Calling all ex-Wessex personnel

[Lee Howard]

Calling all ex-Wessex personnel (inter alia, 18, 22, 28, 60, 72, 78, 84, 103 Sqns, SARTU, SAREW, WSF, Muharraq SAR & The Queen's Flight; 700, 706, 707, 737, 771, 772, 781, 814, 815, 819, 820, 826, 829, 845, 846, 847, 848 NAS; ETPS & A&AEE; and any ex-Bristow people for Mk.60s etc etc).

I am currently writing the follow-up to my previous Sea King HU Mk.5 (2014) and Lynx HAS Mk.3 & HMA Mk.8 (2016) Haynes Owners Workshop Manuals, this time on the venerable Wessex.

Unlike the other two, however, this book will cover all British marks - RAF and RN.

To that end I would be pleased to hear from any ex air or ground crew from their days operating the aircraft who might have some hitherto unseen photographs of interest and/or feel they might like to contribute some of their tales of what it was like to fly and maintain (my own Wessex maintenance experience being limited to training airframes during my apprenticeship!).

If anyone thinks they might like to help, please send me a PM for more details.

Many thanks in advance.

Lee

[John Eacott]

Lee,

I have a couple of Bristow training manuals for the Wx60; plus a myriad of stories!

Many photos were put into the Wessex thread here on Rotorheads should you find them of interest, too.

[inputshaft]

Did PhamousPhotographer's outstanding collection of Op Banner photographs end up in some public place (Ulster Aviation Museum perhaps) after his unfortunate passing a few years ago?

I guess Tom Docherty would know, if anyone would. Tom?

Possibly the photos might not be particularly relevant to the more maintenance and basic flying characteristics quest of the OP, but I would love to know.

[[email protected]]

Converted to the HC2 during advanced flying training, flew it on 72 as a first tour, 84 as a second tour, instructed on it at SARTU (with a visit to fly it on 28 Sqn) and at Shawbury. Competed in the French National Helicopter Champs at Le Mans in 1990 in a bright yellow one:)

I was going to point you at the Mil Forum but I see you have had more responses there - look forward to the book about the 'Queen of the Skies':ok:

[TipCap]

Flew the RN Wessex Mk 5 and also the Bristow Wessex 60. Took my IR on the Wessex 60. Built the Skerryvore Lighthouse pad underslinging.

TC

[Fareastdriver]

I flew the Wessex on a Madge trial at Wyton in 1971. It flew all right and we got the information required. Everybody thought I was qualified on the Wessex including the Navigator in the LHS whom I thought was the pilot.

[Mel Effluent]

I still have a copy of the FRCs for the Wessex 3 if that's any help.

[Lee Howard]

Chaps, apologies, I hadn't seen these responses (I didn't post the request in this thread anyway, so can only assume some kind moderator copied it across - thank you, whoever that was!).

Wessex 60 is one of the variants that has had little coverage over the years, so I'd be interested to hear from those who flew it (please PM me rather than on the forum). But equally, I'd be very grateful to hear from anyone in any capacity - air or ground crew alike.

Lee

[Lee Howard]

I corresponded briefly with PhamousPhotographer when I was finishing off the FAA Helicopters book in 2011 and he kindly sent me a photo of a SK4 in NI. I, too, wonder what happened to his magnificent collection of rare images!

[inputshaft]

Lee, see your PMs

[Lee Howard]

Seen....responded! :ok:

[ken knight]

Back in 1970 Garth Parfitt (Horse) appeared in the hanger at Bristow Redhill. I knew him on 78 squadron in Sharjah. He told me he was there to do a WX 60 Conversion and was being seconded to the Sultan on Brunei Airforce. Correct me if I am wrong but I think they operated at least a couple at that time.
Ken

[212man]

Interesting to note that the Brunei version (of which two were built) was the Wessex 54, and one ended up with Bristow! 5N-AJK AMDB-101 G-BBCE PK-HBW VR-BEB westland Wessex Mk.54 C/N wa695 - Helicopter Database (http://www.helis.com/database/cn/282/)

PS. googled, not general knowledge! I knew Garth and also worked in Brunei, so was intrigued to know more......

