The Sikorsky S-61 is a twin-engined helicopter originally designed as an embarked anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft with the military designation of SH-3 Sea King. Was the first helicopter to combine the roles of Hunter and Killer in an unique airframe.
First flight was March 11, 1959 and has been built under license in Italy, Japan and in the United Kingdom.
Major civil versions are the S-61L and S-61N.
Specifications | |
Derivatives & Versions | |
| Model | Year | History |
| HSS-2 Sea King | 1959 | Original S-61 version designed as an Anti-submarine warfare helicopter for the US Navy. Redesignated SH-3A in 1962. Prototype XHSS-2 first flew o ... |
| S-61B | 1961 | ASW version of SH-3A for export to Japan & Canada.  |
| S-61L | 1961 | The S-61L first flew on 2 November 1961. It is was 4ft 3in (1.27m) longer than the standard S-61A/HSS-2/SH-3 in order to carry freight or passen ... |
| CH-124 Sea King | 1962 | Canada ordered 41 Sikorsky CHSS-2 ASW helicopters for the Royal Canadian Navy in 1960. The first few were built by Sikorsky in CT with the remai ... |
| CH-3B | 1962 | The USAF ordered 12 Vertol 107/II (XCH-49) helicopters for Texas Tower and missile silo support in early 1962, but cancelled th contrac tin Sep 6 ... |
 Mitsubishi S-61 | 1962 | Mitsubishi received a license to pruduce the Sikorsky civil S-61L/N & HSS-2 Sea King in 1961. Sikorsky shipped two S-61Ls in knock down form, two ... |
| S-61A | 1962 | Sikorsky designed civil S-61A Payloader was a cargo transport version of S-61. One built for Sikorsky demonstration and development work. Later ... |
| S-61N | 1962 | The S-61N made its first flight on 7 August 1962. Otherwise identical in length and performance to the S-61L, this version is optimized for overw ... |
| SH-3A Sea King | 1962 | Redesignation of the HSS-2 under the Oct.1962 DoD Tri-Service integrated naming convention. All HSS-2/SH-3A built for USN after Oct 1962 were de ... |
| VH-3A Sea King | 1962 | Redesignation of Sikorsky HSS-2Z Sea King executive transport under DoD Tri-Service integrated naming convetion, Oct 1962. Presidential transport was first shared between the Marines and the US Army's Executive Flight Detachment. The VH-3A has a last small window o ... |
| CH-3C | 1963 | The Sikorsky S-61R was a company funded development of their S-61/SH-3 Sea King model. It features a redesigned fuselage with a rear loading ramp ... |
| S-61R | 1963 | The Sikorsky S-61R was a company funded development of their S-61/SH-3 Sea King model. It features a redesigned fuselage with a rear loading ramp ... |
| S-61A-1 | 1964 | Royal Danish Air force SAR helicopter. |
| SH-3D Sea King | 1964 | Improved version of SH-3A ASW helicopter for the US Navy. Featured uprated engines and more advanced avionics and ASW equipment / sonar. |
| CH-3E | 1965 | USAF improved transport over CH-3C with additional fuel and uprated engines. |
| HH-3A Big Mother | 1965 | Search and rescue variant for the US Navy converted from SH-3A. Modifications included armor, 7.62 mm miniguns, DECK-EDGE refueling capability, ... |
| NH-3A | 1965 | Special test version of S-61F (SH-3A) with stub wings, 2x turbo jet engines, and revised fuselage shape for high speed trials. |
| RH-3A Sea King | 1965 | Minesweeper helicopter for the US Navy converted from HHS-2/SH-3A by substituting the anti-submarine equipment by a minesweeping gear. By Ron Milam, HC-7 Historian: The USS Catskill (MCS-1) carried 22 small, mine sweep boats as well as two RH-3A helos, in tow below deck hanga ... |
| S-61N Mk.II | 1965 | |
| S-61V | 1965 | |
| HH-3E Jolly Green Giant | 1966 | USAF CSAR version with uprated engines, armor plate, additional fuel tanks and rescue hoist. Eight aircraft built and 50 CH-3Es were converted to this standard |
| Agusta AS-61 | 1967 | The Agusta Sea King was built under licence in Italy from 1968. 73 aircraft were delivered to the Italian armed forces in different configuration ... |
| S-61A-4 Nuri | 1967 | Sikorsky built 41 S-61A-4 transport helicopters for the Royal Malaysian Air Force in two batches from 1968-1978. They were called Nuri (Parrot) ... |
| HH-3F Pelican | 1968 | This twin turbine, medium range, amphibious, all weather helicopter extended the Coast Guard offshore search and rescue capabilities. The HH-3F h ... The HH3F was manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, Division of United Aircraft Corporation, Stratford, Connecticu. The HH3F is equipped with a singl ... |
| S-61D-1 | 1968 | Royal Navy export version of SH-3D Sea King. Four built by Sikorsky for license production by Westland of UK. |
| S-61D-2 | 1968 | AMI export version of SH-3D Sea King. One built by Sikorsky for license production by Agusta of Italy. |
| Westland Sea King | 1969 | The Admiralty was not satisfied with arrangements for British anti-submarine warfare in the mid 1960s. The Wessex HAS.3 was useful for hunting a ... At least 7 main versions of the Sea King developed for the UK armed forces, plus a further 7 near derivatives for export and 3 versions in t ... Also export versions for at least Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Germany, India, Norway, Pakistan and Qatar. |
| S-61A-5 | 1970 | Improved SAR utility transport for RDAF based on S-61D. One built. |
| S-61D-3 | 1970 | Brazilian Navy export version of SH-3D Sea King |
| SH-3G Sea King | 1970 | 105 US Navy HSS-2/SH-3A and SH-3D converted to the cargo and utility role |
| S-61D-4 | 1972 | Argentine Navy export version of SH-3D Sea King |
| SH-3H Sea King | 1974 | Conversion of 163 HSS-2/SH-3A and SH-3D airframes with improved ASW equipment suite including an AQS-81 MAD towed body fitted to the starboard sp ... |
| VH-3D Sea King | 1974 | The first version of the Sikorsky S-61 was flown in 1959 and was originally developed as the SH-3 Sea King: an antisubmarine sensor carrier for ... |
| UH-3H Sea King | 1990 | In the 1990s, as US Navy fleet HS squadrons began to field the SH-60F Seahawk, many SH-3H Sea Kings were stripped of their mission equipment, and ... |
| Fire King | 2003 | Carson Helicopters modification of the S-61 with : Composite Main Rotor Blades 15 Passenger Interior Fire King 1,000 Gallon Fixed Belly Tan ... |
| S-61T Triton | 2010 | As of 2013, Sikorsky is refurbishing older S-61 aircraft for the US State Department. The new S-61T Triton program includes the upgrade and inst ... As of March 2018, State Department has only confirmed 14 airframes with 13 deliveries completed. All were auctioning off by the General Services ... |