It never ceases to amaze me the things you can find parked in some people’s yards. This find, which comes to us courtesy of Jim S, is a very unusual find to see just sitting in someone’s yard. That might actually be the understatement of the year considering it is a Sikorsky Helicopter! The seller doesn’t know much about it, more on that later, but it looks to be an H-19 to me. I’m no helicopter expert though, so please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not sure what one would do with a helicopter shell, but if you have an idea for it, you can find it here on eBay in Tucker, Georgia with an opening bid of $4k.

This shell belonged to the late Jim West of the Georgia House of Representatives. His widow doesn’t know much about it, other than that he got it so he could maintain his license to store aircraft at his home. West was quite the aviation fan and went so far as having a landing pad installed on the Georgia Capitol building so he could fly his helicopter directly there. Obviously, it wasn’t this helicopter that he flew in, as this one hasn’t carried itself anywhere in a long while.

There doesn’t seem to be any documentation with it now, but I have a feeling that is the least of this helicopter’s concerns. It is in terrible condition inside and out, plus it is missing a considerable amount of parts. If this is an H-19, or S-55 for civilian use, it should have an engine sitting in the nose section. The massive whirling heart of this hulk has clearly gone missing and finding a replacement could be problematic. They only built about 1,700 of these and I doubt there are spare engines just sitting around at the local salvage yard.

While it might have an odd look to it, the design of the H-19 was quite brilliant. The nose section is made of two clam shell doors, that when opened gives you complete access to the engine while standing on the ground. Having the engine upfront made it easier to get heavy loads properly balanced. It’s no wonder they became workhorses for the Marines, the Coast Guard and they even came in handy during the construction of the Mid-Canadian Line.

I sadly don’t see this one ever transporting something ever again, at best it will be able to donate some parts to keeping another one up in the air. I’m not even sure there is enough left here to do that. Perhaps you could just use it as really cool yard art? Or you could turn it into the coolest playhouse ever! Imagine how excited the kids would be to have this to play in. Just make sure you’re allowed to store it in your yard before you buy it! So do any of you have experience flying helicopters like this one? I’d love to hear some stories about them!