Sikorsky S-55 - Acquisition Visit? - Part 2
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- čas přidán 24. 04. 2018
- Kermit Weeks went to Reno, Nevada in February 2018 to check out the possibility of acquiring a Sikorsky S-55 helicopter that was up for sale. The visit turns out to hold a little bit more than expected. Check it out in Part 2.
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I think I met the seller once on a ramp..when he was rigging up the humongous saw blade to his helicopter.
He was so nice and willing to tell what and where he was up to.
Thanks for sharing Kermit
I saw the blue and orange machine in person yesterday. It was on a semi truck at a gas station in Beatty Nevada.
What's that old saying--now I know what a dog feels like watching TV. I know absolutely nothing about helicopters, but I watched every second of this video! More power to ya Kermit. Should be a very cool project!
Even though I don't have a pilot's license, money, or space, this video is making me want one of these.
Hes a good sport, Full of information and willing to share on camera
Cool walk around.. Love to see these machines going..
Go for it-Living the dream-love the old Sikorsky's-used to live near Island Helicopters in Garden City,NY. who operated two Sikorsky's.
Nice heli! Love to see you fly it. Keep upp the good work restoring old nice planes and helis
Congratulations Mr. Weeks on a nice score, buy one get one free! Looking forward to a whole new series on the "55" being restored to flight.
I've seen a few of the Westland Whirlwind's here used as attractions in pub gardens, here in the uk. Never realised where the engines were housed. Very interesting.
The Marines loved their h-34s overseas. Those big radials would stop a lot of rounds, even .51s and still get them back home. Hell for stout.
Too funny. Nice sitting back and watching you spend dough at the airport vs me doing it.
More!More! Thanks for sharing!
Get those blades checked buddy. Good work.
I once had a guy ask me, "You know how to make a million in the helicopter business ?" I said no how? "He said start with two million." Thank god for dreamers. It kept me flying helicopters since 1970. Good luck with your business. I wish you the best.
So cool, thanks Kermit!!! You don't see stuff like this on youtube! So good. Please make more (if finances allow :))
Kermit Weeks=the real "Worlds Most Interesting Man"
Another great video.. and your last line made me laugh.. “just what I need, more frikking projects” :)
Kermit couldn't resist a good deal!...only problem was where he was going to put em!
If i understand, the 5 prop setup and the turbine was going to be taken off the tour chopper. I would leave it as a QT.
Mr. Weeks,
With these new acquistions, I'm wondering if you need help working on these machine's.. Haha. I'm getting my A&P Certificate in just under a year! I'd love the opportunity to come work for you. Keep up the great work!!
Kermit, there is an old military training film on CZcams for introducing army students to a older variant of this airframe. Search h19 . Filmed at fort Rucker Al. I'm a technical inspector there.
Another awesome video Kermit. Now when's that Boomerang gonna be flying?????
What an exciting project this is going to be,now Kermit you have enough S-55 airframes,engines,rotors and gearboxes plus other useful spares to keep at least one helicopter flying for the future,you loaded the last S-55 successfully so these should not present any transport issues regarding the height for transit,these really are part of rotary wing history and well worth saving,well done and thank you for the in depth purchase video it gives a very interesting insight into how negotiations are carried out to get hold of these old birds.
Bugger i don't think i can get one in the shed ;o)
Just like anything else that turns money into noise. They're "worth" what the owner will take and the buyer will give.
It would be AWESOME to see a 'fantasy' hanger-map/poster in plan-view of say one giant hanger with ALL of Kermit's birds on it, including things like the Lancaster, Fertile Myrtle the B-29, the Sabres and the Mozzie, and other craft not often seen. You could perhaps line-dot birds to indicate they are unassembled (eg. saw another PBY hull up there once), solid-line complete birds, grey-line projects. What a wall-poster it would make Kermit. I'd line up to get a signed copy. (and then again for the next year's updated version) :)
Two for the price of one - you could pass up the deal, but that just wouldn't be right...
Besides, the cool factor is immense.
I think that there was a series with 3 investigators who had also a similar helicopter.
mr. weeks, these videos are goooood gooood good!
What makes me really jealous is you squeezed in a week in Little Cottonwood Canyon
wow .... amazing !
on the plus side kermie, this project can be up and going a lot faster then the others.
on that engine mount, i would imagine that that engine only needs a mount to hold the engine and its torque. its the gear box and the rotors that deal with the flight stresses.
any plans on taking the sight seeing bird out away from your field to events or fairs in florida for rides?
Kermit if you do get the ex turbine s-55 and the other operational besides ride operations would you visit area schools with the helicopters so kids can look and learn about them. i seen a video of one a Sikorsky UH-34D or s-58 visiting St Cathrene school. as the helicopters you can land anywhere. the blue one you said is for parts its the ex turbine and the other s-55 you got at Golden Hill that be for rides around Fantisy of flight.
