Veteran helicopter enjoys pride of place at Yeovilton

[FODPlod]

One for the Junglies from the Navy News website including some nice piccies:'Old girl' restored to glory as veteran helicopter enjoys pride of place at Yeovilton (http://www.navynews.co.uk/archive/news/item/5671)

[Pheasant]

Great sight and a good choice with the Army moving in to Yeovilton with Wildcat. I wonder what will happen to the other gate guardians....the Sea Harrier and grey Lynx situated a few yards away at the Pyle Lane entrance?

[Lynxman]

The last Wessexes flew with the Royal Navy in Fleet Air Arm

Actually the last Wessex were flown by the RAF until January 2003 with 84 Sqn. Also not too sure about the plural 'Wessexes' and the grammar of that sentence fragment.

[The Helpful Stacker]

Actually I believe the last RAF Wessex flight took place on 20th February 2003, Brize to Shawbury, so a little over 39 years after that particular type (HC.2) entered service.

[Milo Minderbinder]

I seem to remember that one of the Defence Reviews announced an RAF reservist-manned squadron based in the midlands somewhere, to be formed using ex-RN Wessex 5's. This was after the RN had retired them
Didi it ever happen?

[tucumseh]

The Wessex (of whatever colour) was a pleasure to work on. The retired FAA cabs were sent to Daedalus at one point and maintained by RN apprentices as part of their training.

[Bengo]

Dunno about the SHAR/LX but anyone who leaves a Wx5 out in the weather and expects it to remain structurally sound for very long is pushing their luck unless they put some serious husbandry efforts in. I know VL is not as bad as the oggin, but many RFA flight aircraft or those deployed with Fearless and Intrepid had to be withdrawn from service due to rampant corrosion on return from deployments and the Jungly fleet also suffered even from going to Norway. If my memory still serves cockpit wrapper panels and the tail cone were favourite problem areas.

N

[teeteringhead]

Indeed so Bengo. Whatever alloy it was the IIs and Vs were made of, it didn't like salt water.

One recalls when a certain 28 Sqn pilot (now I believe a guest of Her Majesty) dropped one (XR 500 IIRC) into the South China Sea. The aircraft was recovered, but you could hear it hissing as the salt water did its work .....

[Bengo]

And Phil D-D (I think) put one in the water off South Carolina or thereabouts in '81. (Tail rotor blade sleeve departed the spar, beating up the horizontal stabilser on the way). It sank in fairly shallow water. The USCG was on-scene very quickly and recovery efforts soon underway but all that came back were the big bits from the gearboxes, the head and tail rotor hubs ( fortunately the departed blade spar was still attached) and other odds and ends like the flot bags.

The imprest was also rumoured to have vanished!

N

[Lynxman]

He did indeed. It was during Westlant 81 off HMS Hermes. He was on 845 Sqn and I was on 846 Sqn as a young apprentice with our two Seaking HC4s. I remember some of the passengers who were 846 Sqn maintainers coming back onboard the Hermes in the clothes they were wearing at the time caked in dried salt. They looked like they were covered in frost!

[NutLoose]

Early on they contained a lot of Magnesium Alloy that when it met salt water went off like an Alka Seltzer..

Brilliant cabs..

Remember the 72 cab in the field they did a Main Rotor GBox change as an exercise, took off severe vibration, made a few fields, landed, they put the original box back in.... Not a 10 minute job..... Took off severe vibration, back into a field... Eventually they found a tail rotor blade had shed a leading edge strip lol, main boxes were nothing to do with the vibration.......still the OCU towed a Puma back from :O. Micheldever

[Herod]

Milo, There was indeed a plan. It was going to be the resurrected 609 (County of West Riding) Sqn based at Church Fenton. At the time I was flying F27s for AirUK out of Leeds Bradford and Chipmunks for 11 AEF from Leeming. Since I was local and had Wessex time I could see the dream scenario: Airline job, VR(T) commission on Chippies and VR commision on Wessex. Sadly, nothing came of it.

