I am surprised that the Widgeon is described as such a pig to fly. I have no experience myself with the helicopter but in conversations with a certain Charlie Verry who flew Dragonflys in Malaya I think the description fits the older helicopter.
He said you could always tell a Dragonfly pilot by his dragging his left hand knukles along the floor. He described the bungee arrangement around the cockpit and there was also a pilot operated weight on the floor that was a C of G control. He picked up a Major in a jungle clearing one day and what this Major had in his case he didn't know but on take off he ran out of aft cyclic authority. Circling slowly around the clearing he shouted at this Major to throw the bag out. He wouldn't do this, it was probably full of gold, so the next time the pad came round he told the Major to jump out; which he did.
I spent a lot of time on the Whirlwind and if the Widgeon used the S55 control system that would have been hydraulic with a sloppy stick with no aerodynamic feedback. The only attempt to provide some sort of 'feel' were adjustable friction pads at the base of the cyclic. Looking at the picture one sees one glaring warning: Three main rotor blades, three tail rotor blades, three undercarriage wheels. It all adds up to ground resonance a la Sycamore.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 2nd October 2011 at 12:28.