Helicopter ID - single engine skidded ducted tail rotor
 

Hey all,

There I was, bored on boxing day watching Jack Ryan on Prime (average, but not terrible) and I saw a helicopter I didn't recognise (moderately unusual). See attached - what looks like a skidded single with a fenestron - to my eye looks like a cross between a dauphin and a squirrel, but what do I know? Anyone point me at it?
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8eed22b778.jpg

It looks like an early Dauphin, an SA365C2.

Yep, never come across one before, older than me!

Doesn't look as weird as the Dauphin with a tail-wheel undercarriage, like HKGFS flew back in the early 80s though :)

Here's one in Octopussy, 1983.

Yes, early C series Dauphin with skid option. The French Sécurité Civile operated a number of them and I modeled it for Microsoft FSX back in the day.

What's really unusual is I've seen some which also have a tailwheel.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3a39f7f8b1.jpg

Makes me feel old when this early version of the Dauphin is a puzzle. It is the newer versions of Dauphin that I struggle to identify, especially with all the re-designation that has happened from Aerospatiale to Eurocopter to Airbus Helicopters (and should I add Sud-Aviation?).

The Dauphin started off as the single engined SA.360 with Astazou XVI which first flew on 2 June 1972. The first twin engined SA.365 prototype flew on 24 Jan 1975.

I have always preferred the style of the tail and twin main wheel SA.365 to the skidded or later nose wheel versions, but I guess it is a matter of taste.

Aerospatiale SA360. I first flew in one in 1974 leaving Farnborough Airshow to Battersea 👍

Weird? The tailwheel AS365C ‘Daphne’ was our routine Air 490/PolAir 1 for Victoria Police in the 1980s, later supplemented by two more in about mid/late 80s IIRC.

Gratuitous image for anyone not familiar... not sure I've ever seen one, certainly not in the UK. Always quite liked it.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6a811c1936.jpg

Yes, VH-PVF was the first Dauphin registered in Oz on 1 Oct 1979 (and great to know it is now on display at Moorabbin: https://www.aarg.com.au/dauphin-2-helicopter.html) with VH-PVA and VH-PVK added in 1986. The latter both exported to France for parts according to AustAirData, though I see PVK was with CQ Rescue for a while after its time with Victoria Police. There was a time when the AS365 was somewhat popular for EMS work in Australia with machines also with SLSA at 3 bases and also with CareFlight. The only Dauphin with skids that I am aware came onto the Australian register was a SA365C-3, VH-HRM with SLSA in Newcastle. Sadly it was destroyed in an accident, but luckily not fatal.

On 9 September 1974, a few days after he was at the Farnborough Show, the test pilot Roland Coffignot flew up to see us so we could do an assessment of the SA360. It was F-WSQX, the second prototype, and although I enjoyed flying it we didn't take the project any further.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0408be9635.jpg

[QUOTE=John Eacott;11354882]Aerospatiale SA360. I first flew in one in 1974 leaving Farnborough Airshow to Battersea 👍



https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e4191bd576.jpg
This is a single engine AS 360. Look at the exhaust nozzle.

Those old C models ex HKGFS ended up in Australia. Well somebody thought they were a "good deal". Basically just rotten when they arrived and slowly disapeared by attrition.

Thats no surprise. HKGFS aircraft work hard in a corrosive environment. I’ve even seen shiny brass turn purple in a few weeks and the gold plated contacts of avionics deteriorate in short order. The RAF sold its HK based Wessex to Uruguay and that didn’t end too well for the buyer.

Nice 365 flew in her last year at her home base in Hungary

HA-BOS, an SA365C3:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?sxsr...=isch&q=HA-BOS

[QUOTE=ATN;11355078]Absolutely: I didn't look hard enough, as I followed the thread title 'single engine skidded helicopter'. Mea Culpa :hmm:

World War Z with Brad Pitt is a good one for spotting these. The film seems to feature most of the Dauphin family!