Episode 6

[Rupert Willies]

I need a clarification.
There were only built 32 H-21A choppers for the USAF, hardly any of them built in 1952, all intended for a SAR role. Some of them were later upgraded.
There were built 163 H-21B in the same period, and later in 1962 after being redesignated CH-21C 334 more were built for U.S. forces. 32 built under licence by Weser Flugzeugbau for the West German Army. 98 built for the French Air Force and French Army Aviation.

My question is: could it be that we misinterpreted the model and make of the chopper, and that what we have sitting aboard our proud ship is really a H-21B or CH-21C? I could easily see this happen if it in fact is an upgraded version of the orginal 32 H-21A, and it is not unplausible that an untrained eye (unlike my own) could miss telltale signs of the later models.