Bild:Crew of Apollo 8 leaves recovery helicopter, December 27, 1968.jpg

The Apollo 8 crew stands in the doorway of a the recovery "helicopter 66" after arriving aboard the carrier USS Yorktown (CVS-10), recovery vessel for the historic initial manned lunar orbital mission. In left foreground is astronaut Frank Borman, Mission Commander. Behind Borman is astronaut James A. Lovell Jr., Command Module pilot; and on the right is astronaut William A. Anders, Lunar Module pilot. Apollo 8 splashed down at 10:51 hrs (EST) on 27 December 1968, in the central Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,600 km (1,000 mi) south-southwest of Hawaii (USA).
The recovery helicopter was the Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King helicopter no. "66" (BuNo 152711) of helicopter anti-submarine squadron HS-4 Black Knights. From late 1968 through the spring of 1970, the Black Knights of HS-4 participated in and pioneered techniques for the Apollo capsule recoveries. HS-4 was on scene for Apollo missions 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13. The helicopter's flight number was changed from "66" to "740", as after the Apollo 11 recovery the U.S. Navy had switched to a three number squadron designator - but the helicopter was repainted with the number "66" for each recovery thereafter for public relations reasons. The Sea King BuNo. 152711 could not be preserved, as it crashed on 4 June 1975 on a training flight out Imperial Beach (California, USA). Although the crew was rescued the pilot died later of his injuries. The wreck sank to a depth of ca. 700 m.

NASA

December 27, 1968

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