Short History

The Navy replaced the Ch-46 Sea Knight with the CH-60 which was later redesignated the MH-60S in February 2001 to reflect its planned multi-mission use. The MH-60S is based on the UH-60 and has many naval SH-60 features. Unlike all other Navy H-60s, the MH-60S is not based on the original S-70B/SH-60B platform with its forward-mounted twin tail-gear and single starboard sliding cabin door. Instead, the S-model is a hybrid, featuring the main fuselage of the S-70A/UH-60, with large sliding doors on both sides of the cabin, a single aft-mounted tail wheel, and the engines, drivetrain and rotors of the S-70B/SH-60.

History

In the early 1960s, the US Army’s Howze Board recommended testing new forms of mobility to make the soldier “free from the tyranny of terrain.” The result was the 11th Air Assault Division, to be rechristened the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and sent to Vietnam in 1965. One of the elements of the airmobile division was the Air Cav -- 1st Squadron (Air), 9th Cavalry, whose personnel paid tribute to their heritage by wearing black Stetson cavalry hats. Instead of horses or half tracks, the squadron used helicopters to scout for and fight the enemy. This figure represents one of those aviators.

Thank you to Unique Master Models (UMM) for generously providing an excellent tool for “field testing.” Thank you as well to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for letting me be an evaluator.

The jig is akin to an adjustable protractor with a range of 0 to 180 degrees. The base plate is metallic blue metal with white, etched tick marks and numbers marked in 1 degree increments. A polished bar is screwed to the base plate at the zero position and an adjustable or positionable bar with a set screw can be locked between 0 and 180 degrees. Both plates are 3/16 in thick and project up from the base plate about 7/16 in. I checked the indicated angles on the jig with other tools and the angles match the precision of the jig, in other words, the angles on the jig are pretty darn good! The setscrew on the positionable plate held well and did not slip when the jig was dropped from about 5 feet onto a carpeted floor.