In March the team that restored
the Bell 47H won the
prestigious Desmond Penrose Vintage Aeroplane of the Year Trophy,
for the excellent level of restoration, from the
Vintage Aircraft Club.
In June His Royal
Highness, prince Andrew, the Duke of York, flew into The Helicopter
Museum for a
one-and-a half hour tour of the collection. The Duke also unveiled a plaque,
commemorating the official opening of the new Exhibition Hanger.
On the building front plans are in place to add
another bay on to the existing
exhibition building continuing the expansion of the museum.
July saw the 12th
Weston Super Helidays break new records
in attendance when more than 75 helicopters flew in for the three day show on the
Weston Beach lawns, and over
24,000 visitors are estimated to have entered the
arena area, with at least the same
number again watching the helicopters from
the adjacent promenade. Over 800 people
took helicopter pleasure flights from
the beach. In all 10 military air arms displayed
helicopters at the event alongside the
civil participation.
The year ended with the roll out of the
Russian
Kamov Ka-26, which uses a unique double rotor coaxial contra rotating system and
was designed during the early 1960s for
utility and agricultural missions in the
former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries. The example on display at
The Helicopter Museum was discovered at a former East
German airfield on the
outskirts of Berlin in 1995.
The aircraft under went a major
restoration
programme at the hands of a team of volunteers.
The work included remanufacturing some aircraft components and
repairing localised damage as well as
cleaning areas of corrosion
and then repainting the
aircraft in its original Interflug colour
scheme.
At the close of
the main 2002 season the museum had recorded a record year with
20,000 visitors
and the museum web site having received over 27,500 hits.
The collection had increased to 90 aircraft with the first acquisition of
2003 in April the
museum took delivery of a pioneering French
helicopter, donated by manufacturer Eurocopter the
first production Eurocopter SA365N Dauphin. The acquisition
of the Dauphin, the first example of this helicopter in an aviation museum, is
an example of the "fenestron" shrouded tail rotor system, which represented a
technological advance in helicopter development when it was introduced in the
1960s". This model was also modified by
Eurocopter to test a fly-by-wire flight control system, whereby the
conventional
mechanical control system is replaced by electrical signals transmitted
through
light-weight wiring from the cockpit to the rotor system and control surfaces.
This was closely followed
in
May with the collection by the museum of the only remaining full-scale mockup of the
Westland WG-25 Sharpeye VTUAV (Vertical Takeoff Unmanned Air Vehicle). The
original development project was cancelled before a Sharpeye prototype was flown and this wind-tunnel mockup is the only remaining
evidence of this final phase of the WG-25 programme. The Mote, Wisp and Wideye have
been on display at The Helicopter Museum for several years and the Sharpeye, which
had been gathering dust at the Westland factory now completed the set.
The Westland
Widgeon was also replaced in the restoration building in August by
the Whirlwind Mk.10. The Widgeon having reached the of the major rebuild was
moved in to
the exhibition hanger in August of this year.
2003 saw the 50th Anniversary
of Bristow Helicopters and a reunion reception was hosted by the museum in
September for current and ex employees of the company. The Museum has on display a number of Bristow-operated helicopters in its
collection and organised a "Bristow Weekend" with a Saturday evening informal reception.
In
November the museum acquired one if its more unusual exhibits a
1950s Gyro-Boat, this was across between a gyrocopter and a
small rowing boat. Developed in the United
States the
Gyro-Boat has no engine and was towed by a speedboat.
Development of the
site was also a major issue for 2003 with another Heritage Lottery
grant
application being submitted to develop the shop and cafeteria area by building a
completely new section to the museum incorporating a library, conference area as
well as anew shop and cafe.
In February
2004 Her Royal Highness Princess Anne
took time out from an official schedule at Weston-super-Mare today to renew her
acquaintance with the ex-Royal Flight aircraft at The Helicopter Museum and surprising
visitors and staff with a surprise visit.
The
first exhibit of 2004 arrived in April when a Royal Navy veteran of the
1982 Falklands conflict was delivered by road. The Wessex HAS Mk 3
anti-submarine warfare helicopter (XM328), originally built by Westland
Aircraft at Yeovil, Somerset in 1959 as an early pre-production HAS Mk 1
but converted to Mk 3 configuration in 1966-68.
