Bell XHSL-1       129133

                              

                                     This hulking great thing was developed in 1950 in response to a US Navy requirement for an
                                     Anti-Submarine Warfare helicopter.  This is the only tandem rotor design produced by Bell.
                                     In the event the award went to Sikorsky with its HSS-1.  Turns out the HSL-1 was so noisy
                                     that the sonar operator couldn't hear the bleeps.  Not only that but it wouldn't fit on the elev-
                                     ators of most of the fleet carriers operating at the time.  Three XHSL-1 prototypes were built
                                     and fifty follow-on HSL-1s had already found their way into the Navy inventory before its full
                                     operational problems had been discovered.   Several of these were modified for mine sweep-
                                     ing duties, whilst others became trainers.