Old Six Six underway

BuNo 152711 being worked on at Miramar, Black Sheep hangar deck, East apron, 01/19/2017.

With the supply of a workable shell by Spartan industries, the final work on the HS-4 Black Knights Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King "Old 66" has started at Miramar. Spartan Industries agreed to make the "Old 66" a one of to be deployed at N.A.S. Miramar in active duty as part of U.S. Naval Aviation history, and her arrival will be celebrated with due honors. More on this soon.

The "Old Six Six" Sea King is the only operational SH-3 model flying with HS-4, the other aircraft having been replaced by the more manageable AW-109 DM on April, 2016 (see here).

August 1969. "Old 66" recovers the Apollo11 astronauts and capsule.

"BuNo 152711 was an SH-3D delivered to the Navy by Sikorsky in March 1967 and served for much if not all of its career with HS-4, a deployable ASW helicopter squadron. 152711 initially wore the overall Engine Gray SH-3 livery but was repainted into the white/gull gray scheme the Navy directed for the SH-3 in mid-1967. This repaint probably happened during the aircraft's first major overhaul in 1968. In any event, the repaint had long been done by the Apollo 8 recovery in December 1968.

Starting with Apollo 10, the recovery helicopter was equipped with an uprighting sling made of half-inch nylon line. One end of the sling was attached to a weapons shackle; the other end was taped in place below the starboard cabin door. If the command module was apex-down (Stable II) after splashdown, a helicopter crewman could lower the free end of the sling to a swimmer in the water, who would attach the sling to the spacecraft. The helicopter could then pull the spacecraft over to upright (Stable I) position.
Other modifications to the prime recovery helicopter included installation of photo and film cameras on the starboard side. Two 70mm motion picture cameras and a 35mm still camera were carried on a specially-made mount on the starboard aft weapons position, and at least one camera was mounted on the starboard side between the sponson and the fuselage.

"Old 66" in flight over the Apollo 13 command module, April 17, 1970.

The last recovery for HS-4 was the Apollo 13 mission in April 1970. The HS-4 side numbers had changed to 4XX by that point, but 152711 had kept her markings from the Apollo 12 recovery. The port side of the helicopter had minimal changes, but the starboard side, which would be seen up close on television and in photos, was given a quick and very non-standard repaint with idiosyncratic stenciling. 
A new coat of white paint was applied and the markings were redone; the "66" was painted in a slightly chunkier fashion than the Apollo 12 version, and "Albert the Alleygator," cigar clenched in his teeth and lit stick of dynamite in his paws, was painted on the starboard cabin door just before the recovery itself.

Trim colors on the rotor cap, tail and sponson tips changed from blue to red for Apollo 13, and USS IWO JIMA replaced USS HORNET on the sponsons, although the CVSG-59 lettering remained. The Apollo spacecraft were replaced and reoriented, and again the Apollo 13 emblem was applied prior to recovery and revealed as the helicopter landed aboard Iwo Jima."

[in OLD 66 by JODIE PEELER from Tailhook Topics]

CDR. Asra Kron
NASMCO