Sikorsky CH-34C 56-4284 United States Army

These are 1/72 scale decals for the Sikorsky CH-34C Choctaw, serial 56-4284, assigned to the 56th Aviation Company, United States Army — one of the Army's workhorse transport helicopters of the late 1950s and early Vietnam era.

The CH-34 Choctaw was the U.S. Army's designation for the Sikorsky S-58, a large piston-powered transport helicopter that represented a significant step forward in rotary-wing capability when it entered service in the mid-1950s. Powered by a single Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engine mounted in the nose — giving the aircraft its distinctive "hump-nosed" profile — the CH-34 could carry up to 16 troops or a substantial cargo load, making it the Army's primary medium transport helicopter before the turbine-powered UH-1 Iroquois transformed the battlefield. The Choctaw served in a wide variety of roles including troop transport, medevac, and cargo resupply.

The 56th Aviation Company was one of the U.S. Army's early dedicated aviation units, operating the CH-34 during the critical period when Army aviation was establishing itself as an independent and essential combat arm. The late 1950s and early 1960s saw Army helicopter units like the 56th developing the doctrine, tactics, and operational procedures that would define airmobile warfare — lessons that would be put to the ultimate test in the jungles of Vietnam, where the CH-34 flew some of the earliest U.S. Army combat helicopter missions of the war.

A classic early Army aviation subject representing the dawn of the airmobile era. Please allow some time for decal printing and shipping.