[Dave B]

The Sultan of Brunei did indeed operate Wessex, one of which was bought by Bristow, and turned out to be the biggest jinx ever. It had Three accidents in its life, luckily with no major injuries.
The first was when being operated by Bristow in the far east, it had a tail rotor drive shaft failure, which resulted in a heavy landing and much damage.
It was shipped to Redhill where I was given the task of rebuilding it. It was then flown to Port Harcourt in Nigeria and registered as 5N-AJK. It operated there for a couple of years until it was turned over on take off as a result of ground resonance. ( one engineer standing on a pair of steps servicing another a/c had a rotor blade whistle past his head). It was rebuilt again, and operated for another year or so until its final demise in the Nigerian swamp due to a tail rotor servo sas motor failure.

[lsd]

Ref. the 2 RBMR (Royal Brunei Malay Regiment) Wessex they were uplifted onto HMS Albion late in 1971 and shipped to Singapore. Memory hazy, but I recall a few beers with Garth at the time , and a late night sortie to unscrew the fuselage insignia - it's not on my wall now , whether a success or not.... as stated, memory hazy.
Bless him, Garth was an entirely innocent party that time...wardroom hospitality to blame.

[Wessex Boy]

You will need to include the fixes that didn't appear in SOPS, such as freeing off the starter solenoid by whacking the nose 4" down from the captain's windscreen with the side of the fire axe and cleaning the crackers by firing a water fire extinguisher down the intake whilst spinning the starter with the LP & HP cocks off.
also the only way to put the tip covers on when you didn't have a landrover to stand on was to sit astride the tail facing backwards and turn the tailrotor blade by blade...

We also were in the habit of landing in a suitable field and switching the fuel computers off and back on again long before Microsoft was even formed!

[[email protected]]

Trouble was, ofetn the crewman used to smash the crap out of what he thought was the starter relay solenoid when he was in fact beating the Acc drive/Main drive selector relay!

The one that always amused the pongos was throwing a bucket of water down the exhaust to help it start - seem to remember it helped the ignitor plugs.

[jimf671]

Glad I am only hearing this stuff long after my last flight in one!

[Cabe LeCutter]

Hi Crab,
Funny how the cure seems to be for different reasons, I was told that the water cooled the thermocouples which seemed to lead to a change in fuel flow.

It is academic as the Fire Crew at Shoreham Airport who gave me a bucket of water to throw down the exhaust pipe thought that the Wessex was steam driven, not far wrong I guess.

Heads down, look out for the flak.

[[email protected]]

Hi Cab - Happy New Year mate:ok: Hope all is well with you and Mrs Cab.

The Wessex was also the best machine in the world for wingovers - especially at the Southern Cliffs:)

[Lee Howard]

All,

Some great contacts being made and some useful gen/tales being forwarded to me via PM and e-mail. Please do keep them coming. Any ex-28 Sqn guys out there with details of policing Hong Kong?

Lee

[Geoffersincornwall]

So much for pussycat 'twin-engine' Wessex drivers. REAL Wessex pilots cut their teeth IMC at 150 feet terrifying the life out of Russian submarines in the amazing Wessex Mk3. No electronic engine computers and only one donkey but our analogue AFCS was state of the art. Junglies.... Crabs ..... get a life. :-)

G

[John Eacott]

Like Geoff, my introto the Wessex was the HAS1 for initial AFT and then the HAS3 for the rest of AFT & OFT, at Culdrose and then Portland. The stream driven AFCS was 'controlled' by a wiper arm being driven down or up a rheostat (spiral binding of wiring) that would then vary the inputs to the AFCS. Sitting around in a salt laden atmosphere for a few weeks would sometimes allow a tad of corrosion to build up with often spectacular results as the resistance spiked and demanded massive control responses.

