New England Air Museum – Helicopter Day – June 23rd, 2018

This Saturday, June 23rd, the New England Air Museum will host its first annual Helicopter Day. The world-class museum will have over twenty helicopters and ancillary equipment on display, including a number of airframes which have heretofore been in long-term storage. Several exhibits will be open to the public to climb inside, and experts will be available to further explain the aircraft and their operation. The helicopters involved in the event will vary from the massive, 25,000-pound Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe, sometimes called the Skycrane, to the tiny, single-seat Benson Gyrocopter, similar to the one which James Bond flew in the motion picture You Only Live Twice. There will also be a U.S. Navy drone, and an award-winning man-powered helicopter, amongst many other helicopters to explore. The list below shows the aircraft which the museum plans to provide for the event, and a map which follows shows their locations within the facility.

NEAM 1st ANNUAL HELICOPTER DAY
Map # spot	Open cockpit	Aircraft	Note
16	Yes	Bell H-13 Sioux	M.A.S.H. type aircraft
1	Yes	Bell U-1B Iroquois	Vietnam Workhorse – Gunship Configuration
16		Bell AH-1S Cobra	Vietnam Combat Veteran
15		Benson Gyrocopter	Similar to James Bond’s ‘Little Nellie’
9		Doman (Prototype)	Sikorsky R-6 w/ Doman rotor head
10		Doman YH-31
15		Gyrodyne QH-50C D.A.S.H.	Anti-Submarine Warfare (w/ control panel)
15		Gyrodyne XRON-1 Rotorcycle
16	Yes	Hiller OH-23G Raven	Observation & Transport
16		Hughes OH-6A Cayuse	Vietnam Combat Veteran
2		Kaman K-225	Counter-rotating rotor prototype
3		Kaman HH-43F Huskie	With fire bottle
4	Yes	Kaman SH-2F Seasprite	Anti-Submarine Warfare
13		Kaman K-16B	Tiltrotor Prototype (test platform for the wing mechanism)
16		Kaman K-MAX	1/10 Scale Model K-MAX helicopter
11		Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly	First used by military in WW II China-Burma-India Theatre (supply delivery/Casevac)
6		Sikorsky H-5A Dragonfly	Painted in Sikorsky Corporate Colors, Search & Rescue, made famous in the movie “Bridges of Toko-Ri”
7		Sikorsky LH-34D Seabat	Antarctic service
8		Sikorsky XH-39	Speed record holder – (first heliocopter with a turbine engine and retractable landing gear)
12	Yes	Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard	Rescue record holder
5	Pod only	Sikorsky CH-54B Tahe	Flew with the CT Army National Guard
14		AeroVelo ATLAS	Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition winner
17		Bell OH-58 Kiowa	CT Army National Guard

In addition to the helicopters at the event, former Sikorsky test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck will give a presentation titled X2 Technology: Sikorsky Door Step into The Future at 1:00pm.

The New England Air Museum’s first annual Helicopter Day will run from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, while the Museum and its Wings ‘n Things Gift Shop will stay open until 5:00 p.m. Food will be available for purchase, on a cash only basis. Please note that the exhibit hangars are air-conditioned!