During July
the museum succeeded in securing an important collection of early British
rotorcraft history, incorporating the log books, photographs, licence and other material
from the estate of F J “Jeep” Cable, one of the pioneer
rotary-wing pilots of the 1930-1940 period. The collection was put up for
auction by the Cable family last November and the museum was given six months to raise
the money to purchase the collection.
In
November 2004 the museum took delivery of a Husband Modac 500 Hornet Gyroplane.
This was a privately built aircraft and was designed and developed, as a private
venture, by civil engineer Richard Husband at Rivelin, Sheffield between 1997
and
2003. The Hornet was
never licensed but it undertook taxiing trials in July 2002.
The Gyroplane, with photographs and other documents, was donated to The
Helicopter Museum by the Husband family.
2005 saw no new acquisitions on the aircraft front but the museum concentrated
on developing and improving the overall site. During July and August the museum
took delivery and moved into a new office unit. The original offices were housed in one
room of the original WW2 Achilles building which was poorly insulated and very
cramped. The new offices
will make for a much more efficient and comfortable working environment.
Following on from the office move
a team of volunteers
from Lloyds TSB offices in Bristol, Birmingham and London have renovated
the original Second World War wooden building. Organised as a team-building exercise to coincide with
National Customer Service Week some 20 staff members replaced rotting
panels, repainted the exterior and tidied up the area around the hut in an
extreme makeover, before handing it back to the museum in “as-new”
condition. The building, preserved by the Museum mainly for storage
purposes, is one of the last remaining original buildings left from Weston
Airfield’s glory days.
2006 again saw no new acquisitions
for the museum with major efforts being put into the planning of a new bay to
the existing display building. Building work finally started in October 2006
on the new 670sq.m extension and it is planned to move the ongoing
conservation work, regular maintenance and inspection to the new hangar
extension when completed. By January 2007 the steel frame was constructed with
roof panels fitted by the end of February and completion of the basic
structure by March 2007.
Following a request by Italian
artist Paola Pivi the museum loaned one of the museums reserve collections
Wessex to the city of Salzburg. The aircraft formed the centre piece of a
public art exhibit commissioned to celebrate the birth of Mozart. The aircraft
was collected by the Austrian Army and placed upside down in the centre of the
city.
At the close of 2006 the museum
won an award in the Top Leisure Attraction category of the North Somerset
Tourism Ambassador Awards. This award recognised the continual hard work of
the staff and volunteers at the Helicopter Museum.
2007 was a
busy and rewarding year for the museum starting in March 2007
when the museum received
a Heritage Lottery Fund grant towards a new education, skills training and
conservation facility which will compliment the new
extension. The funding will provide a library, film theatre and help to
improve the environmental facilities for the exhibits.
May saw the delivery of
a Bo105M donated by Eurocopter of Germany. The example at the museum was
operated by the German Army as an observation and communications aircraft and
is complete with all its original equipment.
By start of the summer of 2007 the new building
was completed and the museum was honoured by a visit of
Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
on 20th July. His Royal
Highness renewed his acquaintance with a number of helicopter
types that he flew in the 1950-1960’s and spent
some time discussing some of the restoration projects
before chatting to volunteers and staff. Afterwards, joined
by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal couple inspected a Wessex
HCC.Mk.4 helicopter formerly of the Queen’s Flight. The Queen and Duke
later left the museum to return home in the Sikorsky S-76C of The Queen’s
Flight, making the visit the first time that three generations of Royal
helicopters have been together at the same place and same time.
The last few
months of 2007 saw a flurry of arrivals and departures with G-LYNX,
the World Speed record holder, transported back to the AgustaWestland
site in Yeovil where it will be returned to its original record
breaking colour scheme by the apprentice department.
Delivered
in October was
a Bristol Sycamore Mk14 helicopter,
previously displayed at the Bristol Industrial Museum and the
last to be retired from Royal Air Force service in December
1971. The aircraft was originally built at Weston-super-Mare and is
therefore returning home.
Last of the new arrivals was an Air and Space 18A autogyro
whcih was collected by two museum volunteers
from the
Museum of Flight, at East Fortune in Scotland. Manufactured in 1966 and imported
from Sweden to the UK by a Scottish autogyro enthusiast and stored near Forfar until
being transferred to East Fortune in 2004.
