On 17 October 1974 two Sikorsky pilots, chief pilot James R. "Dick" Wright and project chief test pilot John Dixson, made the first flight of the YUH-60A at the company's plant in Stratford, Connecticut. It was the first of three prototypes. This Saturday, 17 October 2026, is 52 years to the day.

The requirement

In January 1972 the US Army released its specification for what it called the Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System, or UTTAS. In August 1972 it selected Sikorsky and Boeing-Vertol to build competing prototypes, according to the Sikorsky Archives. The Army describes the 1972 requirement as a "simple, robust and reliable utility helicopter system". Sikorsky's first flight came 26 months after contract award.

The prototype

According to This Day in Aviation, the YUH-60A was rolled out on 28 June 1974. It had two General Electric T700-GE-700 turboshaft engines, a crew of three and room for an 11-man rifle squad, and it was designed to be transportable by a Lockheed C-130. Its cruising speed was 147 knots.

What needed fixing

Early flight testing showed excessive vertical vibration associated with the main rotor. This Day in Aviation says the fixes included a taller rotor mast and reshaped cowlings. The Sikorsky Archives gives a figure: the main rotor was raised by 15 inches during flight development in 1975. I have not found a source that ties that figure to the cowling work.

Selection, and the name

The Army began testing in March 1976 and, in December 1976, chose the YUH-60A for production after what the Sikorsky Archives calls eight months of intensive development and operational flight testing. The competitor was Boeing Vertol's YUH-61A. On 23 December 1976 Sikorsky was awarded a sole-source contract for initial rate production. The helicopter was named Black Hawk, after the Sauk leader of that name.

Into service

The Army says the first production UH-60A was accepted on 31 October 1978 and that the Black Hawk entered service in 1979, with aviation units of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. Wikipedia says June 1979, but I could not match that month in a source I opened. Wikipedia puts production at 5,000 by January 2023.

The British version

The Black Hawk had a British side-story. Westland, the Yeovil helicopter maker, planned a UK-built version, the WS-70. Former Westland head of future projects Ron Smith writes on Hushkit that Westland assembled a demonstrator from a Sikorsky kit, and that "the contract for the WS-70 was not proceeded with". Wikipedia's Westland Helicopters article says the link with Sikorsky was accepted with an expectation to licence-manufacture the Black Hawk, but the order was never placed. Wikipedia's UH-60 article says it was "built under license" in the UK, but that line has no citation and does not match the other two sources.

What I have not confirmed

I could not open Sikorsky's own 2024 archives newsletter, so I have not repeated its claim that the flight came ahead of schedule. The serial number of the first prototype is given as 73-21650 by one source and with a different construction number by another, so I have left it out.

Why it is worth a look

A prototype that needed its mast raising within a year of first flight went on to be built in the thousands. The early problems are as interesting as the success.

Sources

  • This Day in Aviation, "17 October 1974": https://thisdayinaviation.com/?p=40416
  • Sikorsky Archives, "Sikorsky Product History": https://sikorskyarchives.com/?p=5983
  • US Army, "40 years of aviation service: the Black Hawk helicopter": https://www.army.mil/article-amp/213155/40_years_of_aviation_service_the_black_hawk_helicopter
  • Hushkit, "Whatever happened to the Westland WS-70 Blackhawk?", 12 February 2021: https://hushkit.net/2021/02/12/whatever-happened-to-the-westland-ws-70-blackhawk/
  • Wikipedia, "Westland Helicopters": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Helicopters
  • Wikipedia, "Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_UH-60_Black_Hawk