page_title: Helicopter 66
section_title: Later history and crash
hierarchical_section_title: Helicopter 66 / History / Later history and crash
caption_attribution_description: Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King in markings of Navy Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Four (HS-4)
context_page_description: Helicopter 66 is a United States Navy Sikorsky Sea King helicopter used during the late 1960s for the water recovery of astronauts during five missions of the Apollo program. It has been called "one of the most famous, or at least most iconic, helicopters in history", was the subject of a 1969 song by Manuela, and was made into a die-cast model by Dinky Toys. In addition to its work in support of NASA, Helicopter 66 also transported the Shah of Iran during his 1973 visit to the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk.
  Helicopter 66 was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1967 and formed part of the inventory of U.S. Navy Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Four for the duration of its active life. Among its pilots during this period was Donald S. Jones, who would go on to command the United States Third Fleet. Later re-numbered Helicopter 740, the aircraft crashed in the Pacific Ocean in 1975 during a training exercise. At the time of its crash, it had logged more than 3,200 hours of service.
context_section_description: From 1970 to 1972 Helicopter Squadron Four and Helicopter 66 were embarked aboard USS Ticonderoga CVS-14, and By 1973 Helicopter Squadron Four, and Helicopter 66 with it, were embarked aboard USS Kitty Hawk. That year, Helicopter 66 transported the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to Kitty Hawk for a shipboard visit while it transited the Indian Ocean.
  At 7:00 p.m. on June 4, 1975, Helicopter 66, renumbered as '740', departed Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach near San Diego, California, en route to the U.S. Navy's Helo Offshore Training Area to conduct a regularly scheduled, three-hour nighttime anti-submarine training exercise. During the operation, in which it was carrying a full complement of four crew, the helicopter crashed. Though the crew was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, pilot Leo Rolek was critically injured and later died of the wounds he sustained in the crash. The exact cause of the downing of Helicopter 66 is unknown; as of 2017 the U.S. Navy incident report remains largely classified. The broken fuselage of the helicopter later sank in 800 fathoms (1,500 m) of water. At the time of its crash, Helicopter 66 had flown 3,245.2 flight hours since being brought into service, and 183.6 hours since its last overhaul.
  The submerged helicopter remains the property of the U.S. Navy, and a 2004 effort by private interests to recover it for preservation was not realized.
caption: A Sikorsky Sea King painted in Helicopter 66 livery and owned by the National Museum of Naval Aviation, on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in 2011
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