air-sea rescue, marine salvage and oceanography, in addition to other tasks that can be accomplished with any non-amphibious helicopter. An amphibious helicopter can be designed with a waterproof or water-resistant hull like a flying boat or it can be fitted with utility floats in the same manner as a floatplane. Development Helicopters have taken a primary role in air-sea rescue since their introduction in the 1940s. Helicopters can fly in rougher weather than fixed-wing aircraft, and they can deliver injured passengers directly to hospitals or other emergency facilities. A practical amphibious helicopter first appeared in 1941 and the water-landing feature soon proved its worth. Non-amphibious helicopters were required to hover above the scene of a water accident and utilize a hoist but amphibious helicopters were capable of setting down on the water to effect a rescue more directly. Fitted floats A Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 experimental helicopter equipped with pontoons in 1941 In 1941, Igor Sikorsky fitted utility floats (also called pontoons) to the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, making the first practical amphibious helicopter. In the 1940s and 1950s, some models of helicopter such as the Bell 47 and 48 and the Sikorsky R-4 and R-6 were fitted with utility floats so that they could rest on both water and land. Pontoons can
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