I remember going to work at Collingwood and seeing the SAR Whirlwind at Daedalus sitting across the perimeter hedge having managed to lop its own tail off on the approach.

I remember the late C**** T***** telling me of being a formation flight when he said the rest of the formation suddenly appeared to climb rapidly closely followed by the realisation his engine had failed.


Cosford 2017 Gnome powered flier as mentioned above.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4197/3...52c999f8_c.jpgPositioning into wind, the old fashioned way-1 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/4254/3...5b92ff86_c.jpgSimply Timeless Westland Whirlwind HAR10-1 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/4246/3...5f2b4172_c.jpgSimply Timeless Westland Whirlwind HAR10 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/4266/3...2cd47175_c.jpgSimply Timeless Westland Whirlwind HAR10 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

Left side of the fenced off 747 wreckage 2018

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news...-life-13416790


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6ee3c5ab8.jpeg

Additionally, pic


latest on them and what looks like an excellent rebuild this year. Lots of pics.

https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/for...c.php?t=203561

Roger took the whirlwind to the world helicopter championships in 86 at Castle Ashby, Sure it was a turbine one, he had another that had a fair bit of corrosion, got to walk around his place and he had an interesting collection tucked away. Chris Billings flew it and he was crew. Certainly a good character.

Roger bought three W/W Mk 10 from 32 Sqdn at Northolt, I put them on the register using the documentation for the civvy W/W WS55 Series 3. Since then the CAA considers them as different aircraft despite the MOD Parts Manual quoting both civvy and MOD part numbers.

Nutloose - your #22 pics ... oh the nostalgia :sad:
Don't know what the winchman's background was, but some 'how to operate in a bo'sun's chair' lessons are in order !
For the wrinklies - gone but not forgotten ...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c04adecb12.jpg

Cornish J if you want to download any of them as a wallpaper they are in this folder, open the Cosford 2017 one

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142550108@N08/albums

select the picture you want and view it, select the arrow facing down to a horizontal line on the right side below the picture
select all sizes, pick one of the largest, open it and right click on it when its opened, then select set as background, you can then size it to suit, if set as background is greyed out wait a little until it flly opens and then it will allo you to set it.


The "person" they were winching was a dummy..

I trained on the penultimate RAF Whirlwind basic course. It was actually a very large aircraft for a basic trainer, a bit like flying a small bungalow from the Dormer window. But it was a good lead in to the Wessex 5 as an advanced trainer!

For years I flew almost every working day over a dilapidated Whirlwind located in a small clearing in a wood, I think it was a paintball adventure place. Much later I discovered it was actually the very airframe in which I’d carried out my first helicopter solo and my first night solo. By then it had sadly gone, probably for scrap.

Nutloose - many thanks for that. Super pics ... brain fade on the download sequence so went the Ctrl./Prtscn/Paint/Paste route.
The "person" they were winching was a dummy..
Ah, yes - that figures !:ok:

Shy Torque. When was that? I did the Whirlwind course at Tern Hill in the second half of '66. We did the basic 40 hour course on the Sioux, then 60 hours on the Whirlwind. I don't know when they finished using them. As you say, a good trainer for those going onto the Wessex. Wessex 2 in my case (RAF)

It also lacked the power to carry both the dipping sonar and the torpedo, and neither did the Wessex that succeeded it - the later Sea King and subsequent Merlin did. But all technologies have to start somewhere. For whatever reason, probably the ability to deploy a dipping sonar, the ASW Whirlwind displaced the ASW Gannet from RN carrier decks by the early sixties.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f863ecdb03.jpg

I graduated from the Whirlwind 10 in the first half of 1979 so I would think the RAF final course finished later that same year. No Sioux flying for us, it was straight onto the Whirlwind 10 for 110 hours and then around 35 hours on the (ex RN) Wessex 5. I remember it was important to select "Rockets to ripple" on the armament panel for every solo sortie in those days. Not that we carried rockets, mind you! :cool:

Thanks ShyTorque. I should think the Whirlwind was a handful ab initio. At least we had a few hours on a simpler and more forgiving machine. The Wessex conversion, at Odiham, was about 30 hours

I believe that civil registered WS-55 Whirlwinds had a second hydraulic system.

Is that weather vane on the Norfolk Coast?

Looking back I still think it surprising that we had to complete a 45 minute sortie of solo engine off landings on the ab ignitio Whirlwind course! We also had to fly an underslung load solo, with a brave staff crewman down in the cabin.

As far as the Wessex 5 was concerned, Shawbury had major serviceability problems during my time on the advanced course. It took five attempts to get my first solo on type done, all delays were caused by u/s aircraft*.

I only actually completed 30 hours of the usual 35 then got sent off to fly the Puma instead.

*I deny all responsibility for the aircraft getting broken ;)

Underslung load? We had to trawl a Sproule net solo under the direction of the fearless (or fatalistic) crewman downstairs; in my case CPO Mooney, whose daughter I was taking out when the opportunity arose 😇


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0cde7defcf.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....97b58f1a08.jpg

Kharg Island, Iran, around 1973. Leo deVigne (spelling?) ex-Westland pilot, arrives to give a Wirlwind conversion to a young American pilot who has just joined Bristow Helicopters. During a post-flight de-brief we can hear voices are rising then Leo says, so that all can hear, “Don’t tell me what the Flight Manual says, I wrote it!” Later, Leo points out to us engineers/mechanics, “The helicopter doesn’t have a clock, the regulations state that a public transport helicopter must have a clock.” He was correct.