Fonderie Miniature 1/48 HO3S-1

      The Sikorsky HO3S-1 was the first helicopter to be capable of carrying a really useful load at a useful speed.  It became the first helicopter used by several different air forces, and was a workhorse of the Korean War, where it pioneered the plane guard role for the rescue at sea of downed naval aviators, as well as the rescue of allied flyers from behind enemy lines. The helicopter was immortalized in the film "The Bridges at Toko-ri."

      Following the success of the Sikorsky R-4, the first helicopter used by U.S. armed forces, Sikorsky planned two developments: a two-seater later known as the R-6/HOS-1, and a larger observation helicopter for the USAAF that was first ordered in 1943 as the XR-5; this was followed by 36 YR-5As and 34 R-5As, which can be distinguished from the later S-51 (known as the R-5F and HO3S-1 in military service) by a narrow front fuselage with outrigger main wheels and a trailing tailwheel. 

     The S-51, a four seat (1 + 3) helicopter developed for the commercial market, first flew February 16, 1946.  Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial of 450 horsepower, the S-51 had a payload of 1,000 lbs, a considerable improvement on all previous helicopters built by anyone.  The USAAF and USN immediately became interested in this helicopter; 66 R-5F, G, and H versions were ordered for the Air Force, while the Navy ordered 95 HO3S-1s which were delivered between 1946-50.  Nine of these Navy helicopters became the first rotary-wing aircraft operated by the U.S. Marines, while another 9 were transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard - who already used the earlier R-4 in the SAR role - as the HO3S-1G.  The primary use of the HO3S-1 was in the plane guard role aboard "Essex" Class carriers, while the Marine helos were later used in the medevac role in Korea.

      The RCAF chose the S-51 as its first operational helicopter and ordered 7 for SAR use in 1947.  Westland Aircraft arranged for license production of the S-51 as the "Dragonfly" in the same year; powered by the Alvis Leonides 50 radial of 520 horsepower, 166 would eventually be built, the majority of which would be used by the Royal Navy as the Dragonfly HR Mk.1, with some used by the RAF for medevac as the HC Mk.2.  British European Airways established the first passenger helicopter service with the Dragonfly in 1950.

      The S-51 was the helicopter that established the type as the best aircraft for use in search and rescue, and also introduced the helicopter to the public as a reliable means of transportation.  The current reputation of Sikorsky in the field of rotary-wing aviation stands on the achievements of the S-51 in all its variants.

 "The Bridges at Toko-ri"

      To my mind, as both an aviation historian and enthusiast, and as a screenwriter, "The Bridges At Toko-ri" stands out as the best flying movie ever made and one of the very best war movies ever made.  It is based on the very excellent novel by James Michener, who wrote it after spending several months at sea with Task Force 77 in the Fall of 1952, during an air campaign that came to be known as "The Cherokee Strikes." Several years ago, I had the opportunity in my role as aviation historian to interview Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., the only Naval Aviator to win the Medal of Honor in the Korean War.  When I asked what it was like flying off the carriers then, he replied, "Did you ever see 'The Bridges At Toko-Ri'?  It was exactly like that."  When I first saw it as a child, the movie was shocking to me because it was the first movie I ever saw in which the heroes died in the end.  Later, after I had had my own experience of combat, I came to appreciate that it was one of the few war movies that accurately portrays the true nature of heroism in combat: the "hero" is a man who doesn't want to be there and is afraid of the job he has been called on to do, yet does it anyway in the most difficult circumstance.

      The character who steals every scene he is in is Chief Naval Aviation Pilot Mike Forney, played by Mickey Rooney, who flies the "angel" - the HO3S-1 assigned to the carrier for pilot rescue.  I once interviewed Rooney, and mentioned my admiration of his work in this role.  He replied that at the time he was advised to stay away from the project since it was deemed "controversial," and in McCarthy-Era Blacklist Hollywood, that was not a word one wanted in their resume, and it would end his career.  "At the time, I didn't have a career!" he told me.  His work in this movie in fact was what restored a career everyone in the industry had considered dead.

      The aerial work for the movie was filmed aboard the USS "Oriskany." The field where the final action takes place still exists outside Simi Valley, about 35 miles from where I sit writing this. 

      To me as a kid, the two real "stars" of the movie were the HO3S-1 helicopter and the Grumman F9F-5 "Panther."  Thus, I have been looking for years to add an HO3S-1 as the only helicopter in my model collection, and I had long ago decided it would be in the markings of the helicopter used in this movie.

     To say I am not a fan of Fonderie Miniature kits is an understatement.  I have not found one yet that was not a practically-worthless PoS, and this kit was no different from the others.  Had I not had a Belcher Bits resin kit of the HO3S-1 to use for most of the parts and the decals, the model would never have come into existence.

      Why Fonderies Miniatures chose to mold the fuselage in clear plastic is beyond me.  As any modeler knows, clear plastic is more brittle than opaque plastic.  Even companies who know what they are doing when it comes to casting plastic sometimes have difficulties using this material.  For a company like Fonderies Miniatures, which seems to have trouble using normal plastic, the problems that result from this choice are about ten times worse than from another manufacturer.  In addition to being brittle, the parts are thick; whatever advantage for the windows in the cabin that was supposed to result from this production choice is completely negated by the thickness of the parts, which have the transparency of coke bottle glass at best.  When I attempted to polish out these parts, the slightest pressure exerted resulted in stress fractures throughout the part; the nose cap shattered while attempting this, which came very close to aborting the whole project within 30 minutes of commencement.

      Additionally, the rotor blades supplied in the kit are too small, both in length and in chord; this is also true of the tail rotor. Fortunately, the resin rotor blades for main and tail rotor provided in the Belcher Bits kit are the correct size; they are also light enough in weight that they can be made to sit right.  The Belcher Bits kit also provides the earlier, larger, wooden main rotor blades used on early-production S-51s.

      The one good part of the kit is the main rotor hub, which is made in white metal. The other white metal parts were pretty much unusable.  Fortunately, the Belcher Bits resin parts for the rotor head assembly were clean and crisp.

      The kit decals provide two US HO3S-1s, one Navy and one Marine, and an HO3S-1 operated by the Aeronavale in the 1950s.  Unfortunately, the font used in the lettering for the US markings is incorrect, and the national insignia is too small.  Luckily, the decals for the Belcher Bits kit are excellent, providing markings for two US Navy HO3S-1s (including the "non-standard" markings used for the helicopter in the movie), a Marine HO-3S-1, two Royal Navy Dragonflies, a US Coast Guard HO3S-1G, and an RCAF S-51.

      Overall, the main use of the Fonderies Miniature kit over the Belcher Bits kit was that the F-M fuselage was lighter than the resin fuselage of the B-B kit, with better surface detail.  Also, the F-M kit has a good photo-etch fret, which provides the covers for the engine intake and exhausts, and detail parts for the hoist.