what is it?
The Bell HSL (Model 61) was an American 1950s anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter built by Bell Helicopter for the US Navy. The prototype first flew in 1953, but the type became obsolete during development and was found unsatisfactory upon entering service in 1957, resulting in the cancellation of the production contract; many of the 50 production aircraft were delivered directly into storage. The last HSL was retired in 1960.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine · 15.7 m main rotor
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 73 years ago, in 1953.
- Top speed is 1.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Rotor of 15.7 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1953-03-03
- introduced
- 1957
- retired
- 1960
- status
- retired
- number built
- 53
- role
- tandem-rotor asw helicopter
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- makers
- Bell Aircraft Corporation
- engines
- 1× Pratt & Whitney R-2800-50
- crew
- 4
- length
- 12.2 m
- rotor diameter
- 15.7 m
- height
- 4.4 m
- max take-off weight
- 12 t
- top speed
- 200 km/h
- cruise speed
- 154 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 4,389 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q3278041, Wikipedia: Bell HSL (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.