The AFT from Portland included DLP training from RFA Engadine, with the delights of an RFA wardroom and accommodation. One quirk was a miniature globe in the wardroom with a pronounced zig zag on the latitude line that allows the bar to become duty free! DLPs were quite challenging with minimal spacing between the two landing spots, especially at night landing on the fwd spot with another HAS3 on the aft spot, turning and burning. Probably 12ft of clearance fore and aft, but as steely eyed pingers we knew no better.

Later I had a (sort of) fun time with the Wessex 60, initially an abbreviated endorsement in Norfolk which was cut short by a blizzard, then operating from Derby and Broome in the far north west of Western Australia. I was at the airport hotel the night before flying out of Heathrow and received a call from a Bristow training captain berating me for not signing a return of service agreement, who was insistent that I had received an (incomplete) endorsement on a 'modern, sophisticated twin turbine' and wasn't happy with my rejoinder after 2,000 on Sea Kings and 1,000 hours on 212s telling him what I thought of his idea!

Out of Derby we operated single pilot to crew change a rig off Timorest, requiring two refuels outbound, one on the rig and one refuel on the way back. Flying northbound with the sun rising from the east and home the other way, sliding window open all the time, the drivers all had right arms a few shades darker than the left. The stock question from strangers in the Potshot bar was 'are you a truckie', with a different type of truck in mind!

Navigation was very sophisticated with a Litton VLF Omega unit good for two miles accuracy, but the volatile memory would wipe with every start so it had to be reprogrammed after the second start which was usually in temps well into the mid 30s centigrade. For refuelling from drums on a coral atoll (Browse Island) we would never shut down No 1, preferring to tolerate the noise and imbuggerance whilst pumping to the option getting stuck 200 miles offshore. The pax were inclined to go wandering so the best way to hold them in check was to brief on the poisonous items to be found, most of which were total figments designed to control them!

More anon.

[Fareastdriver]

I remember a RBAF Wessex passing through Changi in the late sixties with a Westland crew. At that time it was one of the longest flights ever attempted in a helicopter. I believe Bristows beat that when they flew a Wessex out to Oz.

[ShyTorque]

I flew the Wessex on a Madge trial at Wyton in 1978. It flew all right and we got the information required. Everybody thought I was qualified on the Wessex including the Navigator in the LHS whom I thought was the pilot.
Nice one! Who signed the F700?

[peterperfect]

Well said Geoffers. Great AFCS and auto transition programme, I flew WxIIIs at PO until we decommissioned them up to Wroughton. well, those that didn't spit fire after their fir tree roots let rip...
However whether favouring the single or twin engined variety; what a fantastic airframe and a joy to fly an aircraft you 'mount', rather than 'board' ?

Dit On: I was stand-in sea-daddy to the last USN exchange pilot to convert to the Wessy 3. He was a well-experienced SH-2 Seasprite guy, from Norfolk VA or Mayport FL I and highly 'small ship' suited but not a natural fan of low level ASW IFR hovering (35 ft?). On his joining day he did a tour of the squadron and hangar (before his intro appointment with Wings before the 1700Z O Club acquaint across the runway) we took him up to a cockpit for a shuftie and after a while saw him 'double take' the cockpit gauges and a metaphoric thinks bubble appear..... On asking if he had any questions he said he was looking for the second needle on all the double tachos showing each engine's Ng, T4/PTIT, oil prx etc.
I informed him there was only one donk....

Turns out that when offered the exchange he had first looked in Janes before accepting and saw a total of 4 exhausts, and naturally assumed (being an active ASW machine) there must be at least two engines under the bonnet. "You damn crazy Brits (and I know Aussies) was the retort" ! Now he knew why we didn't have dry ships, especially DLGs.

Happy Happy Days !!!!

[Xmit]

So much for pussycat 'twin-engine' Wessex drivers. REAL Wessex pilots cut their teeth IMC at 150 feet terrifying the life out of Russian submarines in the amazing Wessex Mk3. No electronic engine computers and only one donkey but our analogue AFCS was state of the art. Junglies.... Crabs ..... get a life. :-)

G

Agreed - but I think your analogue AFCS was a duplex system, unlike the supposedly more advanced Sea King!

