USS Intrepid
Piasecki HUP/UH-25 Retriever
Frank Piasecki, aeronautical engineer and one of America’s helicopter pioneers, designed the Piasecki HUP/UH-25 PiasecjiRetriever specifically for the Navy in 1948. Unlike other Piaseckis, which could carry up to 40 passengers, his HUP/UH-25 was a small, six-passenger helicopter. Its rotors overlap and are small enough to fit on aircraft carrier elevators without having to fold or collapse the rotor blades.
For storage on carrier hangar decks the blades could easily be folded, making this helicopter a very small, flexible workhorse. The HUP was used mostly as a utility helicopter and for aerial rescue; an electric onboard hoist and large floor hatch enabled a pilot to easily lift downed aviators.
USS Intrepid
Piasecki HUP/UH-25 Retriever
Frank Piasecki, aeronautical engineer and one of America’s helicopter pioneers, designed the Piasecki HUP/UH-25 PiasecjiRetriever specifically for the Navy in 1948. Unlike other Piaseckis, which could carry up to 40 passengers, his HUP/UH-25 was a small, six-passenger helicopter. Its rotors overlap and are small enough to fit on aircraft carrier elevators without having to fold or collapse the rotor blades.
For storage on carrier hangar decks the blades could easily be folded, making this helicopter a very small, flexible workhorse. The HUP was used mostly as a utility helicopter and for aerial rescue; an electric onboard hoist and large floor hatch enabled a pilot to easily lift downed aviators.