Rare Helicopter and Aircraft
Demonstration at Weston Helidays
Following discussions with the United States Air Force based at RAF
Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, and a successful request to the US
Embassy the United States Air Force will conduct an Aerial
Re-fuelling Demonstration at the 20th Anniversary
“Helidays” event.
The
demonstration will take place on Friday 23 July 2010 at 1200 midday
local time when a Lockheed MC-130P “Combat Shadow” tanker aircraft
and a Sikorsky HH-60G “Pavehawk” rescue helicopter will demonstrate
the in flight re-fuelling capability of both aircraft.
The
MC-130 will be provided by the 67th Special Operations
Squadron, 352nd Special Operations Group, RAF Mildenhall
and the HH-60 will be provided by the 56th Rescue
Squadron, 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath.
Following the demonstration, the HH-60 will break off from the
tanker and land on the beach lawns for the duration of the
“Helidays” weekend.
Rare Russian Helicopter for The
Helicopter Museum
The Helicopter
Museum (THM) at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset has secured another
rotary-wing coup with the acquisition of the first Russian Mil Mi-8
transport helicopter to go on display in the UK.
The 18m (60ft) long
aircraft, previously in service with the Polish Air Force, arrived
at the museum by road on 5th February.
The THM example is
a rare Mi-8PS VIP variant, initially delivered to the Polish Air
Force in the 1970s for government use and eventually retired by
2005.
Transporting the
Mi-8 to the UK however has seen the Museum invest almost £10,000, a
cost that it now needs to recover. Sponsors or donations will be
gratefully recorded and can be sent to the Treasurer, British
Rotorcraft Museum, Locking Moor Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset,
UK, BS24 8PP.
The Mi-8PS acquired
by THM is serial 10618, delivered to the Polish Air Force in the
1970s for service in a VIP configuration with 36 Special Air
Transport Regiment, based at Warsaw – Okecie.
‘618 was one of 11
painted in a smart red/white national colour scheme for service with
36 SPLT, subsequently ‘618 was modified for a military Command and
Control role and reallocated to 37PST assault regiment at Leznica
Wielka near Lodz. Here it was repainted into a camouflage colour
scheme and later reverted to a military transport role before being
finally retired by 2005.
West’s Largest Helicopter represented in
World’s Biggest Helicopter Museum
The
Helicopter Museum has
taken delivery of parts recovered from the Boeing XCH-62 Heavy Lift
Helicopter (HLH), cancelled as a project in 1975. Designed to carry external loads of up to 20,000 kg (20 tons) around
the battlefield, the HLH featured a 27 m (89 ft) long fuselage with
tandem rotors each spanning some 28 m (92 ft), and stood around 12 m (38 ft)
high.
Helicopter Museum Chairman
Elfan ap Rees managed to salvage some key components including the 5.5 m
(18 ft) long main landing gear and nose wheels for display in the museum,
all of which is now on display
.
Shipment of the parts was organised and sponsored jointly by
manufacturer Boeing and Columbia Helicopters, with support from the UK Museum, Libraries & Archive
Council PRISM fund and Helicopter INTERNATIONAL and HeliData News
publisher Avia Press Associates.
In November 2009 Mike Kurth, MD of Boeing Defence
UK, visited The Museum to unveil the new exhibit which exhibit
includes the landing gear components.
