Tail code HX, they flew the SH-2F Seasprite
1973-1978, I'm a "black shoe" who served on USS Jesse L Brown (DE / FF-1089) from the late fall of 1974 until July 1978. Once I heard from my guys that we had the same aircraft onboard for a second deployment t had to see if anything remained from the custom paint job that adorned the nose of "Leroy" during our 1975-75 Med deployment. The original paint job was still visible under yet another coat of paint. . For the next 10 or 15 years I always thought that HSL-34 was the best squadron in NORVA. After I left active duty I worked at Kaman (Military Marketing) for 11 years. I was never able to determine whether my cousin, who worked on the H-2 production line in the 1960s, had worked on BuNo 149773. At one point he worked with Jack King. Whenever I was in Norfolk I always hoped that I see BuNo 149773 After | "left" Kaman Aerospace (along with 40% of the work force), I continued to drill with the Naval Reserves at the Shore Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Newport, RI.as the Weekend Repair Officer. Often, I would run into the LAMPS pilots and crew-members when they came over to SIMA Newport to check on a repair job. Of course, I made every effort to finish all repairs to ensure that the ships would be ready to go. (As a side note, one drill weekend I found out the hard way that a civilian crane out of Providence costs $1,000/hour to rent. A young Ensign ("black-shoe") on one of the Frigates signed off on the paperwork for crane and it left the pier before the data link had been tested. I believe the test gear that should have been used was the |UKM-3 I was ticked off at the Ensign, but there wouldn't be any reason for the Frigate to leave port for ASW training without a functional data link, so SIMA had to pay several thousand dollars to get the crane back. If anyone is interested in 1980s vintage "sales promotion" items such as SH-2F stickers and patches, H-2 glassware from the Naval Helicopter Association, SH-2f tie tacks, etc or even an acey-deucy sticker, please contact me . BRG Captain, USN (retired) -
1975-1978, I was with HSL-34 Det.7 at NAS Norfolk. We deployed to the Med and the NA in BuNo 149773 on the USS Jesse L. Brown (FF-1089)
1986-1989. Deployed with Det 1 for Northern Wedding 1986 with BuNo 161646 / Greenchecker 234 onboard USS W.S. Sims (FF-1059), August - October 1986; Med 01-87 with the same aircraft and ship, December 1986-June 1987. Various operations revolving around the Alice project with Det 8, including Panama City FL, San Diego CA, and USS Kidd (DDG-993), spring-summer 1987. Don't know the BuNo of the aircraft, they were specially modified SH-2F with air conditioning and camera doors on the underside of the fuselage aft. Deployed Med 02-1988 with Det 1, BuNo 151303 / Greenchecker 235 onboard USS Connole (FF-1056), July 1988 - January 1989.
1991-1993, this is Ams to Gerald W Franklin Sr United States Navy retired I was one of the last green checkers. I deployed on the USS Jack Williams (FFG-24) and USS Antrim (FFG-20) as the leading airframes technician on the sh-2f seasprite helicopter lamps
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Models HSL-34 List of helicopters |
| C/N | Version | Built | In this Org | In other Org | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 w/o 1975 | UH-2A | 149745 : Kaman K-20 Seasprite, c/n 47, ff?; del USN as UH2K-1, 149745 unk; redesig + : w/o 19jun75 SH-2F type as HSL-34 DET-3 /HX-34 USS Aylwin (FF-1081) crashed+ | |||||
| 50 | UH-2A | 149748 : Jun81 as HSL-34 /HX-230 on USS John Hancock (DD-981); Aug87 pictured as HS+ | |||||
| 70 | UH-2A | 149768 : Kaman K-20 Seasprite, c/n 70, ff?; del USN as UH2K-1, 149768 unk; redesig + : 1975-1978, I was with HSL-34 Det.7 at NAS Norfolk. We deployed to the Med + : Jun82 pictured as HSL-34 /HX-231 on the flight deck of USS Deyo (DD-989) : HSL-34 NAS Norfolk, VA. Flew this aircraft in SH-2F configuration multiple+ | |||||
| 71 w/o 1984 | UH-2A | 149769 : Sep82 pictured as HSL-34 /HX-234 during Unitas XXI | |||||
| 106 | UH-2B | 150156 : 1974-78 as SH-2F HSL-34 Det.3 with modex green checker 30 cruising on USS + |  N29-150156  N319AK  NZ3612 | ||||
| 117 w/o 1986 | UH-2B | 150167 : asg HSL-34 w/o crashed while deployed on the USS Fahrion | 150167 | ||||
| 140 | UH-2B | 151303 : 1977 SH-2F type as HSL-34 Det.5 aboard USS Moinester (FF-1097) : 19feb86 pictured as SH-2F type HSL-34 /HX-235 lifts a crewman from the wat+ | |||||
| 147 | UH-2B | 151310 : HSL-34 NAS Norfolk, VA. Flew this aircraft multiple times in SH-2F configu+ | N29-151310 N705KM NZ3619 | ||||
| 175 | UH-2B | 152191 : SH-2F type as HSL-34 /HX-242 aboard USS Connole (FF-1056) visited Amsterd+ : This aircraft could not have been in Amsterdam in July of 1991; HX-242 Bu+ | - | ||||
| 190 | UH-2B | 152206 : Kaman K-20 Seasprite, c/n 190, ff?; del USN as HU2K-1U 158206 unk; redesig+ | |||||
| 198 w/o 1989 | SH-2F | 161648 : HSL-34 /HX-242, replacement for the previous HX-242, BuNo 152191 | |||||
| 228 | SH-2F | 162577 : VX-1 NAS PAX River, MD in SH-2F configuration;
Flew this aircraft while i+ |  3053 | ||||
| 230 w/o 1987 | SH-2F | 162579 : w/o 16sep87 HSL-34 /HX lost in north atlantic | |||||
| 237 w/o 1989 | SH-2F | 162586 : Kaman Model 20 Seasprite, c/n 237, ff?; del USN as SH-2F 162586 unk; xfer + | |||||
| 250 | SH-2G | 163214 : 1990-1993 as SH-2F type asg HSL-34;
unk date noted as SH-2G type flying w+ | |||||
