In
1963 several types of helicopter were evaluated at Middle Wallop to find a
suitable
replacement for the Skeeter and in 1964 the decision that the Agusta-Bell
47G was the
winner was made public with an initial contract for 200 aircraft placed
shortly
afterwards. The first 50 Agusta-Bell 47G-3B1 aircraft were built by Agusta
as a 3 seat
army observation helicopter powered by one Lycoming TVO-435-B1A
6-cylinder turbo
supercharged piston engine. XT190 was built in 1965 at Yeovil,
Somerset, and
delivered to
the Army Air Corps in November 1965, serving in Cyprus with the United Nation Forces in
Cyprus (UNFICYP) Head Quarters Flight until being retired in March 1978 and placed in
storage. It was acquired by the museum in 1995.
Sud Ouest SO1221 Djinn, 1058/CDL, C/n.
FR108.
At the end of the second world war French
engineers visited Germany to compare their ideas on jet helicopters with work that had
been carried out by the Focke company between 1942 and 1945. This visit
was followed by
development work which progressed the concept of a rotor system driven by a turbine engine
feeding compressed air to the blade tips where fuel was injected and ignited to provide
tip jet drive. The Djinn in the collection was built in 1959 at Rochefort, France, and was
the 108th production example and first flew in
April 1959. A light 2 seat observation & casualty evacuation helicopter powered by a Turboméca Palouste
turbine engine, the Djinn has been the only tip jet helicopter
to go into large scale production. It was also the first French helicopter to
enter production,
and the worlds first mass produced jet engine powered helicopter. It was retired from
operational flying at the end of 1968. In 1990 it was
refurbished to static display condition and was
delivered on 22nd May 1991.
Eurocopter SA365N Dauphin, F-WQAP, C/n.6001.
Original development of the Dauphin begun in 1960
and develop included the addition of a
"fenestron" tail which offered power and safety
advantages over the traditional tail rotor. Composite materials were
used in the airframe to reduce
weight and production costs.
The aircraft in the museum was donated by the French
manufacturer Eurocopter in the south of France.
The helicopter, the first production SA365N,
was 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. The aircraft was retired from
flying in 2001 and delivered to the museum in April 2003, delivery sponsored by McAlpine
Helicopters, based at Oxford, and the publishers of HELICOPTER
International magazine, Avia Press Associates.
Sud Aviation SA321F Super Frelon,
F-BTRP, C/n. 116.
In the mid 1950s Sud Est began
designing a general purpose transport helicopter for the French military, designated the
SE3200 Frelon and which eventually became the SA321 Super Frelon. The SA321F variant
held
by the museum was designed in the mid sixties as a commercial
airliner version and was
built in 1967 as a 34-37 seat civil transport helicopter, powered by
three Turboméca Turmo IIIC6 turboshaft engines. The
aircraft went on a summer lease during 1968-1969 to Olympic Airways for operations
between
the Greek mainland and the various islands, but this did not result in any production orders
and it was eventually withdrawn from service.
In 1991 it was
partially restored by Aerospatiale apprentices
and donated to the museum.
Subsequently the airframe was moved by road under sponsorship from Bristow Helicopters,
with the journey from the South of France to the UK taking seven days. At the
time it was
the largest helicopter ever to be moved by road within Europe.
MBB Bö.105M,
81+00.
Designed and built by Messerchmitt-Bolköw-Blohm in 1984 more
than 1500 Bö.105s were built between 1970 and 1997. Originally
developed for civil use by police and air ambulance operators
the Bö.105 went on to capture much of the light attack
helicopter market in Western Europe. The Bö.105M is an liaison
and observation (VBH) helicopter and was operated by the
Heeresflieger (German Army Air Corps). One hundred VBH versions
were ordered with 81+00 the last to be delivered in 1984, later
withdrawn from service in 2002, after servicing with the 25th
Air Corps Regiment, based at Laupheim. Most of the
Heeresflieger's Bö.105Ms were retired between 2002 and 2005 with
Eurocopter donating MBB Bö.105M, 81+00 to the museum in 2007,
arriving by road from Donauworth, Germany on 4th May 2007.
EH Industries EH101
G-EHIL/ZH647, C/n. 50003.
This the 3rd prototype,
(PP3), was built in 1988 and used extensively for the civil certification flight
trial and general development of the EH101 36 seat multi-purpose helicopter. Built in the Westland
factory at Yeovil it first flew on 30th September 1988, and powered by three 1920 shp
General Electric CT97-6A
engines. On completion of it's test programme in February 1999 PP3 had completed
653 flying hours over 581 flights and had helped to develop the AFCS (Automatic
Flight Control System) and ACSR anti-vibration systems
for the EH101 programme
as well as undertaking icing trials in Denmark. Utilised for
spares the
helicopter was delivered to the museum at the end of 1999
and with
a fuselage length of 19.53 m (64 ft) the EH101 is the largest helicopter ever to
be moved by road in the UK.
Bolkow Bo.102 Helitrainer, D-HMQV,
C/n. 6216.
Built in 1960 at Munich, Germany, as a tethered single-seat
helicopter pilot trainer and powered by a single ILO L3 3-cylinder 2-stroke piston
engine.
The Bo.102 Helitrainer was the first helicopter built by the
revived West German industry
after the Second World War. The Bo.102 held by the museum is one of approximately 18 built
and was acquired from the Hubschrauber Museum in Bückeburg, Germany, in
1981. It was
later delivered to Weston-super-Mare in a CH-53G of the
West German Army.