[Xtiff]

Wessex HAS1 AFCS comprised MK19 Autopilot and Hover Coupler. (built by Louis Newmark of Watch fame)

Autopilot autostab Gyros in Pitch/Roll with Heading and Bar Alt locks, Bar Alt was set at safe height before transition.

Transition controlled by Hover Coupler with Rad Alt and Doppler inputs until Hover point, when ball lowered, and control switched to cable sensors

No duplex channels.

737 Squadron FCS specialist 62/63 and occasional LH set occupant

[76fan]

Xtiff....Wessex HAS1 ...."Transition controlled by Hover Coupler with Rad Alt and Doppler inputs until Hover point" .... unless one was in the Far East at night (often hot, humid, no wind, flat calm sea, no horizon and pitch black) in which case the automatic transitions were useless and the aircraft had to be hand flown. The bar alt was used in transit but the dipping procedure was to wind down the rad alt height from 125' initially to 70' and then 35' whilst decelerating on instruments to achieve what one hoped was the hover attitude (a couple of degrees nose up and two to three degrees left wing down) meanwhile the co-pilot looked back in the hope of seeing the downwash in the light from the nav lights, once it had caught up the downwash could provide some Doppler return. It was not unusual to discover that at least on the first transition the hover had not been achieved and now just which way was the aircraft moving (left, right, backwards?) and often whist pulling max continuous engine power! On a hot black calm night it was quite a relief to get into the 30' Doppler hover and then get the ball out to establish the cable hover before another manual transition up to another jump at 90kts and 125' and then going through the whole procedure again.
By comparison the Wessex 3 was a dream with its reliable transition modes and superior rad alt and Doppler. The Seaking system was not anything like as good but the aircraft had two engines .... and therefore twice the chance of an engine failure? That happened to me, survived the single engine Wessex only to ditch in a SeaKing. I thought the Wessex 3 was just great!
(Ex 814 Wessex 1 & 3, County class DLG Mk3, and 824 Seaking HAS1)

[Democritus]

76fan - what memories of the mid 1960's and the Wessex HAS Mk1 you bring back to life - especially those of pitch black Far East nights with glassy seas and nil wind, hoping the downwash would catch up so you could establish a doppler hover. Remember 19,400....19,500....19,600 crpm?...Still not in the hover so go around, using all the 19,900 as she topped out, 50 ft/min rate of climb if I recall correctly, stick stirrers need not apply.

The Mk 3 was a dream compared to that. Must look in the loft -somewhere I have my 700(H) IFTU Mk3 systems book which we got at Westlands - it might be of use to Lee.

Here are the pre-dip checks from the Mk1 FRCs':

[Lee Howard]

Demo

Yes please!

Lee

[Old Farang]

The pax were inclined to go wandering so the best way to hold them in check was to brief on the poisonous items to be found, most of which were total figments designed to control them!

Hello John Eacott. For sure I was one of those passengers at one time and another! At the time I worked for the supply boat company, and may have been involved in delivering fuel to Browse Island. I also recall an Anglo Indian pilot flying a Wessex. Is that correct, do you know him?

I went on to both fly and own my own helicopter much later. Grounded and well and truly retired now! I enjoy your posts. Cheers.

[John Eacott]

Old Farang,

Well, if you were on the fuel supply to Browse then maybe you were there when we tried for the world Wessex record of empty drums into a net?! ISTR we squeezed 30 or so into the net but couldn't manage any more due to the net size, if only we'd had digital cameras in those days!

I was with another driver and we spelled each other driving/crewing, I was in the cabin when he dropped the only long strop that we had into the oggin alongside the supply boat. End of exercise, home early to Broome!

I can't recall the Anglo Indian drivers name, it may be in my logbook back in Melbourne so I'll check when I'm home.

