Of Eacott, Australia and Sprouts!
Have you ever heard of a
Navy Scout ??
Well, apparently in Australia ..
From the information available .. two Scout helicopters were acquired by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in April 1963 and were operated by the 723 Naval Air Squadron, with the aircraft being rotated aboard the hydrographic survey ship HMAS Moresby.
The RAN Scouts proved the practicalities of operating helicopters from small ships for the RAN, and the RAN operated these helicopters up until 1973, when they were replaced by Bell 206B-1 Kiowas.
The experience with the Scouts aboard HMAS Moresby illustrated the need for a higher-level maintenance regime as a result of operating the helicopters in areas with high concentrations of abrasive coral sand encountered around the Australian coastline and the detrimental effect that it had on the rotor blades, airframe and engine components.
Despite the additional effort to maintain the helicopters, the Scouts were considered to be superior to the seaplanes and flying boats that had previously been used in this role.
One of the Scouts apparently ditched in Wewak Harbour whilst taking off from HMAS Moresby, April 1967, although it was subsequently recovered the aircraft was written off.