{"id":1392,"date":"2013-10-25T20:05:15","date_gmt":"2013-10-25T13:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewindmillrestaurant.net\/?page_id=1392"},"modified":"2015-11-23T05:47:22","modified_gmt":"2015-11-22T22:47:22","slug":"army-aviation-at-the-museum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/?page_id=1392","title":{"rendered":"Army Aviation at the Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Army Aviation<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/span>\u00a0at the South Carolina Military Museum<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From 1981 until 2007 the original South Carolina Military Museum was located at the Sumter Armory.\u00a0\u00a0 In 2007 the museum was relocated behind the Bluff Road Armory where it would be more centrally located within the state.\u00a0 The new location also provided much more\u00a0useable floor space thus allowing the museum to grow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our museum is dedicated to collecting and preserving artifacts from the militia days to present.\u00a0\u00a0Considering the National Guard started in1670 and Army Aviation is a relatively new program, by comparison aviation artifacts are not readily available.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However, in June of 2012\u00a0our museum was offered an opportunity to pick-up an H-13 helicopter from the\u00a0South Dakota National Guard Museum.\u00a0 The uniqueness of this aircraft\u00a0was that it was the first H-13 to be\u00a0purchased by the Army after the split of the Army Air Corp from the Army.\u00a0 The manufacture’s plate identifies the helicopter as serial number “1.”\u00a0 Since the H-13 was the first type helicopter to serve in the South Carolina Army National Guard, it seemed natural for our museum to take ownership of the helicopter for the purpose of being displayed In an Army Aviation exhibit.\u00a0 Soon the decision was made to acquire the aircraft for\u00a0prominent display in South Carolina.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2012<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As when any new airframe is received, it’s condition had to be evaluated to determine it’s airworthiness and in this case develop a plan to restore it.\u00a0 So far one of the best things that happened for the Army Aviation exhibit was\u00a0CW5 (ret) Ron Claypool\u00a0joining the museum staff as a volunteer and ultimately being designated as the project officer for the restoration of the\u00a0 H-13B.\u00a0 A task list was developed of what needed to be done and the order in which they should be accomplished.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2012<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First the sheet metal skin was removed. \u00a0Next the airframe was pressured washed and a coat of primer applied.\u00a0 The engine and transmission were removed, partially disassembled, and cleaned<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Numerous calls were made to suppliers around the country looking for parts.\u00a0 Most responding by saying, “You gotta be kidding me!”\u00a0 Those parts which were missing, broken or unusable would have to be made from scratch with the materials at hand.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After weeks of searching for a bubble, a family was found in Texas who for years made bubbles for Bell 47’s but were now out of business.\u00a0 After a lot of calls they consented to form one for the H-13B.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Next came the Main Rotor Blades.\u00a0 After laying exposed to elements for twenty plus years the blades had rotted from the inside out.\u00a0 A three foot section of the root end plus the steel leading edge spar were salvaged from one blade and the leading edge steel spar from the other blade.\u00a0\u00a0 After many hours of work, a set of rotor blades were constructed for display.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0first H-13 to be\u00a0purchased by the Army after the split of the Army Air Corp from the Army and bearing the manufacture plate\u00a0identifying the helicopter as serial number “1” is now\u00a0prominently on display at the State Military Museum.\u00a0 After approximately two years and many hours of hard work and research,\u00a0the restoration is complete.\u00a0 Congratulations to Ron Claypool and the many , many other volunteers making this project such a success.\u00a0 It looks great in the picture but you owe it to yourself to personally visit the museum for a look see.\u00a0 The helicopter will remain in it’s present location until\u00a0the Army Aviation exhibit area, which in planning stages, is completed.\u00a0 Again, hats off to all those responsible for making this happen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army Aviation\u00a0at the South Carolina Military Museum \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From 1981 until 2007 the original South Carolina Military Museum was located at the Sumter Armory.\u00a0\u00a0 In 2007 the museum was relocated behind the Bluff Road Armory where it would be more centrally located within the state.\u00a0 The new location also provided much more\u00a0useable floor space thus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1392","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1392"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3212,"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1392\/revisions\/3212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scarngavpicthistory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}