Were you there when I refused a drunken pax off the Perth red-eye, he couldn't even walk to the Wessex across the tarmac? I was severely castigated at the end of the day by Mayne-Bristow manager back in Perth for daring to do such a thing, no doubt I'd have been severely castigated if the drunk had decided to open the door and fall out somewhere across the Arethusa Sea!

[Old Farang]

Were you there when I refused a drunken pax off the Perth red-eye, he couldn't even walk to the Wessex across the tarmac?
Wasn't me! Drunken passengers were a major problem in those days. The hosties on MMA used to keep a close watch on which rig had a crew change day, and suddenly call in sick if it happened to coincide with their roster. The supply boat crews were a little better as they had more frequent access to booze, so tended to behave better.
I was general dogsbody and engineer for the supply boat company, so I never had a regular schedule unless they were short of an engineer. Sometimes fly to a rig to get to the boat, and sometimes meet up in Broome.

[heli1]

Wessex 3 XM328 and Series 3 G-AVNE/PK-HBQ/VH-BHC/9M-ASS/5N-AJL just finishing restoration at The Helicopter Museum. As can be seen from the regs,the latter went everywhere and was the first long range Wessex I believe( the museum also has G-ATBZ). Would be great to collect some sample Log book pages from pilots who flew either of these aircraft in service to display with them.
The museum also holds the aircraft logs for the ex Bristow aircraft and probably other material too...Lee, suggest you contact Mark Service,their Collections Manager to see what's in their archive? I also have a Wessex 60 historical file waiting to be passed over.

[Lee Howard]

heli1 - on my list of things to do, thanks.

[John Eacott]

VH-BHC

Ignoring the ginger beers: I'm fairly sure this is BHC :ok:

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8076-1/Bristow+Wessex+01.jpg

[Alan Biles]

That's no ginger beer; that's a bearded Billy Denman!!

[peterperfect]

Found my Wx III ground school notes if it helps your manual Lee. One shows the duplex nature of the fantastic Louis Newmark Mk 30 FCS. Null indicators were used as part of the process to identify which channel of which half was suffering a problem during airborne fault diagnosis.
See attached samplers, please excuse the sketchiness, I was a different type of artist in my 20s !!!
I can photocopy and post you the whole book if required, theres about 35 pages of A4 and a selection of pilot's notes quizzes. pp

[Lee Howard]

Peter, many thanks. Probably not going to bamboozle the average ready with that level of detail (:confused:) but will come back to you on the rest of it in due course. As ever, though, much appreciated!

Keep the PMs coming please; some good stuff being sent through so far, all of which I'm taking note of.

Lee

[PH Pommy 1964]

Can anyone put me in touch with Wayne Sibley ex Bristows WA. We did our helicopter conversion course together at Jayrow Helicopters at Moorabbin in 1969. After the course Wayne joined SA Helicopters and I went to Woomera Range for 6 years. When I got back to UK to resume my airline career, I heard that he was with Bristows at Blackpool on the Wessex. Before I could visit he had gone back to WA with Bristow in the NW. Would be great to make contact now in our eighties!!

[Nigel Osborn]

I've lost track of Wayne but did you know Chief Pilot Richardson at Woomera? When that closed down, he went to Gulf Helicopters about 1974.

[Fareastdriver]

Wayne's last flight was in VHBZU on the 9th Feb 2007, with me, at Karratha. He fell out of the cockpit whilst dismounting a 332 and though he wasn't injured in any way he decided that the time had come to pack it in.

As far as I know he stayed retired but I don't know where he is now. He's not in his eighties, he's younger than I am.

[PH Pommy 1964]

Hi Nick, Ritchie was my flight manager in Range ferry and recovery flight at Woomera from my joining until he went to Gulf Helicopters in 1974. I did the helicopter conversion in order to get the job. With three pilots we flew Alouette 3, Single DHC Otter and a DC3. Sometimes switching to all three types in one day. It was a peach of a job and we were all unhappy that it was closed down. Within a year of Ritchie leaving,I was offered a job back in the UK with the airlines. I wanted to stay in Aussie but the airlines all told me I was too old at 38! Ritchie visited me in the UK about 1979 on leave from GH. That was the last time I saw him as he died of cancer soon after retiring back to the UK. At Woomera,when not flying, we would sit in the crew room and he would keep us enthralled with stories of flying over Berlin in a Pathfinder Mossie. A great guy. Did you fly with GH when he was there? He started on the S62and later was on the Bell212. Regards Bob.

