Heavy-lift tandem-rotor helicopter ·First flight 1961 · In service 1962
The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is among the heaviest-lifting Western helicopters, its distinctive tandem counter-rotating rotors doing away with the need for a tail rotor and putting all of its power into lift.
It loads through side doors, a wide rear ramp and three external cargo hooks, and on its 1962 debut it was faster than the utility and attack helicopters of the day — it still is one of the quickest in US service.
One of the very few aircraft designed in the early 1960s — alongside the C-130 Hercules — to remain in continuous production and frontline service for more than sixty years, flown by armies around the world.
