Departure
83%
vs 95% ▼ 12
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American tandem-rotor heavy-lift helicopter, originally developed by Vertol and now built by Boeing Defense, Space and Security, that has served the US Army and dozens of other operators since 1962. Instantly recognisable by its twin overlapping rotors and rear loading ramp, it remains the heavy-lift workhorse of choice for troop and cargo transport, special operations and disaster relief, and is one of only a handful of aircraft designed in the early 1960s still in frontline production and service today.
The CH-47 Chinook is a tandem-rotor transport helicopter manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, tracing its lineage to the American rotorcraft company Vertol. It is classed as a heavy-lift helicopter, the second-heaviest lifting Western type after the Sikorsky CH-53, and its name honours the Chinook people of Oregon and Washington. Introduced to service in 1962, it has been in continuous production and frontline use for over sixty years, a distinction it shares with the fixed-wing Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Its primary user has been the United States Army, with the Royal Air Force as its other largest operator, and the type has since been exported to 20 international countries plus US Special Operations Command.
The Chinook's origins lie in the banana-shaped tandem-rotor designs pioneered by Frank Piasecki, whose company was renamed Vertol in 1956 and acquired by Boeing in 1960. In late 1956 the US Department of the Army announced its intention to replace the piston-engined Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave with a gas-turbine-powered helicopter, and during 1957 Vertol began work on a new tandem-rotor design, the Model 107 or V-107. In June 1958 the Army ordered a small number of these under the YHC-1A designation, intended to carry up to 20 troops, but testing showed the type was too heavy for the assault role and too light for general transport; that design was later refined into the Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight. The Army instead ordered an enlarged derivative, Vertol's Model 114, designated YHC-1B. The preproduction YHC-1B made its initial hovering flight on 21 September 1961, and in 1962 it was redesignated CH-47A under the new Tri-Service aircraft designation system, taking the name Chinook. The first CH-47A entered US Army service in 1962 and the type was used extensively in Vietnam for troop transport, placing artillery in mountain positions inaccessible by other means, and recovering downed aircraft, ultimately retrieving 11,500 disabled aircraft worth over three billion US dollars during that conflict. In the 1980s and early 1990s a major upgrade programme converted more than 500 A-model airframes into the more powerful, modernised CH-47D, which entered service in 1982 with upgraded engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit, improved and redundant electrical systems and avionics, and an advanced flight control system. In the early 2000s, 300 of these airframes were further modernised into the CH-47F, with digital flight decks and numerous other improvements. Over 1,200 Chinooks had been built as of 2012, and development continues with the Block II standard.
The Chinook is built around a tandem-rotor configuration with no tail rotor, allowing unobstructed access to a wide rear loading ramp as well as multiple doors along the fuselage; three external ventral cargo hooks permit underslung loads. The CH-47F Chinook Block II has a rotor diameter of 60 feet (18.3 metres), an overall rotor span while operating of 98 feet 10.7 inches (30.1 metres), reducing to 50 feet 9 inches (15.5 metres) with rotors folded, a fuselage length of 51 feet 2 inches (15.6 metres) and a fuselage width of 12 feet 5 inches (3.8 metres). Overall height is 18 feet 7.8 inches (5.7 metres), with a static forward height of 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 metres) and an idling forward height of 10 feet 11 inches (3.3 metres). It is powered by two Honeywell T55-GA-714A turboshaft engines, each rated at 4,777 shaft horsepower (3,562 kilowatts), and carries 1,080 gallons (4,088 litres) of fuel. Maximum gross weight is 54,000 pounds (24,494 kilograms) with a useful load of 27,700 pounds (12,565 kilograms). An earlier CH-47D preserved at the Museum of Flight, built in 1962 and accepted by the Army in January 1963, had a length of 98 feet, a height of 18 feet 11 inches, an empty weight of 24,578 pounds and a gross weight of 50,000 pounds, and was powered by two Lycoming T55-GA-714A turboshaft engines; it accommodated a crew of two or three and up to 50 troops. The Chinook is fitted with a digital automatic flight control system and, on later variants, an integrated cockpit management system supporting low-visibility and adverse-weather operations.