I'll follow with interest
Totally coooooool Kermit, me too, can't resist buy on get one, however only in the grocery store. I love helicopters, especially the old Sikorskies, although I have basic knowledge as to how they work, flown in many Bell Rangers, and Bell 47s however me trying to fly one would end up being a disaster. The hand grip on the cyclic pretty much the same you find on an F-4 Phantom. But for the life of me I can't wrap my head around the up front engine housing, blades over head, and how the drive train works to that angle. Nevertheless great pickup on two of em Kermit, and as that old saying goes airplanes want to fly, helicopters want to kill us well ill stick to the airplanes I guess. ..lol
In principle, it works very similarly to the drivetrain of any motor vehicle except that the engine is essentially attached to one side of the axle housing that would instead turn the now verticle driven shaft. And since that is essentially a ring and pinion system (albeit a little more complex) that isn't designed to have to apply power against a static object (the ground), the ring and pinion can be cut to the desired angle you need for your given design (essentially, it doesn't need to be a perpendicular 90 degrees, like in a car).
Here is a picture of the drive system www.canadianflight.org/content/sikorsky-s-55-gearbox-and-rotor-assembly
it´s a very interesting design, you should also get something like a Kamov KA 26
Erik Djurfeldt Those are sweet, I watched a video some time ago. I think yaw is by tip spoilers & many Russian designs use the counter rotating system. I do not know what the downside on them is.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-26
I would love to see that turbine one flying again and then restoring the Radial one would be sweet!
damn to get one of those 90 frames for the price of scrap id do that in a heartbeat if i had transportation for something that big.
That's the most exciting and astounding thing I've seen on CZcams yet!
Watch a guy buy heli's 2 4 1..... :O
Y'r bonkers man.
When I first started watching these Kermit was showing us his B-24. Does he still have it?
Unless there is another in the same paint, it was that 'rainbow' Sikorsky with which I had a near hit. It was around 1999, climbing out of KBFL, I looked down only for the briefest moment. When I looked up I saw this whirlybird, the rainbow, ascending into my path. We saw each other at the same time, he dove away, I climbed hard to the right. So what was this woppitychopper doing at 3000?
Should I feel bad about knowing what is involved in a 'sudden stoppage'?
i was going to say but was earlier this year when you aquired the two airframes is to get the rotor transmission fairings off the white helicopter before he scrapped it. if possible the tail rotor drive shaft fairing as well. that could transfer to your other s-55 as i seen in the video on it it has the early military fairings if they can go on the blue machine before you place it on static display. but probally need to get an engine and controls for the pilot before placing it on static display. be great if you find another P&W 1340 or wright 1300 as the exhaust pipe comes out the left clamshell door. for authenticity i would find out what part of the military this served and paint it accordingly for static display. as the s-55 H-19 chickasaw be more effective to operate for passengers as the S-58 Choctaw its a bigger machine for passengers it would carry more but cost more per seat to operate. as the S-58 of h-34 UH-34 choctaw is Sikorsky's last piston engined helicopter with a wright r-1820-84 radial engine has 1525 hp. but some are still in civilian use. but as he said the rainbow machine has all of the radios not sure in the other s-55 you have a while back as may need them if you fly close to orlando airspace to communicate with air traffic control. when you get the projects going will you have any videos on the s-55s or are they on the backburner for now.
Came for the information. Stayed for the wind-noise. Sort it out Kermit!
Good on ya, Kermit! Once again, your work is cut out for you!
Another episode please .... "S55's arrive at FOF"
Do you still have S-55 N111VA?
So did I just see this flying about 4 days ago over Polk City?
No. Still on trucks heading to FoF.
That's probably the best BOGOF (Buy One & Get One Free) sale I've ever seen!!
+KermitWeeksBlogVideos *Aware of any attempt to upgrade a Sikorsky S-55* with a Pratt & Whitney R-1535, or an S-58 with a Pratt & Whitney R-1830? All other factors being equal, fourteen-cylinders would impose oftener but lesser shock loads on the transmission, compared to the stock nine-cylinders both models.
Time 23:20 A modern S-55 restomod for Pratt & Whitney radial power can use some up-to-date gauges from, among other suppliers, Sigma-Tek® (viz., 1U149-016-7 attitude gyro, 1U262-011-1 heading gyro, 1U378-105 oil press/oil temp/cyl temp, 1U432 dual fuel level) and United Instruments (viz., 5934PA-3BD-A.652 ALT, 7160-C.43 IVS, 8000-B.445 knotmeter, 6331-H.52 MAP/fuel press, 9551B-N.541 yaw rate).
