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FIRE SUPPORT AND FLOOD RELIEF
Another role played by the versatile CH-53 is fire support and flood relief. The CH-53's heavy lift capacity allows it to carry sizable fire buckets and sling loads underneath. Germany's CH-53s have also been called upon to help with international relief and rescue missions. One such mission was during the massive flooding of the Elbe river in 2002. Lt. Col. Mayer remembers: “The first day I was flying with my UH-1. I was starting a mission in the morning and flew up for 8-9 hours. We had to rescue the people by hoist from the roofs of houses. After this first day, the rescue mission coordinator asked me to take over his place. At that moment there were about 25 UH-1s and 5 CH-53s flying their missions. About five days later we established the rescue HQ at Holzdorf. This was an extraordinary experience, all of the 20 CH-53 helicopters were flying. There was a lot of metal in the air. It was a logistic super event to see all helicopters returning in the evening. The maintenance personnel did their job and we also flew missions during night time with night vision goggles transporting sandbags to stop the high water.”
MAINTENANCE AND OVERHAUL
Maintenance on the German CH-53s is done by Airbus. The German government sources the maintenance contracts locally to provide employment opportunities. There is also an important strategic reason to do so as it ensures that knowledge about the aircraft and its components will always be available in Germany. The first four CH-53s delivered to Germany were built by Sikorsky and then shipped from the United States to Germany. From that point on, the CH-53s were license-built by VFW-Fokker at Speyer in Germany.