Top right: The band let loose in the museum

for the hangar dance. Centre right: The Mill

Auto convention housed in our hangar.

Bottom right: A Westland Lynx Mk9A visits

from Middle Wallop. Bottom left: A classic

car club visits the museum to appreciate a

very different type of engineering. Centre

Left: A close up of our Hind showing the

engineering that lies beneath the panels.

Top Left: A marriage proposal on the

helipad; She said YES!

News

Hangar Dance:

September saw one of our most renowned events return

to the museum in spectacular fashion. The annual

Hangar Dance once again drew in the crowds for an

evening of 40/50’s themed fun and frolics.

Everyone that attended can attest that there was a really

great atmosphere at the event; made even more fun

with the costumes worn by the guests and museum

volunteers!

Mill Auto Trading Festival:

The museum is constantly branching out to companies

and organisations that need venues. Mill Auto loved our

hangar and so did all of their customers. A number of

different companies attended and it is safe to say a good

deal of business took place.

One product on display, and a firm crowd favourite, was

the Ariel Atom made famous worldwide by the motoring

show Top Gear. If you would like to use our hanger for

an event please contact Lee Mills or Sharon Webber.

Tour guide Tutors

Saunders-Roe (Saro) Skeeter: AOP Mk. 12 XL811:

(Written by the museum tour guide team)

XL811 was assembled at Eastleigh, Hampshire, after

transfer from the Cowes IoW factory in 1958. As a two-

seat army observation helicopter it was the twenty-fourth

production aircraft and made its first flight on the 6th of

February 1959. XL811 First saw service with 651 Squadron

Advanced Helicopter Flight for pilot training. It later

served with 656 Squadron BAOR in Germany. It was

withdrawn from use and placed in storage in December

1967 and later purchased and delivered by road to

Weston in September 1992.

The AOP Mk. 12 was powered by a DH Gypsy Major

160kw engine and had a rotor diameter of 9.76m. The

length was 8.10m and the height was 2.29m. The max

speed was 167km/h, service ceiling 3900m and the range

was 340km.

In addition to XL811, the museum recently took delivery

of four Skeeter pods and five tail booms. All had served

with the AAC in Germany.

Restoration News

XM328: (Written by Chris Hallewell)

XM328 was built at Yeovil in 1959 as a pre-production

HAS.1 anti-submarine helicopter for the Royal Navy,

powered by a single Napier Gazelle engine. Between

1965 and 1968 forty-three Wessex HAS.1s, including

XM328, were upgraded to HAS.3 specification. This

included a new ARI 5955 search radar, with the aerial in

the characteristic dorsal dome, a Plessey Type 195

dipping sonar system, an uprated 1650 shp Napier

Gazelle engine. The HAS.3 had the ability to carry two

small homing torpedoes or four depth charges and

featured a full automatic flight control system, giving

altitude and heading control with barometric or radar

altimeter height hold.

From 1970 XM328 was stationed at Portland, Dorset, in a

training role, with 737 Naval Air Squadron and later from

the stern platforms of several County Class destroyers.

Towards the end of the 1970s most Wessex HAS.3

helicopters had been replaced by Westland Sea Kings but

a few, including XM328, remained in service until after

the Falklands conflict in 1982. One of these, XP142

(“Humphrey”), seriously damaged near San Carlos Water,

was replaced by XM328 on HMS Antrim for her second

three month deployment to the South Atlantic, in

November 1982.

Restoration News

In 1984 XM328 was transferred to RNAS Culdrose and

used for training, for the next twenty years, by the

School of Flight Deck Operations, before sale to The

Helicopter Museum in 2004.

In June 2007 XM238 was brought into the recently-

completed Museum Engineering Hangar where

refurbishment and conservation work began. By October

2010 the main gearbox, with most of the transmission

deck components, had been removed, overhauled and

repainted, where necessary, before reassembly. Much of

the cockpit and cabin equipment has been cleaned and

refurbished with the remaining instrument and control

panels overhauled and partly re-equipped. Corrosion

was found in several external and internal aluminium

skin panels and these were treated appropriately, or

replaced, before etch primer was applied followed by

finishing coats of paint. Painting of the exterior should be

near completion by the end of 2012.

