Here's the FAA prelim on the mishap.
The PV-18 was called the HUP-1 in Navy service (Helicopter, Utility, Piasecki, 1st model) and the H-25 by the Air Force. It was used as a rescue helicopter and saved many lives, it could lift three people so normally flew with a crew of two, a pilot and a flight mechanic who worked the winch. I have a book by a guy who was one of those early Navy rescue pilots. His buddy's helicopter shed its rotors over the sea of Japan. He survived a long career... I'm amazed that there was an HUP-1 still flying.
The machine is most important for its descendants, probably: the long line of Piasecki, then Vertol and now Boeing tandem-rotor choppers made in Philadelphia, including the H-21, H-46 and H-47 series. The H-21s flew the first heliborne air assault in Vietnam. The H-46s and -47s still serve today (although the 46s are about 20 years past their sell-by date, the Marines just can't afford to replace them; the Navy long ago dumped theirs).
I am gratified to hear that the pilot's sons will continue his life's work of preserving vintage rotorcraft. We should all be that lucky in our sons.
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** Report created 11/10/2009 Record 1 **
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IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 183YP Make/Model: EXP Description: PV-18 ROTORCRAFT
Date: 11/07/2009 Time: 1630
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: ADELANTO State: CA Country: US
DESCRIPTION
N183YP, AN EXPERIMENTAL PV-18 ROTORCRAFT, STRUCK POWERLINES AND CRASHED,
THE THREE PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, ADELANTON, CA
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 3
# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 2 Fat: 2 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
WEATHER: WIND 240/06 VIC 10 SCT110 T3MP13 DP03 A2997
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: RIVERSIDE, CA (WP21) Entry date: 11/09/2009
Special to Arnie: in Canada, Remembrance Day is for the fallen, isn't it? (It is in Britain). We Yanks remember them on Memorial Day at the end of May; Veterans' Day is for the living vets. But the solemn Memorial and the celebratory Veterans' Day tend to get combined in the public mind. Since WWII, and especially since the end of the draft army, fewer and fewer Americans have served, to the point where most families don't have a veteran in them any more. Veterans' Day is mostly a day off for government workers down here.
cheers
-=K=-