This is a rare U.S. Air Force promotional film for Boeing Vertol’s 107 helicopter, that initially uses a New York Airways liveried chopper for the demonstration. The 107 was the commercial version of the CH-46 Sea Knight. This is a medium-lift tandem rotor transport helicopter powered by twin turboshaft aircraft engines. It was used by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) to provide all-weather, day-or-night assault transport of combat troops, supplies and equipment until it was replaced by the MV-22 Osprey. Additional tasks included combat support, search and rescue (SAR), support for forward refueling and rearming points, CASEVAC and Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel (TRAP).

The Sea Knight was also the U.S. Navy’s standard medium-lift utility helicopter until it was phased out in favor of the MH-60S Knighthawk in the early 2000s. Canada also operated the Sea Knight, designated as CH-113, and operated them in the SAR role until 2004. Other export customers include Japan, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia.

The film includes several landings on water with the helicopter, and demonstrations of it as a cargo and troop carrying helicopter. At 2:44, a pre-production 107 is seen carrying over 35 soldiers, and moments later carrying an Honest John rocket launcher and crew. Hauling of equipment is also seen at the 4:20 mark using the cargo hook.

At the 7 minute mark, a mock-up the helicopter is seen, developed to test for the USMC an integrated cargo system that could hold 5000 pounds of palletized cargo.

Development of the medium lift Boeing Vertol (models 114 and 414) CH-47 Series Chinook began in late 1956, when the Department of the Army announced plans to replace the H-37 helicopter, which was powered by piston-driven engines, with a new, turbine-powered aircraft. A design competition was held and, in September 1958, a joint Army-Air Force source selection board recommended that the Army procure the Boeing Vertol medium transport helicopter. However, the necessary funds to proceed with full-scale development were not available and the Army vacillated in its design requirements. There were those in the Army who felt that this new helicopter should be a light tactical transport aimed at the mission of the old H-21’s and H-34’s and, consequently, sized for approximately fifteen troops. Another faction believed that the new transport should be much larger to serve as an artillery prime mover and have minimum interior dimensions compatible with the Pershing Missile system. This “sizing” problem was a critical decision.

On June 25, 1958 the Army issued an invitation for a General Management Proposal for the US Army Medium Transport Helicopter. Five aircraft manufacturers submitted proposals for the project. Vertol was selected to produce the YCH-1B as the Army’s new medium transport helicopter. The first Vertol prototype, called the YHC-1A, was tested by the Army to derive engineering and operational data. Three aircraft were built with a maximum troop capacity of twenty. This model eventually became Vertol’s commercial 107 and the Marine Sea Knight.

New York Airways. NYA was a helicopter airline in the New York City area. It was founded in 1949 as a mail and cargo carrier. On July 9, 1953 it became the first scheduled helicopter airline to carry passengers in the United States. Its headquarters were at LaGuardia Airport.

In February 1955 the one way fare from LaGuardia to Idlewild was $4.50. The ship was a Sikorsky H-19, N418A. The trip took ten minutes and their phone number was DEfender 5-6600. The first scheduled passenger flights to Manhattan arrived in December 1956 at the new heliport west of the West Side Highway at 30th St. The downtown heliport on East River Pier 6 opened in 1960 and New York Airways moved all its Manhattan passenger flights down there around December 1960.

Due to route restrictions on the single-engine Vertol 44, nonstop flights from Manhattan to Idlewild didn’t begin until the twin-engine 107 arrived. Scheduled flights to the top of the Pan Am Building began in December 1965; they ended in 1968, then resumed for a few months in 1977. In April 1966 23 flights a day flew nonstop to Pan Am’s terminal at JFK, scheduled 10 minutes; passengers could check in at the Pan Am Building 40 minutes before their scheduled departure out of JFK. The downtown heliport had 13 flights a day to Newark, 5 nonstops to TWA’s terminal at JFK and 12 to LGA, all of which continued to JFK. (Downtown had no weekend flights.) Soon after Pan Am Building flights resumed the March 1977 OAG showed 48 weekday S-61 departures from there: 12 to EWR, 14 to LGA then JFK, and 22 nonstops to JFK.

New York Airways employed the first African American as an airline pilot. Perry H. Young made his historic first flight on February 5, 1957. Young had previously made history as the first African American flight instructor for the United States Army Air Corps. On May 16, 1977, the landing gear failed on a Sikorsky S-61L (N619PA) while it was taking on passengers on the roof of the Pan Am Building. The aircraft rolled onto its side. Its spinning rotor blades killed four passengers waiting to board (including movie director Michael Findlay) and injured a fifth. Parts of a broken blade fell into the streets below, killing one pedestrian and injuring another. The accident precipitated the permanent closure of the heliport.

The airline could not recover after the accident and the 1979 energy crisis and New York Airways filed for bankruptcy on May 18, 1979. Passengers boarded, in thousands, scheduled flights only: 68 in 1957, 144 in 1960, 537 in 1967, 268 in 1970.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com