Quote:
Originally posted by Crewman
Only one R-4B was tested by the RCAF during WWII. Paradoxically the first Canadian airmen rescued by the helicopter were rescued not by the lonely RCAF's R-4B but by the American HNS-1 (YR-4B).
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According to Larr Milberry's 60 YEARS The RCAF and CF Air Command 1924-1984, there were no R4's taken on strength during WW II. The RCAF's first operational experience with helicopters in Canada came when Canso 11076 crashed on April 20, 1945 near Lake Morhiban, Labrador. Canada dispatched a Norseman to the scene after an American C-54 spotted the downed plane and removed the injured flight Engineer and one of the pilots, but rescue ops were shut down due to weather. When it was realized that it may take weeks to rescue the remaining crewmen, a USAAF R-4 (43-28234) was shipped from New York to Goose Bay aboard a C-54, assembled, and flown to the downed Canso. The entire rescue mission took 11 days.
Very few Canadians were trained to fly helicopters during WW II, a short paragraph on p. 207 mentions Dennis Foley RCN learned to fly R-4's in '44-'45 in the U.S.
The first helicopters taken on strength by Canada were H-5's in 1947.