DASH, Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter, 1968
The Navy Model QH-50D Drone  is a remotely controlled, rotary- wing, weapon-carrying vehicle designed specifically for deployment from the deck of destroyer type ships for antisubmarine warfare.
 

In the mid 1950's the Russian Submarine force was becoming increasingly ominous in size (numbering over 300) and capabilities and the U.S. Navy sought a method to counter that threat before any submarine could come within striking distance of a U.S. Naval ship or convoy. The Navy was developing a rocket-launched anti-submarine torpedo called ASROC (Anti-Submarine ROCket) but it was too limited in range to take advantage of increased detection ranges of that day that the large AN/SQS-26 Sonar system promised. The  DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) WEAPON SYSTEM QH-50A made the first unmanned helicopter landing aboard the USS Hazelwood (DD-531) while at sea on December 7, 1960.


DASH Drone, preflight, power turn-up with Naples in the background.
During flight we remove the Red air intake and it has ability to carry two Mark-44 or one Mark46 torpedo between the Green & Red landing struts. This was almost twice its own weight. It had 360 Shaft horsepower Gas turbine. The Engine gas tank and avionics is smaller than a VW.
Example HR


To your left. Richard's is doing a preflight on drone, Bowers dogging down the hatch , and on top of the hanger is Loren checking out the avionics and Mr. Gobble keeping a eye on all of us. He had no idea what we were doing and why..
To you right is a close up of the Bird in the hanger.


The Mechs taking the Bloody thing apart for one of its yearly PM's
DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) Weapon System  are manufactured by,  Gyrodyne Helicopter Company, now of Los Angeles, CA
The Target Control System AN/SRW-4B ( the shipboard guidance system)
The model T50- BO- 10/12 Turbo shaft Engine 
Automatic Flight Control Set AN/ASW-20
The Radio Receiving Set AN/ARW-78 receives and decodes the command signals which originate on the destroyer and superimposes them on the stabilization system. Primary electrical power for the airborne system is obtained from the airborne generator which is driven by gearing from the rotor drive system.
The digital command guidance, or data link, system is of the pcm/fm (pulse code modulation of a frequency modulated sub carrier) type, in which the commands are transmitted to the drone as discrete binary coded pulses.
The drone is capable of carrying either one of the two following weapon stores
Two Mark 44 Mod 0 torpedoes.
One Mark 46 Mod 0 torpedo.
General
Rotor disk diameter 20 ft 0 in.
Length, rotors fore and aft20 ft 0 in
Width, maximum, rotors fore and aft5 ft 3 in.
Landing gear skid length 5ft 3.64 in.
Landing gear skid tread, center-to-center  ft 0 in.
Height, over-all static  ft 8.5 in.
Rotor ground clearance (static)  6ft 0 in.
Minimum clearance under lower rotor 3 ft 8.7 in.
Weight, empty 1087 lb
Weight, normal gross* 2300 lb
Fiberglass Blades
 


See I told you they had it all apart and spread out all over the flight deck, made it look like they were doing something.
The DASH Weapon System consisted of the installation of a flight deck, hangar facility, deck control station, CIC control station, SRW-4 transmitter facility and fore and aft antenna installation.


Photo courtesy of Gyrodyne Helicopter Historical Foundation  www.GyrodynHelicopters.com
Note the wicked little Stinger mounted below

Example HR


Mr. Gobble and Bolig & Fryman. Mr. Gobble was one of our best Division officers, He left us alone, and we kept him out of trouble during operations and business running the shop.



Yes, it actually flies, take a good look as this is a rare event. Photo taken at Fleet Combat Training Center Atlantic Dam Neck Virginia Beach Virginia.  Dam Neck is located on the Atlantic coast, five miles south of the downtown resort of Virginia Beach. The Base is also noted on old Civil war maps as part of the Great Dismal Swap that is south of Norfolk Virginia.

The Flight Training school is ideal in case we crashed one of these babies you would only kill a few snakes.
Example HR


See No Evil Loren, Speak No Evil. myself, Here No Evil Fryman.
Loren is living in Colorado Springs and Dave Fryman is on East Cost


            

 
This is the shop as it was before the addition of the racks just behind that work bench. The Avionics shop is in back left corner
Shop Layout after we all converted it to a combination of shop & work space. This is located under the Hanger & Flight Deck, with access to your left just forward of the drill press and just to your right down a trunk ladder and forward.
We has 6 Racks just before the access hatch around the drill press and 6 more just behind the lockers to your left. Jackets seen on the right were removed during inspection.. Also to your right was the sink and the coffee pot. to the rear of this photo was the avionics shop, but unfortunately the only photo of that space was out of  focus as was most of the repair that when on in that shop.

 

 

atsea

Photo courtesy of Gyrodyne Helicopter Historical Foundation  www.GyrodyneHelicopters.com
USS Hazelwood DD531 


The FRAM I program involved installation of both the ASROC and DASH systems. The FRAM II program was developed primarily for the Sumners, which had insufficient hull length amidships to accommodate the ASROC system. In the FRAM I reconstructions, one of the twin 5-inch gun mounts was removed as weight compensation for the ASROC system, but the FRAM II modernization kept all three of their 5-inch gun mounts (unless the destroyer was equipped with a Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) in which a mount was lost for weight compensation).

dash-ondeck
Photo courtesy of Gyrodyne Helicopter Historical Foundation  www.GyrodyneHelicopters.com
The drone is powered by a Boeing Model T50-BO-10 or - 12 two- shaft gas turbine engine, which consists of two major sections; a gas producer section, and a power output section. There is no mechanical connection between the rotor in the gas producer section and the rotor in the power output section.

DASH operations ceased fleet wide on November 30, 1970 after the U.S. government had invested over $275 million dollars on the aircraft side of that Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) program. The reason was simple,  The continued war in Vietnam was draining production funds from all sectors of the military. To make matters worse for DASH, the Vietnam war was not an "anti-submarine warfare" (ASW) war.
 

John King ATN3 sent us 38 Photos of DASH Crew taken in Charleston just prior to the 1968 Med cruse I have added Next to each but was able to download only 5, but will change them from time to time.

John King Before and After, Not really C-Model had hard landing by one of the Destroyers.



DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) WEAPON SYSTEM  While the days of the assembly line, as are now just the memories of old, a small group of former Gyrodyne employees formed the Gyrodyne Helicopter Historical Foundation  to keep the history alive.  I thank the foundation for 3 of the 13 photos used on this page and clarification of  QH-50 specifications.
Visit their site for your self for full details  www.GyrodyneHelicopters.com
 
 
 
The following Photos were taken in the little town of Hawthorn Nevada.
 Hawthorn is just out side of a very large Navy/Army weapons Depot in the middle of nowhere as most weapons depot usually are.
Photos are of a QH-50D bird with two Mark 44 torpedoes
 
 
This bird look like brand new, or was never on board ship exposed to Sea environment and sailors
 
 
 
Avionics test bench, from this test bench you can test almost every model aboard the QH-50
 
 
This was Taken Jun 2007 in Hawthorn Nevada
 

E-Mail to:  AD24Historys@att.net