It was thought that the areas below the cabin floor,

where most of the flexible fuel tanks are housed, would

show severe corrosion due to the possible ingress of sea

water from dipping sonar operations. Only very small

areas of such corrosion were found.

Dear volunteers:

With the winter months upon us the environment in the

hangar is going through a great deal of change. This

poses a number of challenges for the museum, not least

the conservation of our aircraft. If you notice anything

strange concerning the museum collection please let a

member of staff know. Catching an issue early could help

us to avoid big problems.

New Volunteers

Please welcome the following volunteers to the

museum:

Mandy Lloyd – front of house

If you know anyone that has a particular skill set that we

could use point them in our direction.

Restoration News

Team Fairey’s visit to the Midland Air Museum:

(Written by Mike Lait)

On Thursday the 11th of October the team restoring the

Fairey Ultra-Light visited the Midland Air Museum at

Coventry. The museum houses the only other surviving

Ultra-Light in the world. The Coventry machine is more

complete than the one at our museum and the purpose

of the visit was to sketch, measure and photograph

missing parts so that realistic replicas can be made.

Much time was spent on the top of a step ladder

recording details of the rotor head assembly. As a bonus

the Coventry Air Museum donated their spare collective

pitch control lever which will now be cleaned up and

fitted to our Ultra-Light.

Photograph competition

Instead of the usual photograph competition, this week I

am going to show off Mike Costello’s travel pictures for us

all to enjoy. Mike visited a number of aviation museums

in America and has some fantastic pictures of some even

more fantastic aircraft. Cheers Mike!

Presidential Sea King.

R-4 Hoverfly.

US Navy Seahawk.

Archive News

Work in the archives has been busy as usual. Work is

divided between volunteers entering newly donated

items into the system and the preserving and organising

of the existing collection (a mighty task indeed). The

archive database system now holds 3688 items, with

plenty more to come.

Amongst the latest items to be entered into the

archives, the most numerous have been manuals for a

wide variety of helicopter models. We have an extremely

impressive air publication collection, with most shelves

full to the brim and looking like this!

With many new items constantly being donated, the

office had begun to become extremely cluttered with

items being stored here, there and everywhere.

Restoration guru Greg offered to construct some

shelving to make the office a lot safer and to protect

items in progress. Cheers Greg, smashing job!

Two minutes with Dick Cavil

This week Dick Cavil gives us his thoughts on the museum

and provides us with some information about his lifelong

love of all things aviation. Dick is a restoration and

conservation volunteer at the museum and has currently

been working on keeping our display aircraft up to scratch.

How long have you been at the museum?

Three and a half years

What did you do before joining the museum?

I have spent my whole life working in various aspects of

aviation. I joined the RAF after leaving school. I then

worked with Westland Helicopters at W-s-M. I then spent

4 years as a trainer in the Royal Saudi Air Force. Finally I

worked for BAC/BAE systems/Airbus at Filton until

retirement 5 years ago.

What has been your best experience at the museum?

Being able to have contact with aviation again and

volunteer with like minded people, also to converse with

visiting public on aviation matters.

What would you like to see happen at the museum in the

future?

I would like to see the expansion of the museum to allow

more space to display the exhibits and acquire the

adjacent land to enable development of the restoration

part of the museum with maybe even an education aspect

included.

Spotters section

Spotter information about the aircraft that have landed at

the museum in the last 2 months for all you spotters out

there:

September:

Date, Type, Registration, Flown From:

07.09.2012, Lynx Mk9A, XE375, Middle Wallop

10.09.2012, Lynx, ?, ?

13.09.2012, Squirrel, ZJ263, Middle Wallop

17.09.2012, Lynx Mk9A, ? Yeovilton

25.09.2012, Bell 206, MFMF, Chard

Announcements

Jump Jet for Helicopter Museum:

An experimental Harrier Jump-Jet used by Rolls-Royce in

the 1980s to test a modified engine for a potential

supersonic version, has become the first fixed-wing

aeroplane to join the vertical flight collection at The

Helicopter Museum in Weston-super-Mare.

Previously with the BAC Collection and Rolls-Royce

Heritage Trust at Kemble in Gloucestershire, the Harrier

has recently been moved by road and will temporarily be

stored until it can be re-assembled to go on permanent

display at the Weston attraction.

