CH-47D Chinook
The great rebuild — old A, B and C airframes remanufactured with twice the lift of the original · First flight 1979 · In service 1982
The CH-47D programme began with a June 1976 contract to modernise the Army's existing fleet rather than build new helicopters. Three prototypes were rebuilt from A, B and C airframes, the first being rolled out in March 1979, and the first production D flew in 1982. The rebuilt aircraft received T55-L-712 engines rated at 3,750 shp, upgraded transmissions, composite rotor blades, a redundant hydraulic system, new avionics and triple external cargo hooks, roughly doubling the A model's lift.
In all, 472 US Army Chinooks were converted; the last went to the Army Reserve at Fort Hood in 2002. The D could carry a 155 mm M198 howitzer together with its 11-man crew and 30 rounds of ammunition, or up to 26,000 lb on its hooks, and later received the more powerful T55-GA-714A engine for hot-and-high work.
The D was also widely exported. The Netherlands flew 13, including seven ex-Canadian CH-147Cs rebuilt to D standard with a long weather-radar nose and glass cockpit, while Spain, Singapore (whose extended-range CH-47SD is known as the 'Super D'), Egypt and others operated it. The RAF's HC2 is also a CH-47D-standard rebuild.