[PH Pommy 1964]

Hi, Fareastdriver, Thanks very much for the info on Wayne. Your right about the ages. My memory went to pot years ago. I was 32 and now I think about it he was about 20 give or take. I can however remember back in 1964 flying the Governor of WA in a Cessna205 from the Karratha homestead strip to Rosemary Island Game fishing club. When I got back to my base at Port Hedland [I was the only aircraft there apart from Jim Smith with the RFDS aircraft] I found a bag of fillet steak which had been put onboard by the manager at Karratha for the Gov to have during his time on the island. When contacted by HF he told the guy to give to me and my wife. When I went back a week later to pick him up he said" I hope you enjoyed the steak Bob, I have had to eat bloody fish all week, and I don`t really like the stuff!" He was a really nice bloke. This all took place before rail lines were laid ..or any iron ore was taken out of the virgin bush. Sorry, I!m rambling on a bit. Would love to hear from you if you do get any info on Wayne. Regards, Bob.

[Idle Cut Off]

I flew the Wesseex 5 in the RN but flying the Wessex 60 with Bristow in the early 1970s was something of a revelation.

Southern North Sea during the Winter of discontent, 1971-72 and a very cold one too. 17 passengers over short sectors, 16 in the back, one up front, single pilot and PNR flights from Esbjerg and very occasionally up to the Ecofisk. The nav fit was pure luxury to an ex-naval pilot. We had a Mk8 Decca with rolling map display, a coffee grinder ADF, a stick on VOR/ILS, 2 VHFs and an HF radio with a trailing aerial. The Ferranti SAS was temporarily unavailable after an accident at Swansea. All this was great when the weather was good and the HF was quite good over the ranges involved, compared to the vastly more sophisticated unit in the Mk5 where it was quite possible to speak to Singapore or Aden from Culdrose whereas Exeter was incommunicado.

Unfortunately Westland seemed unable to make a nose door that didn't get clogged with snow or ice and the BS Gnomes hated ice. We experienced several incidents where one, or on one occasion both engines flamed out whilst flying in snow. Stan S and Ben B had to deal with serious situations trying to get into Bacton and on joining Esbjerg I was given a report to read prior to my first flight:

G-AZBY was outbound to the Britannia from Esbjerg. Cloudbase and vis were on the limits for a PNR flight. At PNR the pilot checked with the radio operator that the weather was still OK and once confirmed, he carried on. After a short while the aircraft ran into a continuous line of heavy snow. The HF radio was immediately swamped by static, the Decometers spun uncontrollably the moving map unrolled and the ADF needle pointed to the nearest Cb. He had no option but to carry on, using DR, in minimum visibility. Shortly after this one of the engines stalled and shutdown. On reaching his calculated ETA the pilot started a square search pattern and came upon the Britannia after about ten minutes. He landed on one engine.

Fortunately I never experienced these extremes whilst I was there but the flying was challenging, to say the least. As a result of the incident Bristow opened up or removed the valves restricting the airbleed to the nose door and cabin heater. This certainly did the trick although the additional heat in the cockpit was wont to cause the sticky tape joining the maps of the Decca to come unglued, causing the map to unroll into the cockpit.

I hasten to add that I do not harken back to these as the good times and am extremely glad that things have improved for the better. It was just that we were operating to the extremes of the technology and knowledge we had.

[Lee Howard]

Idle - many thanks for that!

[JerryG]

I took a couple of weeks out last year, at the time that my book "Rescue Pilot" was published, to visit all the surviving Wessex in my logbook.

Most fun was the "glamping" (hardly!) Wx 1 - XS886 - at Blackberry Wood campsite in Sussex.

