Helio AU -24 Stallion
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Helio | |
Role | Armed gunship, counter-insurgency, utility transport |
National origin | United States |
Manufacturer | Helio Aircraft Company |
First flight | 5 June 1964[1] |
Primary users | United States Air Force Khmer Air Force |
Number built | 20 |
The Helio
Design and development
[edit]The Helio HST-550 Stallion was an STOL utility aircraft developed in the United States in 1963, with the first prototype flying in July 1964. Initially conceived by the Helio Aircraft Company as a turboprop-powered variant of the Helio Courier, it eventually emerged as a completely new design of the same general configuration and much of its design was initiated from components used in the Helio H-500 Twin. It was a much larger aircraft than the Courier, and Helio soon discovered that it was too expensive for the market.
The United States Air Force (USAF) however, emerged as a buyer for the design, purchasing the aircraft for the Credible Chase programme as the
Of the 18 aircraft purchased by the USAF, fourteen or fifteen were eventually delivered to the Khmer Air Force (KAF) between January and November 1972 under the Foreign Military Sales program for use in border surveillance and counter-infiltration roles, where the threat of encountering anti-aircraft fire (other than small arms) was minimal.[3][4][5][6]
Operational history
[edit]Cambodia
[edit]An important addition to the KAF, the
Under Project Flycatcher, an improvement programme for the KAF, the Americans delivered among other aircraft types a single
In the final months of the Cambodian Civil War, the KAF employed their
Variants
[edit]- H-550 – prototypes (2 built)
AU -24A Stallion (H-550A) – production version (18 built)- H-634 Twin Stallion – version with twin Allison 250 turboprops mounted on a beam across the nose of the aircraft (not built)
- H-1201T Twin Stallion – version with twin engines in underwing nacelles, retractable undercarriage, tiptanks, and underwing cargo pods (not built)
Operators
[edit]- Colombian Air Force. A single aircraft seized for drugs and used as liaison.
Specifications (H-550A)
[edit]Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77[16]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Capacity: 9 passengers
- Length: 39 ft 7 in (12.07 m)
- Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in (12.50 m)
- Height: 9 ft 3 in (2.82 m)
- Wing area: 242 sq ft (22.5 m2)
- Aspect ratio: 6.93:1
- Airfoil: NACA 23012
- Empty weight: 2,860 lb (1,297 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 5,100 lb (2,313 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 120 US gal (100 imp gal; 450 L)
- Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-27 turboprop, 680 shp (510 kW) (effective shp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 216 mph (348 km/h, 188 kn) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
- Cruise speed: 160 mph (260 km/h, 140 kn) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) (econ. cruise)
- Never exceed speed: 218 mph (351 km/h, 189 kn) (Calibrated airspeed)
- Range: 641 mi (1,032 km, 557 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,600 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,200 ft/min (11 m/s)
- Takeoff run to 50 ft (15 m): 660 ft (200 m)
- Landing run from 50 ft (15 m): 750 ft (230 m)
See also
[edit]Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Taylor, Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1965–66 (1965), pp. 242–243.
- ^ Davis and Greer, Gunships, A Pictorial History of Spooky (1982), pp. 63-64.
- ^ "
AU -24A Helio Stallion". - ^ Davis and Greer, Gunships, A Pictorial History of Spooky (1982), pp. 63-64.
- ^ Conboy and Bowra, The War in Cambodia 1970-75 (1989), pp. 20-21.
- ^ Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975 (2011), p. 219.
- ^ Davis and Greer, Gunships, A Pictorial History of Spooky (1982), pp. 63-64.
- ^ Conboy and Bowra, The War in Cambodia 1970-75 (1989), pp. 20-21.
- ^ Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975 (2011), p. 219.
- ^ Jan Forsgren, Cambodia: Khmer Air Force History 1970-1975 (Part 2) - http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/aa-eastasia/cambodia/cam-af-history2.htm
- ^ Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975 (2011), pp. 220-221.
- ^ Conboy and Bowra, The War in Cambodia 1970-75 (1989), p. 22.
- ^ Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975 (2011), p. 223.
- ^ Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975 (2011), p. 223.
- ^ "World Air Forces 1983". flightglobal.com. p. 358. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ^ Taylor, Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1976–77 (1976), pp. 301–302.
Bibliography
[edit]- Simpson, R. W. (1995). Airlife's General Aviation. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing. pp. 208–10.
- Taylor, John W. R. (1965). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1965–66. London: Sampson Low, Marston.
- Taylor, John W. R. (1976). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1976–77. London: Jane's Yearbooks. ISBN 0-354-00538-3.
- Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 506.
- World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing. pp. File 896 Sheet 28.
- Kenneth Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975, Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd, Djakarta 2011. ISBN 9789793780863
- Kenneth Conboy, Kenneth Bowra, and Mike Chappell, The War in Cambodia 1970-75, Men-at-arms series 209, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. ISBN 0-85045-851-X
- Larry Davis and Don Greer, Gunships, A Pictorial History of Spooky – Specials series (6032), Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1982. ISBN 0-89747-123-7
- Joe F. Leeker, Khmer Air Force
AU -24As, University of Texas at Dallas 2006–2015. – [1]
External links
[edit] Media related to Helio