D.A.S.H. Goes to War
The first rotary-wing UAV entered military service in 1962—and remained in operation until 1997.
- By Rebecca Maksel
- Air & Space magazine, March 2012
The Gyrodyne QH-50 D.A.S.H. (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) was the first rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle to enter service. A QH-50C is now on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center. Dane Penland
In hindsight, it was kind of hard to overlook. When we ran our tribute to 100 years of naval aviation (Feb./Mar. 2010), we listed the Fire Scout as the Navy’s first unmanned helicopter.
We were wrong.
It turns out that the Gyrodyne QH-50 D.A.S.H. (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) was the first rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle to enter military service. And this past October, the National Air and Space Museum acquired its own D.A.S.H., when Peter P. Papadakos and his family donated a QH-50C to the collection.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet nuclear-powered submarines began to proliferate. As part of a program to increase anti-submarine coverage, the U.S. Navy brought older destroyers back into service. Unable to fit a full-size helicopter onto the destroyer’s deck, the Navy looked for a solution. The service needed an aircraft armed with a Mk. 57 nuclear depth bomb or two torpedoes that could take out a Soviet submarine before it could come within striking distance of U.S. ships.
For help, the Navy turned to Peter J. Papadakos, the founder of Gyrodyne (and father of Peter P.). The company, along with Hiller Helicopters, had competed in 1953 for a Navy contract to provide a helicopter that could be delivered to downed pilots behind enemy lines. While Gyrodyne’s coaxial Rotorcycle design wasn’t selected, the Navy was interested in using the airframe as an unmanned drone for anti-submarine missions.
The updated design would become the QH-50A, which entered service with the Navy in 1962 and remained in operation until 1997. Most QH-50 deployments consisted of anti-submarine patrols.
A number of the drones were used during the Vietnam War for spotting naval gunfire. The drones’ job was to determine the accuracy of the guns by reporting—with a live TV signal—where the rounds hit so that the aim could be sharpened.
In the anti-submarine role, the QH-50 would start its mission on the flight deck of a destroyer, where it was connected to two umbilical cables: one to start the engine, the other to power the gyroscopes of the flight control system. From the safety of his station, the controller in the Combat Information Center disconnected the two umbilicals. If the umbilicals’ ejection buttons didn’t work, emergency release cables were pulled free by a more limber, lower-ranking crew member. “We became excellent duckers,” recalls Robert Mack, a former engine technician who was present at the donation ceremony and who served aboard the USS Fred T. Berry from 1965 to 1967.
The QH-50 is also unofficially credited as the first UAV to rescue a soldier in combat. “There’s a man who will say categorically that his life was saved by a QH-50,” said Papadakos at the donation ceremony. On a special operations mission during the Vietnam War, this Marine (the military is currently withholding his name) became separated from the rest of his unit. A nearby destroyer dispatched a QH-50 to pick him up. “He climbed on one of the skids and they hauled him back,” says Papadakos.
By the late 1960s, QH-50s were providing real-time surveillance to the military in Vietnam. But by 1971, the Navy cancelled the D.A.S.H. program due to costs; until 1997, spares were used at the Naval Air Weapons Center at China Lake, California, as targets and target-tows.
The legacy of the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) program is mixed, says Roger Connor, the Museum’s vertical-flight curator. “Part of it was a high loss rate due to both electronic malfunctions and operator error,” he says. “Naval aviators also viewed the program as a reckless intrusion onto their turf—or, more literally, their airspace. The program was ahead of its time, both technically and culturally, but its limitations meant that when the ships could support them, manned ASW helicopters were the weapon of choice for the remainder of the 20th century.”
This past December, the Kaman/Lockheed Martin K-Max unmanned helicopters began supplying troops in Afghanistan. “This was an idea that was tested and demonstrated on the QH-50 airframe back in the 1960s,” says Connor. “We’ve really lost a few decades there when we had a remarkable capability on hand, and it’s only now being realized again.”
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Comments (7)
Oh No! I missed seeing the D.A.S.H on my recent field trip to the Udvar-Hazy Center with my students on January 26th, 2012. Actually, my copy of Air and Space Magazine arrived in my mailbox the next day and that is when I realized that my students and I missed seeing a truly remarkable piece of technology. It looks like I will have to plan another trip to the Udvar-Hazy Center in the near future to see the D.A.S.H. and whatever else may be new and on display by then.
Posted by Walt Bilous on January 30,2012 | 03:56 PM
I really enjoyed reading the article about the D.A.S.H. built by Gyrodyne Company of America. I worked for Gyrodyne on the QH-50C and QH-50D models as a draftsman from 1962 to 1966. The article brought back many memories. It was quite a machine for its time.
Good accurate article Rebecca.
Tom Romano Sr.
Schenectady, NY
Posted by Tom Romano Sr. on February 9,2012 | 11:43 AM
For those interested, there is a QH-50 on display at the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center located in West Chester, PA. This is just south of Philadelphia, PA.
The display includes the electronic panels used to control the helicopter.
Posted by Donnie Lummus on February 22,2012 | 10:12 PM
If you want to see two operational DSAH bird's come to Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA.
I'm a volunteer on the DD-850 and we have a standard, torpedo carrying version and a Snoopy version. The snoopy carries a camera system and can drop smoke bombs on a target.
Foe more info and pics, visit our facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/jpk850/
Posted by Don Furlong on March 4,2012 | 04:56 PM
For this interested in DASH, one can visit the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr DD850 and see a QH-50C and a SNOOPY recon variant of the QH-50D aboard a ship built for the system. Test equipment, flight controls, and associated articles are all aboard this DASH ship. You can visit KENNEDY at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA
Posted by Rich Angelini on March 4,2012 | 05:16 PM
BlueJacket Shipcrafters,(Searsport, ME) has just completed what I believe to be the smallest helicopter model in the world, a 1:192 scale model of a QH-50 DASH. The model is so small that it comfortably fits on a dime.
The reason that the DASH was built was to be part of a new model of the USS GEARING, in her 1960's FRAM (Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization) configuration which featured the DASH as well as ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket) weapons systems.
Posted by Jeff Marger on March 21,2012 | 12:52 PM
The DASH program was generally discontinued in the Pacific Fleet by 1969 because the equipment was highly unreliable. When I did my Midshipman 1st Class cruise there were many stories of DASH operational problems due to communications and mechanics. Sometimes a DASH unit when launched would ascend vertically until it was lost on the air search radar and by sight. Another story is that in the mid 1960s when a FRAM DD about 150 miles south west of Long Beach launched a DASH with a live torpedo (dummy warhead)the machine apparently locked on to a commercial radio station and was last seen headed for Los Angeles - it soon disappeared off of radar and was never found. A third story I heard is that during a mid 1960s ASW exercise off of southern California a FRAM DD lost control of its loaded DASH and the unit reportedly "homed in" on the ASW carrier and hovered over the flight deck. Naturally the CO and Admiral were concerned. Whenever the ASW carrier attempted to maneuver away from the DASH by changing course the unit changed course also to stay above the deck. The ASW carrier was able to "ditch" the DASH by shutting off all electronics and going to EMCON.
Based on these stories I really wonder if a pilot was saved by a DASH.
Posted by Jim Mottern on April 15,2012 | 04:32 PM