confirming Sikorsky's performance claims and its suitability for the service. Accordingly, on 21 June 1962, Sikorsky was issued an initial production contract for the type. On 9 January 1963, the first of 99 production helicopters was delivered to the USCG. On 17 January 1969, the final example would be delivered by the company. Design Perhaps the most prominent feature of the S-62 is its boat hull fuselage, which was more compact but otherwise similar to the preceding Sikorsky S-61 (adopted by the US Navy as the SH-3 Sea King). This fuselage is watertight, facilitating landings on water or snow alike, and furnished with two outrigger floats that help the rotorcraft resist both pitching and rolling motions while on the water's surface. These outrigger floats also accomidated the landing gear, which was retractable. To maintain its position while on the water, it was able to deploy an anchor. Although the S-62 bore little visual resemblance to the Sikorsky S-55, it used many of the same components. It was powered by a single General Electric T58-GE-8B turboshaft engine, capable to generating up to ; it was a derated version of the T58-GE-10 powerplant used on the larger twin-engined SH-3. The S-62 had sufficient power to carry up to 12 passengers, or six litters, along with a crew of three. Operational History One prominent early use of the S-62 was with the operator San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines, one of the first helicopter airlines to operate without a federal subsidy, and the first to operate exclusively using turbine engine helicopters; the airline commenced passenger flights using a pair of two leased S-62s in June 1961, each of which being configured to carry up to ten passengers. On 21 December of that year, rival operator Los Angeles Airways performed the first scheduled service using an American turbine-powered helicopter via a leased S-62. By June 1962, three S-62s were reportedly in operation for specialised transportation purposes, such as servicing offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, with Petroleum Helicopters. Other early civil operators included Okanagan Helicopters, which used its S-62s to supply remote radar installations, and the Canadian Department of Transport, which had the type fly resupply missions to its lighthouses. A large fleet of 99 S-62s were purchased by the US Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics on behalf of the USCG, whom operated the type primarily for search and rescue missions. It was