Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion

what is it?

The CH-53 Sea Stallion (Sikorsky S-65) is a family of American heavy-lift transport helicopters designed and built by the American manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. The Sea Stallion was developed in response to a March 1962 request from the United States Navy's Bureau of Naval Weapons for a replacement for the Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave helicopters flown by the United States Marine Corps (USMC). In July 1962, Sikorsky's proposal, which was essentially a scaled-up S-61R fitted with twin General Electric T64 turboshaft engines and the dynamic systems of the S-64/CH-54, was selected.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 turboshaft engines · 22 m main rotor

base stats

• speed 315 km/htop speed
• range 1,000 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 38passengers
• size 19.1 tmax take-off weight

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 62 years ago, in 1964.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Rotor of 22 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,000 km: 6× Amsterdam to Brussels.

turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.

spec sheet

first flight

1964-10-14

introduced

1966

retired

2012

status

still flying

number built

—

role

heavy-lift cargo helicopter

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

engines

2× General Electric T64-GE-413

crew

2

passengers

38

length

20.6 m

rotor diameter

22 m

height

7.6 m

max take-off weight

19.1 t

top speed

315 km/h

cruise speed

278 km/h

range

1,000 km

ceiling

5,105 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.