Best preserved was Wx 5 - XS481 - at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum near Doncaster. Those guys really go the extra mile in restoration.

Most confusing was the entrance to the flight deck display at Yeovilton FAA Museum. It isn't one, it's two x Wx 5, each cut in half longitudinally - XT482 and XT769.

Most exciting prospect was XT761 which has been handed over to the Fly Navy Trust (if that's the right expression) and transported to a hangar at Culdrose. Rumours abound that it may be returned to flight one day. Form an orderly queue boys!

[Thridle Op Des]

As a snot nosed recently ex-cadet I was in ND January 1981 doing an IR course, I recollect the engineers trooping into the portakabins smothered in a mixture of dark mud and ice having recovered a W60 that had the same snow induced dual engine flame out somewhere between Bacton and ND. I think Tony English was the unlucky star of the day, but stand to be corrected.

[Shackman]

It wasn't just the '60s that suffered from snow induced flameouts. I lost both engines in snow in NI (with a fully modded Mk2 - mod 1051 nose door with air heating of the nose door intake panels*) even though above the limits for flight in snow, and I understand that other crews on task also checked their ac on hearing of my predicament and found a number of them nearly blocked! It seemed it was 'the wrong kind of snow'.

* - not an anorak - I have the Mk2 FRCs in front of me!

[Nigel Osborn]

I knew Ritchie & his wife Vi very well.In Sydney I had applied to Ritchie's advert for a pilot for Woomera. Due to security I wasn't able to go to Woomera to check the place out & that same week Gulf Helicopters offered me a job which sounded more secure. I went in Aug 1974 & was amazed when Ritchie turned up a few months later. He said he was going to offer me the job but as the place closed down unexpectedly, I was better off in Doha. He looked so old & frail it was surprising if he could fly the 62 with hydraulics off. His left arm had been severely injured when a propeller had entered his cockpit & was very weak. When Gulf bought 2 Bell 205s, he wasn't allowed to fly them as his arm wouldn't have been able to lift the lever.
His war stories were quite amazing & much to our annoyance he would never say a helicopter was u/s. On one occasion a 62 had been grounded for tail rotor problems but he took it anyway, saying you should have seen the bombers I flew! We tried to tell him the war was over but as he believed he would never get another job, accepted anything.
I'm sorry to hear he died of cancer, wouldn't have been that old I guess. They were going to retire on the Gold Coast but obviously didn't. Is his wife still alive?
Cheers Nigel

[PH Pommy 1964]

Hi Nigel, Yes ,what you describe was typical of Ritchie. Did he tell you about the time he got a parachute wrapped around the tail rotor of the Aloutte 3 over the airfield at Woomera at 7000 feet? The t/r shaft sheared but he did a really good run on landing on the runway with some damage to the rear fuselage when a blade hit it. When flying together, without pax, I have been known to slowly turn off the hydraulics and watch him lean further and further to the left trying to keep the collective up with that weak arm. Once twigged he would laugh and call me a bloody fool! I am afraid we lost touch with Vi. Thanks for all the info. Sorry we did not get to fly together at WRA but it was obvious that it was running down. It`s -5 degrees outside. Wish I was back at WRA. Bob.

[Lee Howard]

Bumping this back to the surface, are there any ex-Wessex HAS.3 Observers out there who can drop me a PM about using the radar and sonar combination?

[76fan]

Lee
I am still in touch with a couple, what sort of information are you after?

[Lee Howard]

76Fan - about to PM you

[Senior Pilot]

Lee, it would be far more in the spirit of Rotorheads to post here rather than resort to PMs to ask for generalities or even specifics.

FWIW, the Wx HAS3 back room was almost identical to the Sea King HAS1, so apart from hover/jump heights and a far better compass display with Rtheta for the driver in the HAS3 there should be little difference, especially in the 195 feed to the Doppler plot.

[76fan]

Lee, in reply to your pm....