On introduction in 1962 the Chinook's top speed of 170 knots (200 mph; 310 km/h) made it considerably faster than contemporary utility and attack helicopters, and it remains one of the fastest helicopters in the US inventory. Boeing quotes a maximum speed of 302 kph (170 KTAS) and a cruise speed of 291 kph (157 KTAS) for the CH-47F Block II, with a service ceiling of 20,000 feet (6,096 metres) and a mission radius of 306 kilometres (165 nautical miles). The Museum of Flight's CH-47D example is recorded with a maximum speed of 200 mph, a cruise speed of 180 mph and a range of 460 miles. Boeing describes the tandem-rotor layout as providing increased stability and superior control in windy conditions, along with easy rear-ramp access without the tail-rotor clearance limits of conventional helicopters, and high-altitude capability up to 20,000 feet.
The Chinook lineage began with the YHC-1A, a version of Vertol's Model 107 that the Army found too heavy for assault work and too light for transport; that design evolved separately into the Marine Corps' CH-46 Sea Knight. The Army's own line began with the enlarged Model 114, first flown as the YHC-1B and redesignated CH-47A in 1962. Later production standards included the CH-47C, followed by the CH-47D, produced by upgrading more than 500 A-model airframes in the 1980s and early 1990s with new engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit and improved avionics. In the early 2000s, 300 airframes were modernised again to the CH-47F standard, introducing digital flight decks, with the type subsequently developed further as the CH-47F Block II. Special operations variants have included the MH-47D and MH-47E, both of which were upgraded to the MH-47G standard incorporating the new structural sections of the CH-47F; 25 MH-47E and 11 MH-47D aircraft had been upgraded by the end of 2003, with the final MH-47G delivered to US Army Special Operations Command in February 2011, and an MH-47G Block II subsequently ordered with an ultimate requirement for 69 aircraft. Japan operates a licence-related variant, the CH-47J, of which 54 were ordered by the Japan Defense Agency for the JGSDF and JASDF, with Boeing supplying flyable aircraft to which Kawasaki added avionics, interior and paint; the type first flew in January 1986. The United Kingdom has operated its own family of Chinook variants. A civilian derivative, the Boeing Vertol 234 (also known as the Boeing 234), has been used for passenger and cargo transport as well as aerial firefighting, logging, construction and oil-extraction support.
The United States Army and the Royal Air Force have been the Chinook's two largest operators, and the type is now used by 20 international countries in addition to the US Army and US Special Operations Command, including Australia, Argentina, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Its roles span mass cargo and troop transport, search and rescue, casualty evacuation, special operations infiltration and extraction, and humanitarian and disaster relief, aided by internal and external load capability, extended-range fuel tanks and air-to-air refuelling on later variants. The Chinook was vital to numerous aspects of the Vietnam War, moving troops, placing artillery batteries in mountain positions unreachable by other means, and recovering some 11,500 disabled aircraft worth more than three billion US dollars. Individual airframes have gone on to see extended service lives: the Museum of Flight's CH-47D, the fifth Chinook accepted by the US Army in January 1963, flew combat missions in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan between 2009 and 2011 and later supported domestic emergency response, including the Okanogan Complex Wildfire in 2015, before being retired from flight status in 2017 after 54 years of service.
The Chinook's tandem-rotor layout, with no tail rotor to limit clearance, gives it a distinctive handling character: it offers increased stability and superior control in windy conditions compared with conventional single-rotor helicopters, and its rear ramp can be used freely without the fouling concerns that affect tail-rotor types. High-altitude capability up to 20,000 feet, combined with heavy-lift performance and multiple loading points along the fuselage and under the belly, makes it a helicopter built around cargo and troop-handling tasks rather than agility for its own sake, and a pilot flying it should expect a large, stable platform whose strengths lie in stability, load capacity and unobstructed access rather than outright manoeuvrability.