WOW! Two helicopters! lol XD
It was a buy one get one free deal being as the early blue s-55 has corrosion as these H-19 chickasaws along with the 3rd one will atleast have a future as its three S-55s you got now. as i believe the blue one should be on Static display with the corrosion its got. as yoyr plan was flying the other 1953 s-55 you got along with this ex turbine powered one. be nice to see helicopters fly at fantisy of flight down the road. as the S-55 has more range than its bigger brother the s-58 Choctaw not sure if you are going to aquire any more helicopters in the future like the Piasecki h-25 Hup Retriever and other early helicopters like the sikorsky s-51 hoverfly
I know nothing about helicopters or airplanes in general for that matter but I'd be leery of the transmission that's been used for "tuning" rotor blades.
These things are brutes,I worked with a guy who ran 2 in a heli logging op and he trimmed the trees with the rotor blades on more than one occasion and kept on going.I think balancing some blades shouldnt be too hard on them ;-)
OOPS sorry the sreamin MIMI was a s-58.
Hello Kermit how do you work or budget must cost a fortune so I awesome you way rich
This was wonderful. The business / negotiations side...and a genuine, honest guy selling...I'd buy someone's ex-wife from him.
Visite Campos Dos Goytacazes RJ Brasil
If I had the money I'd get the Martin B-26 back in the air and the P-35 project finished, but that's me.
How did you get the bickname 'Kermit' ? Wonder why you don't get an F-86 Sabre? They hae always been a favourite of mine.. They aren't big like modern jets, and they are much easier to fly, in fact, some pilots had been known to remark "It flys itself!" . it doesnt need a huge amount of overhead like support gear (bar the start/fart cart) and engines last for a long time, doesnt need intricate care and have a plethora of unserviceable assemblies and electronics like more modern jets either. In fact they are more like world war II aircraft to take care of. I'd love to see one flying at FoF.
It's my real name!
If you restore it will you repaint it in Vietnam colors?
I was thinking Korean War colours, but either way would be nice to see them in military markings.
knew he was in RNO by the wind :-))
Thought I heard a C-130 somewhere
Reese McClain reno guard flys hercs
One of the best known helicopters known to man great work horses
www.historichelicopters.com/ this may be of interest to you these guys operate a Whirlwind in SAR colours but have also just returned a Wessex to flying status (currently undergoing flight testing I believe) and have also just acquired a couple of Sea Kings.
Half a dozen farmers and a couple cases of beer and you'd have those things "home" in a week.
i guess he didn’t buy them? they were still there last week
He did buy them. They were picked up and are heading to Fantasy of Flight. Should be arriving beginning of week, April 30 2018.
Craig Williams hhh
Класс! Но в Ми-4 кабина вроде попросторнее будет.
Reminded me of mark Knopfler somehow
This aviation addict has DEEP pockets!!!
Enough parts for 1000 years... This is beyond nuts in every conceivable dimension. How on earth will you store this much stuff!?
A very big shed lol!
the Sikorsky S-55 Military H-19 better known as the Chickasaw of this type is a radial engine powered helicopter the straight tail versions are powered by a Pratt and Whitney R-1340 wasp 9 cylinder radial engine as the sloped or drooped tail versions specified for the marines and navy operations are powered by an 800 HP Wright Cyclone 7 R-1300 7 cylinder radial engine. as it was later in Vietnam Supplainted by the Sikorsky S-58 H-34 Choctaw Sikorsky's last piston engine powered helicopter powered by a Wright Cyclone 9 R-1820 9 cylinder engine. S-55 meaning its the company number Sikorsky assigned them. Sikorsky then was part of United Aircraft Corp now United Technologies as 2015 Sikorsky is sold and now owned by Lockheed Martin.
The Training company I work for has a Westland built HAR Mk9 for sale. Its ex Royal Navy and has the Gnome gas turbine.
Walk away! Money pit
death traps
"buy one get one free!" As long as you're not buying those tire ads 'buy three (overpriced) tires, get one (factory blemished) free!'
So does this now make you an owner of three S-55s?
I guess he snookered ol kermie and was stoked to unload those antiques even if he broke even, probably flew directly to Hawaii for a big party.
Very good Biden order
Astonished you are getting such an amazing low time airframe just out of overhaul thrown in. Deal of the century!! That turbine unit/airframe would be perfect for logging here in New Zealand.
Mark Jennings Speaking of Nz (fellow kiwi Here btw), is it me or is the seller a kiwi sounding bloke? Was cruising the comments to see if anyone else said anything but couldn't find anything.
I think Geoff is an Aussie. Doe's a lot of logging work. Invented a brilliant thing called the heliharvester which is like a carnivorous donut that is lowered over trees and it chews its way down through the branches then saws through the trunk at the base. Then whole tree is lifted up and away!!! here's a link you'll love it!! czcams.com/video/KkjQMHSbaSE/video.html
hes australian
But he did say "Yeah.. Na...." :)