Speaking as an ex Wessex 1 & 3 (and later Seaking 1) pilot, the advanced AFCS and sonar in the Mk3 and Seaking were a great step forward. The demand on the pilots for accurate flying between dips disappeared however. If a submarine sonar contact had been made, rather than working out heading & times to the next dip position and then relying on the pilot to fly the transition profiles and headings, heights, and speeds accurately in order to hopefully make sonar contact again, all the observer would say was "transition up and I'll tell you where to go". He would then use his radar to give directions to the pilot to "drive" to the area of the next dip and just say "mark dip here". In addition the sonar range of the 195 was much increased so again an accurate new dip position was not as critical as with the very limited sonar range of the old sonar ball in the Wessex 1. Of course the Observer could also "drive" another helo to a position where it could also make sonar contact or drop a weapon if other helos were also available. Where the pilots could be of help in ASW work was in identifying surface contacts (especially in the radar blind arc forward) and trying to spot any periscopes!
I will pass on your pm by email to my Obs friends and let you know if they want to be of help to you. I presume you know the basics, ie the UC (underwater controller) worked the sonar in active and/or passive modes, and the Observer was the tactician with the radar deciding where or what the sub may do, and between them the back seat crew would assess whether the sonar contact was indeed a submarine or something else!

[Lee Howard]

Senior Pilot - Any contributions to the finished book will be credited to the individual concerned and this is one of the reason why I prefer to take it offline so that I can determine their identity (should they wish that, of course) in the spirit of 'credit where credit is due'.

76fan - many thanks for this (and the PM!)...

[John Eacott]

I resurrected a Wessex book which has many details of the old girl in her many iterations; I've scanned some of the interior pictures but they're not all that good a resolution. These are 600 x 800, but larger images are on my website.

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8083-2/Wessex+cockpits+01.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8081-1/Wessex+cockpits+01.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8086-2/Wessex+cockpits+02.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8084-1/Wessex+cockpits+02.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8089-2/Wessex+cockpits+03.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8087-1/Wessex+cockpits+03.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8092-2/Wessex+cockpits+04.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8090-1/Wessex+cockpits+04.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8080-2/Wessex+rear+cabins+01.jpeg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8078-1/Wessex+rear+cabins+01.jpeg

[John Eacott]

Lee, a shot of a bunch of Wessii chasing the King Dippers of 826NAS during the Fleet flypast out of Singapore

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/1293-1/826+Sea+Kings+with+Wessex+mass+fly+past+Singapore+over+HMS+T riumph.jpg

[fergineer]

Anyone know of the Wessexes that are in NZ?

[TipCap]

Whilst driving down the A30 in Cornwall just North of Bodmin on Wednesday 17th, I noticed a wide load going Northbound on the other carriageway. On a flatbed was a yellow RAF Wessex HC2 (sans rotor blades) in pristine condition. Not sure where it was going or coming from

TC

[oldbeefer]

TipCap. Usually, HC was Cargo and the SAR ones were HAR.

[TipCap]

TipCap. Usually, HC was Cargo and the SAR ones were HAR.

My apologies, oldbeefer. I only flew the Mk 5 and Wessex 60 but this was definitely a SAR one. I was reading Geff Danieli's (I flew with him in Civvi Street) article on 22 Squadron and I picked up the HC2 but didn't read on that they were converted on to HAR for 22 Squadron.

Nevertheless and notwithstanding the colour, that Wessex looked immaculate

TC

[fergineer]

might be going down to peruse the NZ Wessex in the near future if anyone knows anything about them.

[Nigel Osborn]

Are they still in NZ?

[fergineer]

well I am not leaving the country to go see them that is for sure

[heli1]

Confused....Just where are the NZ Wessex today? I thought Danny Wilson had added them to his collection. I must dig out my notes as I had a condition report on them about a year ago when they were mostly looking a bit sad in terms of corrosion after so long in storage.

[fergineer]

Heli1 will let you know when I have seen them.

[heli1]

OK.Believe four Wessex 2 stored in UK,in open air back in 2015 but not ex NZ aircraft. Five more were in NZ under same ownership.Only one of latter in reasonable condition.