The aircraft uses a much-modified airframe with the

nose and tail of one Harrier (XV798) and the wing of

another (XW264), married to a specially-built centre

section. This houses a vectored-thrust Rolls-Royce

Pegasus engine modified with plenum chamber burning

(PCB). A form of reheat, whereby fuel is mixed with

unburnt oxygen in the engine exhaust to provide a

ramjet effect, PCB can double the engine thrust but also

results in much higher exhaust temperatures.

Spotters section – Continued

August:

Date, Type, Registration, Flown From:

05.10.2012, Merlin, ?, RAF Benson

14.10.2012, Bell 206, MFMF, Chard

18.10.2012, Merlin, ?, RAF Benson

22.10.2012, A109, G-EVIP, Liskeard

24.10.2012, Merlin, ?, RAF Benson

26.10.2012, Lynx, ?, Middle Wallop

Visitor Feedback

Just a few comments from the museum visitor book:

“Loved the Huey, fantastic time”

“Lovely atmosphere, kids loved it!”

“Great flight + fantastic day”

“Truly amazing + memorable experience”

“Excellent value day out, interesting, kids

loved it!”

“Well preserved aircraft, very pleasant

staff”

Upcoming events

November:

November 4th – Open Cockpit day and flights.

December:

December 9th - Christmas fun day – Santa’s flight school

and flights.

Any additional offers of help from volunteers for the

above events would be warmly received. Please contact

Lee Mills if you can lend a hand.

Interesting visitors

The following groups have all enjoyed tours around our

museum in the past couple of months.

Mill Auto

Ashcombe Cubs

St Stephens Men

Crossroads Carers

If you would like to visit the museum with a group, we

can offer a guided tour to give you specialist information

about our unique collection.

Hire The Museum!

Do you have a Birthday or anniversary coming up? Have you thought about Hiring your village hall for a party?

The Helicopter Museum is available for public hire and is not as expensive as you might think. We already have several

‘private’ events booked in for 2012 with groups ranging from 50-500 people. If you are interested in aviation, the

museum can provide a unique backdrop for your special day. Please contact Lee Mills or Sharon Webber for details.

Other Ways You Can Help?

There are many ways in which you can volunteer to help The Helicopter Museum. Many of us have our own set duties

in our own little section of the museum; but there are many times throughout the year when all volunteers including

outside supporters can branch out and get involved in a number of ways, raising funds being one of the main ones. If

volunteers would like to play their part and help the museum raise funds and secure its future, please have a chat with

either Lee or Sharon.

The museum is always desperate for volunteers to help out at its events and you can play your part in many ways.

When was the last time you took some museum leaflets to your local pub, club or school?

Have you ever pinned up a museum event flyer on your local village notice board?

Could you give up an hour or so to help prepare for an event?

Have you given unwanted items to a charity shop recently, could they have been given to the museum to sell on

its bric-a-brac stalls?

Please don't just leave it for other people to do, play your part and support the museum you volunteer at.

Your Museum Needs You!

How to contact us? Tel: 01934-635227,

Email: helimuseum@btconnect.com

Website: www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Whilst it is easy to forget, The Helicopter Museum is indeed a charity. Aircraft do not preserve themselves and a big part

of what the museum does is conservation and restoration based. The acquisition, preservation and restoration of

aircraft, some of which are the only existing examples left in the world, takes place on a daily basis at the museum so

that our aircraft can be enjoyed for generations to come. If you would like to help us in our task by contributing to the

restoration budget, then please fill in the form below and send it off to us.

Your Donation

I would like to support the Helicopter Museum in their efforts to conserve and restore aircraft and educate the public

about vertical flight history and technology with a gift of:

£10 £20 £30 £50 £100 Other £

Name:

Phone Number:

Email Address:

Home Address:

Postcode:

I enclose a cheque made payable to The Helicopter Museum

Help us further by using gift aid

Thanks to the gift aid scheme we can reclaim money on your donation from the government. For every pound you give

us, we can claim an extra 25p. For example, a donation of £15 becomes £18.75 with gift aid at no extra cost to you.

I am a UK taxpayer and would like The Helicopter Museum to treat all future donations from today as gift aid donations.

I understand that in the relevant tax year I must pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains tax at least equal to

the tax that the charity reclaims on my donation.

Signature:

Please return this form in an envelope to:

The Helicopter Museum, Locking Moor Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, BS24 8PP