"Thomas Schoene" wrote:

wrote:
Actually I did not have an ID on the pic from Davis Monthan, rather my
father in law (a engineer now retired) worked on those engines and
volunteered the info. He felt sure that was it type but keep in mind
he does not see "airframes" rather he see's engine type. The
confusing thing is he felt sure that only "5 or 6" of this type were
ever built. We will have to have another extended sit down. Thanks
for your comments.

Assume you're talking about this picture (and for the future, specific links
would be a lot more useful than hoping someone remembered the blog address
in an old post).:

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/172/3...20QUANTICO.jpg

If so, it's a CH-53D. This one is painted up in HMX-1 colors but the lack
of a "white top" shows it was a presidental support helo, not an actual VIP
transport. That means this was probably never Marine One, since it likely
never carried the President.

This one does carry the paint scheme of a non-VIP aircraft
assigned to the Presidential flight section for support.
Carrying all those extra Secret Service folk and presidential
staffers around. ;-

But it may not necessarily have been a presidential support helo
for all or most of its time in HMX-1. While one section of HMX-1
is the Presidential flight section, HMX-1 is a multi-purpose
unit. It also provides helos for TBS training [fixed wing
support of TBS is done by 2dMAW out of Cherry Point/Beaufort by
specific frag tasking to squadrons when/as needed], and also
still engages in the X work of its name, experimental, when/as
needed on helos. I think they were even involved with the MV-22
post-Pax River/pre-VMMT-204-New River.
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]