TTH, do tell more about XR 500. She was a 78 Sqn aircraft, and one of the last to leave Khormaksar. My logbook shows 29th Nov '67, USLs and Pax Khormaksar - "Intrepid". South Yemen became independent at midnight 30th Nov. The next entry is also XR 500. 4th Dec '67. Formation "Intrepid - Sharjah. She must have gone for deep maintenance thereafter, since I spent five more month at Sharjah and she doesn't appear again.

[tucumseh]

To my eternal shame, in the early 70s I was too quick off the mark during a BF after shouting "igniters". One of those strange people who worked on engines got a belt. He said naughty words to me. :uhoh:

[Milo Minderbinder]

Interesting comment made to me by one of the chaps from 845/846 after the Falklands war
"When the Wessex came back several of them were so badly corroded we just took the engines out and threw the airframes away"
No idea how many - he wouldn't tell me - but I got the impression it was into double figures

[The Helpful Stacker]

He said naughty words to me.

I hope he began with the words "with all due respect Sir".

[teeteringhead]

Herod I was on 78 in Sharjah from 70-71, and XR 500 was there then (at least for some of the time - will check logbook when I'm home).

When Sharjah finally folded, 500 must been one of the 'frames that went east when 28 converted to Wessi. Will try and find more details (and of the ditching!)

Edited to add:

1. Date of ditching was 19 Apr 79. Only on accident databases, so not many further details. No casualties, described on one database as: "Crashed in Hong Kong Harbour while carrying out winching practice in fog" (!!) Aircraft written off.

2. Further edit: Have checked logbook, 500 was a regular feature until Sep 70 - hadn't appeared again before I left in Mar '71 - maybe another deep servicing?

[Rocket2]

Tuc - not doubting what you say but fully charged (prior to the spark) IIRC a standard HEIU of that era developed 2000volts, 2000amps (2000Jules?) with one spark every 2 seconds (I used to set them up in the bay & they scarred me wittless if they didn't work as advertised!) - your man at the engine was darn lucky for sure & probably not touching the plug / electrode at the time.
That amount of energy is a whole lot more than the "charging 200!" shout they make on medical soaps when using defibrillators (& I gathered from my dearly departed Dad that their discharge "hurt like hell" even at that "low" power) or a taser (that I understand also hurts like hell).
Cheers
R2

[tucumseh]

Rocket

Thanks. Yes, you are correct - I used to repair the HEIUs as well. And yes, the Engine Fitter was lucky. I learned a lesson that day.

I always remember a friend being asked on an interview "Define Electricity". He wasn't an electrician. He replied "It's magic, and it hurts if you touch it". Interview panel not amused. Don't know why. He was right.

[bast0n]

Hey Bengo!!

At last someone who knows how to spell JUNGLY!!

These modern yoof seem to think it is Junglie................

Pah and huff and botheration - I was there and we was a Jungly in the singular - and some of my compatriots were very singular indeed.

Going to my bath now to play at being a pinger.............up periscope and all that malarky.:ooh:

D

[NutLoose]

Define Electricity

Wiggly Hydraulics.

[Bengo]

BastOn,

Keep an eye out for the Sea Harriers that WEBF will be launching from his bath.

N

[bast0n]

Bengo

Now that is another story!!

CATO hopefully is not watching this thread.....................:eek:

D

[Rosevidney1]

Has anyone else experienced ground resonance on the Wessex? Bloody terrifying!

[Walrus75]

Has anyone else experienced ground resonance on the Wessex? Bloody terrifying!
Over the 6 years of working on them, as groundcrew, whenever I was doing a see-off I always, always, always picked out a run-to-safe-place in case one went bad... my favourite hiding place of choice was off to the side of the dispersal behind the big heavy 25KVA DC power sets. I only ever ran once and fortunately the jockey managed to catch it before she leapt onto her side :)