CH-54 Tarhe

CH-54 Tarhe
A CH-54A carrying a parachute bomb
Role	Heavy-lift cargo helicopter
Manufacturer	Sikorsky Aircraft
First flight	9 May 1962
Retired	1991
Status	retired
Primary user	United States Army
Number built	105
Variants	S-64 Skycrane

The Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe is a twin-engine heavy-lift helicopter designed by Sikorsky Aircraft for the United States Army. It is named after Tarhe (whose nickname was "The Crane"), an 18th-century chief of the Wyandot Indian tribe. The civil version is the S-64 Skycrane.

Initial work on the Sikorsky "sky-crane" helicopters began in 1958 with the piston-engined Sikorsky S-60. The first flight of the turboshaft-powered S-64 Skycrane was on 9 May 1962.

The United States Army eventually purchased 105, designating them CH-54. Used in Vietnam for transport and downed-aircraft retrieval, it was highly successful, thanks to the "adaptable" nature of the module system first conceived by General James M. Gavin in his 1947 book Airborne Warfare. Early pods could not carry troops and external sling-loads at the same time; later, pods that could carry both were developed but not acquired. As of 2014^[update], it holds the record for highest altitude in level flight (11 km in 1971) and fastest climb to 3, 6, and 9 km.

The Skycrane can not only hold its cargo up and tight against its center spine to lessen drag and eliminate the pendulum effect when flying forward, it can also winch vehicles up and down from a hovering position, so the helicopter does not need to land. Due to budget cuts, the Heavy Lift Helicopter (HLH) program was canceled and the CH-54s not upgraded with larger engines. The Boeing CH-47 Chinook gradually supplemented it in combat and eventually replaced it in Regular Army aviation units, although CH-54 Skycranes remained in Army National Guard service until the early 1990s.

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