Whirlwind Helicopter
 

Did any mark of Whirlwind actually carry a torpedo and what type of torpedo was it intended to carry ?

Yes, the piston-engined Whirlwind HAS. 7 in 1956. It was the Fleet Air Arm's first anti-submarine helicopter and carried but a single 'homing torpedo'.

It clattered along at a max IAS of about 95 knots - and had a range of only 290 nm at a stunning 75 knots.......

I'm impressed Beags - since when did you become an authority on RN RW trivia/history?

Well, no-one else had bothered to answer......and OHOPE obviously hadn't found the excellent naval aircraft historical website.

Besides, I do remember those things clattering around the West Country!

I last saw an airworthy piston engined Whirlwind in 1975 or '76 at RAF Brawdy when I was a student on 234 Sqn. No idea where it was from - it was midnight blue and marked 'Royal Navy'. I had thought the piston engined version was long since extinct.

We still had a piston Whirlwind at Boscombe in the mid 70's. A 'one-armed paperhanger machine' if ever there was one!! Brian S (mentioned from time to time in these columns) used to do a reverse hover taxy, at speed, doing figure-of-eights, as a demonstration coordination exercise .... now THAT is a coordination exercise:ok:
All very well to be 'sniffy' about the Whirlwind's performance, but there are quite a few people around who wouldn't be here without the Whirlwind's SAR efforts. Our scramble times in the '10' would leave today's high tech machines well behind

The reverse hover taxi must have been an acquired skill, as when the Whirlwind was first introduced as SAR in place of the Sycamore at RAF Acklington, the crews were moaning that overshoots meant a go-around instead of just backing-up. I guess a new craft requires time before the crews can learn the tricks . . .

Wasn't there one case of a '10 scrambling and getting airborne between the time the pilot ejected and him landing in the Og? Such that his feet barely got wet?

Thoroughly concur that the sight of the friendly yellow Whirlwind must have been most welcome indeed to many survivors :ok:

Was the Boscombe piston aircraft perhaps the one I saw at Brawdy?

Our local scrap man had a Whirlwind in 1986 ish, can't remember how it was powered but he used to fly around his small plot (:)) and practise for the slalam (?) with an underslung load.

Actually....
 

Well, actually there was an RN Series 3 HAR Mk 9 that was the Gnome engined version, complete with twin Tubes underneath - it was a bit of a surprise to climb into, or onto, when you were used to the Mk10!
I don't know what it fired from them, or how successfully, but they won't have been rocket tornadoes! (oops!)
I have seen one at Duxford I think! Ugly Blue thing.
Yes - I do like aircraft... and No! I am NOT a spotter!
I was taken for a flight in a Tiger Moth there once so did the museum thing too.

PN - Your scrapman wouldn't have been in Lincs would he?

Of course, Windley by name.

Windley was still rumoured to have his Mk12 (Ex Queens Flt) in the mid nineties - but when asked about it - he went all quiet!
I think it went to rot in one of his sheds.
He was also rumoured to have several large/infamous crash wrecks on his premises.

Rigga
G-RWWW as the MK12 was registered in civvy street, enjoyed a few years on the display circuit mid nineties in the capable hands of ex Bristows Derek Jones. Aircraft now retired and residing in the helicopter museum at Weston.
Also there was a piston powered version (HAS Mk.7, XK940 I believe) lurking in a hangar at Redhill about the same time, when the time came for its journey to Weston i seem to recall that it managed to place itself on the back of a low loader. Wether this could have been the last flight of a piston powered whirlwind or a ground run that got a bit light on its wheels I will leave up to you. :ooh:

Great 230 line book entry from way back when, along the lines of:

Squadron of Whirlies standing down, or moving station or summat, and the station padre gets to say his bit. Gets up, and tells all and sundry that 230 had proved, in his opinion, a total failure!

Sharp intakes all round, and stunned silence- everyone waiting for an explanation.

Padre goes on to say that:

"In the Bible it says that Methusela went up into heaven in a whirlwind. And I never even got a left hand seat!"

Assembly breathes out, all is well.

CG

Some pictures from the family album taken during the period of the first Mk7 IFTU in 1957.
B&W shot clearly shows the cutout for the Mk30 18" "Homing torpedo" that weighed in at 645Lb.
Machine blighted by the highly unreliable Alvis Leonides Major Engine which did not take kindly to being made to run for the purposes of the helicopter application in the opposite direction it was originally designed to. This de-optimised the location of all the oil galleries in the crank etc. The RN had 129 Mk7 of which 79 were written off in service. Weymouth bay is littered with them..
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ndHAS7_2CV.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../Scan80066.jpg

Pontious Navigator, the ex QF Whirlwind is indeed where you guess. I had the pleasure of flying in it a few years ago but RW was not the handling pilot at the time. It resides with a lot of "wrecks" including a great deal of stuff from Lockerbie I believe, althought it may have all oxidised by now.

The Redhill HAS.7 was acquired by a friend up in Norfolk and we endeavoured to keep her airworthy for a short while. At the same time the HCC.12 became available at Redhill too - she was slowly getting derelict . She was purchased and ,oved to Norfolk. On inspection we found damage on the tailboom which had been caused by over zealous removal of corrosion. Due to the difficulties in finding a servicable replacement tailboom - the owner decided to ground her and offer her to the Helicopter Museum so they could both be preserved in the U.K.

westland whirlwind
 

Im in Australia, i have a westland whirlwind helicopter (never going to fly) with the alvis leonides major radial engine (it will run one day), possibly the only one in australia.
I cant find much info on them either.
Any documents are appreciated.
Ive tried uploading pics but wont link?

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Until you have a posting history you don't have access to private messaging and adding urls or photos

Don't know if they can help but Historic Helicopters in Somerset have an airworthy Whirly amongst others
Historic Helicopters - Welcome To Historic Helicopters

Also the Leonides is in the Pembroke that the guys in St Athan look after, https://www.horizonaircraftservices.com/

Ah yes, I remember it well! Max load was rumoured to be a winch operator plus a small dog. Had an exhaust manifold fall off in the hover over the bay one day and several times had the engine continue to chunter on for a few minutes after shut-down.

Great fun revving up the donk to engage the sprag clutch to turn the rotor but not so much fun when the rotor head detached in flight😟. Had a partial tail rotor control failure during a towering t/o on one of my first night solos. That was fun and resulted in a rather untidy running landing on the very dark grass.

I was only little then!

Mog