Canadian Warplanes 7: Bell H-13B Sioux and Bell HTL-6 Sioux helicopter

Bell H-13B Sioux and Bell HTL-6 Sioux

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3520192)

Bell 47D Sioux helicopter, RCAF (Serial No. 9608), VC-BVV, No. 444 Squadron, Rockcliffe, Ontario, 27 Mar 1950.

The Sioux is a three-seat observation and basic training helicopter. It is an American single-rotor utility and training helicopter designed and built by Bell Aircraft Corporation/Bell Helicopter Company from 1945 to 1973. In 1953 the Bell 47G design was introduced. It can be recognized by the full "soap bubble" canopy (as its designer Arthur M. Young termed it), exposed welded-tube tail boom, saddle fuel tanks and skid landing gear. A single 260 hp Lycoming VO-435 piston engine was fitted to the 47G variant. Fuel was fed from two high-mounted external tanks. A single two-bladed rotor with short inertial stabilising minor blades was used on the Sioux.

In its UH-13J version, based on the Bell 47J, it had a metal-clad tail boom and fuselage and an enclosed cockpit and cabin. The H-13 and its military variants were often equipped with medical evacuation panniers, one to each skid, with an acrylic glass shield to protect the patient from wind. The Sioux was the first helicopter certified for civil use andthe first commercial helicopter to go into service. More than 6,400 were produced by Bell and its licensees around the world

The Bell H-13 was employed in Canada as early as 1947 by Canada's Photographic Survey Corporation and Carl Agar's Okanagan Air Service. Became the first helicopter operated by the Royal Canadian Navy, in August 1951. This aircraft is called Sioux by RCAF; RCN referred to it as HTL. (CASM)

Bell 47 helicopter, used for geological research in 1959.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4949660)

Bell 47D, RCAF H-13B Sioux Helicopter (3), (Serial Nos. 9608 & 9609) later RCN (Serial No. 050), (Serial No. 9616), later RCN (Serial No. 1329), Model 47D-1, RCN HTL-4 Sioux (3), (Serial Nos. 300-302).  Model 47G, RCN HTL-6 Sioux Helicopter (3), (Serial Nos. 1387, 1388, 1452), for a total of 9 helicopters.

(DND Photo via James Craik)

Bell 47D Sioux helicopter, RCAF (Serial No. 9608), VC-BVV, 444 Sqn, Rivers, Manitoba.

(DND Photo)

Bell H-13B Sioux Helicopter, (Serial No. 9609), of the Canadian Joint Air Training Center, Rivers, Manitoba.

(Library & Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4234651)

Bell H-13B Sioux Helicopter, Canadian Army, CJATC Base Rivers, Manitoba..

(Library & Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4234649)

Bell H-13B Sioux Helicopter, Canadian Army, CJATC Base Rivers, Manitoba.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 355173)

Bell H-13 Sioux helicopter, RCAF, 11 Jun 1955.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3584983)

Bell H-13 Sioux helicopter, RCAF, 1954.

(Library & Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4234650)

Bell H-13B Sioux Helicopter, Canadian Army, CJATC Base Rivers, Manitoba.

(Library & Archives Canada Photo. MIKAN No. 4235747)

Bell H-13B Sioux Helicopter with Ferret Scout Car, Wainwright, Alberta.

(DNS Photo 5819, Shearwater Aviation Museum via Barrie MacLeod)

Bell HTL-4/6 Sioux Helicopter, RCN (Serial No. 300).  RCN photo of the first RCN helicopter.  300 was an HTL-4 when arriving in August 1951 and later up-rated to HTL-6.

(Shearwater Aviation Museum Photo)

Bell HTL-6 Sioux Helicopter, RCN (Serial No. 1300), (142300).

(Shearwater Aviation Museum Photo)

Bell HTL-6 Sioux Helicopters, RCN.

‍

(Author Photo)

Bell HTL-6 Sioux Helicopter, RCN (Serial No. 1387), (142386).  Canada Air and Space Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.

(RCAF Photo)

A civilian Bell 47D (later converted to a G2 model, re-registered as C-FHRV) being unloaded from an RCAF Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar.