Whirlwind Conducting a Trial?
What's interesting about this image, taken on what appears to be a rather wet day, is the temporary pole and drum slung under the forward end of the boom of the helicopter. To my non-aviator's eye (and perhaps fanciful imagination?), it looks like it might be the arm of a fixed-wing aircraft's arresting gear with a weight (drum) to help it swing down. Is this an attempt to trial a hold-down system for a helicopter - and are the two chocks on the flight-deck something to do with this? Your comments would be most welcome... This particular airframe, XJ 402, first flew in September 1955. It was delivered to the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon in Plymouth for use in ground instruction in 1967 before being passed to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton in 1976. It was finally scrapped in 1988.
In 1950, Westland Aircraft, already building the American Sikorsky S-51 under license as the Westland Dragonfly, purchased the rights to manufacture and sell Sikorsky's larger Sikorsky 3.5-tonne S-55 helicopter (H-19 Chickasaw). While a Sikorsky-built pattern aircraft was flown by Westland in June 1951, converting the design to meet British standards (including the provision of a revised main-rotor gearbox), was time consuming, and the first prototype British aircraft, powered by the 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-40 Wasp did not fly until August 1953. This was followed by 10 Whirlwind HAR.Mk 1s, which entered service shortly afterwards. They served in non-combat roles, including search and rescue and communications functions.
The HAR.Mk 3, seen above aboard HMS Victorious, had a larger 700 hp Wright R-1300-3 Cyclone 7 air-cooled radial piston engine and a total of 25 were built. The performance of these early versions was limited by the American engines' low power and in 1955, the HAR.Mk 5, powered by the more powerful British Alvis Leonides Major, flew for the first time. This was followed by the similarly-powered HAS.Mk 7, which became the first British helicopter designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) work in the front-line when it entered service in 1957. From its start with the Navy, the Whirlwind came to be used by the British Army and RAF. More than 400 Whirlwinds were built, of which nearly 100 were exported to 17 foreign customers, including, rather surprisingly, considering political issues during the aircraft's lifetime, Cuba and Yugoslavia! Two Whirlwinds became part of the Queen's Flight, although one crashed in 1967.
This is another Royal Navy copyright photo that I received as a small boy in the early-/mid-1960s from a crewmember of HMS Victorious. There's no indication of when the photo was taken but I assume it was not long beforehand.
A larger, improved version of a much-earlier post.
Whirlwind Conducting a Trial?
What's interesting about this image, taken on what appears to be a rather wet day, is the temporary pole and drum slung under the forward end of the boom of the helicopter. To my non-aviator's eye (and perhaps fanciful imagination?), it looks like it might be the arm of a fixed-wing aircraft's arresting gear with a weight (drum) to help it swing down. Is this an attempt to trial a hold-down system for a helicopter - and are the two chocks on the flight-deck something to do with this? Your comments would be most welcome... This particular airframe, XJ 402, first flew in September 1955. It was delivered to the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon in Plymouth for use in ground instruction in 1967 before being passed to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton in 1976. It was finally scrapped in 1988.
In 1950, Westland Aircraft, already building the American Sikorsky S-51 under license as the Westland Dragonfly, purchased the rights to manufacture and sell Sikorsky's larger Sikorsky 3.5-tonne S-55 helicopter (H-19 Chickasaw). While a Sikorsky-built pattern aircraft was flown by Westland in June 1951, converting the design to meet British standards (including the provision of a revised main-rotor gearbox), was time consuming, and the first prototype British aircraft, powered by the 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-40 Wasp did not fly until August 1953. This was followed by 10 Whirlwind HAR.Mk 1s, which entered service shortly afterwards. They served in non-combat roles, including search and rescue and communications functions.
The HAR.Mk 3, seen above aboard HMS Victorious, had a larger 700 hp Wright R-1300-3 Cyclone 7 air-cooled radial piston engine and a total of 25 were built. The performance of these early versions was limited by the American engines' low power and in 1955, the HAR.Mk 5, powered by the more powerful British Alvis Leonides Major, flew for the first time. This was followed by the similarly-powered HAS.Mk 7, which became the first British helicopter designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) work in the front-line when it entered service in 1957. From its start with the Navy, the Whirlwind came to be used by the British Army and RAF. More than 400 Whirlwinds were built, of which nearly 100 were exported to 17 foreign customers, including, rather surprisingly, considering political issues during the aircraft's lifetime, Cuba and Yugoslavia! Two Whirlwinds became part of the Queen's Flight, although one crashed in 1967.
This is another Royal Navy copyright photo that I received as a small boy in the early-/mid-1960s from a crewmember of HMS Victorious. There's no indication of when the photo was taken but I assume it was not long beforehand.
A larger, improved version of a much-earlier post.