CH-124 Sea King

Space aboard naval vessels is always at a premium, and the Sea King, with its fold-up rotor and tail, fits perfectly on the smallest deck.

It's a ship-based helicopter with both day and night flight capabilities, and is carried aboard many Canadian Maritime Command destroyers, frigates and replenishment ships.

The Sea King carries detection, navigation and weapons systems as part of its primary mandate of searching for, locating and destroying submarines. With its subsurface acoustic detection equipment and homing torpedoes, it's also a versatile surveillance helicopter.

Domestically Sea Kings have increasingly become responsible for search and rescue operations, disaster relief, and assisting other government departments in carrying out counter-narcotic operations, fisheries and pollution patrols.

The Sea King has also been instrumental in peacekeeping operations. For example, during the deployment of forces to Somalia, the CH-124 provided troops with logistics, medical and ammunitions support along with flying overland reconnaissance and convoys. It was, in effect, the only link soldiers had with the ships especially during the initial stages of the deployment.

The Sea King fleet has been heavily committed to the campaign against terrorism, deploying aboard Canadian Navy ships to the Persian Gulf since the fall of 2001. Sea Kings have conducted hundreds of missions ranging from logistics flights to move personnel and cargo around the Coalition task groups to hailing and boarding of suspicious vessels.

FACTS AND FIGURES - CH-124 SEA KING

Length

16.67 m 

Wingspan

18.9 m

Height

5.8 m

Weight

9,299 kg 

Power

Two 1,500 SHP General Electric T-58-GE-8F/-100 turboshafts 

Speed

144 km/h max speed 181 km/h

Ceiling

3,048 m 

Range

450 km 

Load

2,268 kg 

Equipment

Forward Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR), Passive/Active Sonar, Surface Search Radar

Armament

Mk 46 Mod V homing torpedoes, self-defence machine gun 

Crew

2 pilots, 1 navigator, 1 airborne electronic sensor operator 

Year(s) procured

1963 to 1969

Quantity in CF

27

Location(s)

12 Wing Shearwater, N.S 

Patricia Bay, BC

Although one of the oldest Aircraft in Canada's airforce, the Sea King is also one of its busiest. It has seen service in a variety of international and domestic roles in recent years including the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Yugoslavia, East Timor, Manitoba Floods, Swiss Air disaster and boarding of GTS Katie.

All information and pictures taken from http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/equip/equip1_e.asp