The HH-2D Sea Sprite, originally designated the HU2K-1, derived from the 1956 Kaman Model K-20, which won a 1956 U.S. Navy competition for a fast-long-range utility helicopter. The Sea Sprite first had a single GE-T58 turbine engine, was redesignated UH-2A in 1962, and was modified in 1964 to a twin GE-T58 turbine engine configuration to improve the reliability of over-water operations. Some helicopters were modified in 1969 to the UH-2C armed rescue configuration. This aircraft was the only one to have been part of a Navy detachment once officered entirely by women Naval Aviators, and No. 149031 also served in Indonesian waters off Southeast Asia, providing logistical support for oceanographic surveys conducted at different times by the USNS Chauvenet and USNS Harkness.
