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Donated by the US Army and restored by a dedicated volunteer
group led by Rich Angelini and the Gyrodyne
Helicopter Historical Foundation, this spindly Cold War relic was utilized
by the Navy, Army, and Air Force for everything from target practice to tank-hunting
to use as an experimental delivery platform for tactical nuclear weapons. Deployed
on destroyers as part of the Fleet Rehabilitation
and Modernization program (FRAM), DASH helped to extend the useful service of
Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers by 15 years. Representing the
world's only example of a DASH exhibited in its original environs, the USS
Kennedy's helicopter was dedicated by Peter Papadakos, son of the man
who founded the Gyrodyne enterprise, or what Papadakos, who has worked on DASH
virtually his whole life, calls, "the family business." |