The Rotary Nostalgia Thread

[Earl of Rochester]

Back when helicopters made proper sounds and were not covered in black and yellow!



Lippitts Hill Control Room



Lippitts Hill maintenance room .. oops .. I mean hangar!



On board the 222



Bells over London



Searching ...

I was lucky enough to find a transcript of the original conversation between the Commissioner of Police (COP) and the Bell Helicopter Textron Representative (BHT):

COP: They are not exactly quiet are they?
BHT: The 222 has been designed by Bell's finest and with Police duties in mind. It comes with what we call ACDF (Audible Criminal Deterrent Feature).
COP: Oh, okay, what is that?
BHT: Did you ever watch the film Apocalypse Now?
COP: Yes I did how ..
BHT: Well, our guys at Bell did a swell job of helping the US Army then, and we can do the same for you now!
COP: But how does ..
BHT: The point is Commissioner, when your London criminals here this baby comin' they're gonna run for the hills, or subways, or whatever you have here in London. You see our Army psychologists were able to prove the sound made by our Huey's actually drove fear into Charlie, .. those are your criminals. We've designed the Police version of the 222 to reproduce the best of the Huey's footprint, well, that's what they're gonna call it in the future, .. and we've made the gear retractable!
COP: So what you are saying is that you have applied your understanding of the pschological impact of the sound of your helicopters, taken from their service with the US Army in Vietnam and adapted it to the Police version of the 222?
BHT: Exactly, now you've got it, plus .. it has retractable gear.
COP: So what does this mean for us here in London then?
BHT: Well Commissioner, I would have thought that was obvious! All you have to do is fly around the City and most of your criminals will stop what they are doing, that's the beauty of ACDF!
COP: Really?
BHT: Yessir, that's why I'm here.
COP: And you actually think it will work do you?
BHT: Or your money back (lol).
COP: And the helicopter has a retractable undercarriage?
BHT: Its the real deal, just like a jet, this is the latest thing Mr Commissioner this is the first of its kind. You are gonna be streets ahead of anything else anywhere in the world, even in the US we're still using helos with skids!



On a serious note, the Met pioneered tactical airborne police operations in the UK in that the high standard of fit on the Met's 222's enabled them to provide information which had never before been available in real time. From there, as they say, the rest is history.

Earl