Helicopters
Eurocopter AS350BB Écureuil
The Eurocopter (now Aérospatiale) Écureuil AS350 “Squirrel” is a light single-engined utility helicopter powered either by a Lycoming LTS101 or Turbomeca Arriel powerplant driving a three-blade rotor.
The aircraft can be started from cold very quickly, making it suitable for police forces, air ambulances and air rescue. The aircraft shown here is one of 26 Squirrel HT1s operated by the UK’s Helicopter Flying School.
Aerospatiale SA342M Gazelle
The first helicopter to feature a fenestron tail instead of a conventional tail rotor, the Gazelle was also the first to be adapted for single-pilot operation.
This is the French Army anti-tank variant fitted with the Astazou XIV engine and armed with four Euromissile HOT missiles and an SFIM APX M397 stabilised sight.
AH-64D Apache Longbow
The Boeing Apache is a twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors provide night vision and target acquisition.
It carries a 30 mm M230 chain gun under the nose and four stub wing pylons carry additional armament, typically AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods.
The Longbow variant features the AN/APG-78 millimetre-wave fire-control radar housed in a dome above the main rotor. This enables target detection while the helicopter is behind obstacles.
Hughes OH-6A
The OH-6 Cayuse is a light observation/utility helicopter developed in the 1960s. During the Vietnam War it was often operated in teams with the Bell AH-1 Cobra, acting as bait to draw enemy fire and mark targets for the Cobra to destroy.
The teardrop-shaped fuselage led to it sometimes being known as the “flying egg”–this shape, and the internal bulkheads, gave the aircraft strong crashworthy survivability.
Boeing AH-6 Little Bird
Obviously a variation of the Hughes OH-6 shown above, the Little Bird is used for special operations in the United States Army.
This is the gunship version, painted black for night flying, this small helicopter can carry out rapid insertions and extractions that the larger Black Hawk cannot.
Armament consists of two 7.62 mm M134 Miniguns and two LAU-68D/A rocket pods, firing 2.75 in Hydra 70 rocket projectiles.
Boeing Vertol CH-47D Chinook
The Chinook is a tandem-rotor helicopter and one of heaviest lifting Western helicopters.
A ramp at the rear, multiple doors along the fuselage and three external cargo hooks on the underside enable a wide variety of cargo to be carried.
First manufactured in 1962, the Chinook is still in service all over the world.
Cierva C30
Part of the Science Museum’s collection, this is an autogyro and relies on a conventional propellor for thrust with the unpowered rotor being driven by aerodynamic forces, generating lift as it turns.
The Cierva C.30 was designed by Juan de la Cierva and manufactured by the Cierva Autogyro Company. A V Roe & Co acquired a manufacturing license as did Lioré-et-Olivier in France and Focke-Wulf in Germany.
This unassuming little aircraft played a vital role in World War II. The Chain Home network of radar stations were crucial to Britain’s air defence, but the early equipment needed to be regularly recalibrated to ensure accurate radar returns. This required an aircraft to fly a precise, predetermined course so that the radar data would correspond to the known flightpath.
Chain Home operated on an 11 m wavelength, approximately the rotor diameter of the C.30, ensuring a very strong radar return. This, and the ability to loiter over a known geographic point, enabled the radar stations to be configured to give accurate warning of incoming air raids.
Eurocopter EC135 T1
Now manufactured by Airbus Helicopters, the EC135 Is a light utility helicopter mainly used for medevac, and military flight training. This example is in service with the German Army.
In civilian hands it is used for corporate transport, law enforcement and offshore wind support.
Saunders Roe Skeeter
Again, part of the Science Museum’s Flight gallery, this compact two-seater helicopter was intended to be suitable for use as a civilian aircraft and for aerial observation with military customers.
The British Ministry of Supply’s requirements were that the aircraft should be transportable on a standard three-ton truck and that it should have an endurance of at least one hour while carrying light cargo as well as stretcher-bound casualties.
The British Army ordered 64 Skeeters, entering service in October 1956.
Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw
The Chickasaw is a multi-purpose utility helicopter that served with the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard.
It was also built in the UK under licence by Westland Aircraft as the Westland Whirlwind.
The nose-mounted radial engine lends the Chickasaw a rather bulbous appearance, but does help it to maintain its centre of gravity under varying load conditions with the need for ballast.
Westland Wessex HAS.1
The Wessex was developed by Westland Aircraft under licence from Sikorsky, being based on that company’s H-34.
The main change was the replacement of the piston-engine power plant with a turboshaft engine, initially a single Napier Gazelle, and later a pair of de Havilland Gnomes.
This gave the Wessex a greater load capacity, was quieter and generated less vibration.
Shown here in its most familiar search and rescue guise, variants were also manufactured for anti-submarine warfare and commando assault.