By: Newforest - 11th December 2006 at 14:32
Stored until recently in the yard of a publishing group – she has now been moved to a museum at or need Giessen in Germany. Anyone know any more?
No, just back from vacation and intended asking you about the situation as I thought you had your finger firmly on the steering wheel in this instance!:D
By: Stratofreighter - 7th December 2006 at 13:58
I always thought that the Bristows Whirlwinds were bought from new, obviously not!
Well, this time Bristow apparently wanted “second-hand”. They even converted her from Piston-driven to Turbine-powered! Info (translation by myself) below taken from
http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/showthread.php?t=32748&page=5 .
She was born with a radial engine R-1300, Bristow later fitted her out with a Gnome turbine. She got the new designation “Westland Whirlwind SRS 3”.
The helicopter flew for Bristow till the mid-eighties, and then went to Weston-Super-Mare/IHM.
From 1994 until the closure of the Aeropark Diepensee Aeropark at Berlin-Brandenburg she was located south of Berlin-Schonefeld Airport, apparently exchanged with the IHM for another (Russian-built?) helicopter.
VDM Publishers (publish the German magazine Jet & Prop) then had her on their premises until this June.
“S/N WA 71/F8-219
Baujahr Anfang 1955 mit Sternmotor Wright R-1300
HAR.3……registriert als XG576, im Einsatz bis 1967.
“Bristow Helicopter” übernahm ihn dann und rüstete den Hubschrauber auf Turbine um (RR Gnome H1000 baugleich mit GE T 58).
Neue Bezeichnung Westland Whirlwind SRS 3, neu registriert als G-AYNP. Bristow flog den Hubschrauber bis Mitte der 80er-Jahre, danach stand er im International Helicopter Museum in Western-Super-Mare England.
Von 1994 – 2000 stand er im Berlin-Brandenburg Aeropark, bis Juni 2006 dann in Zweibrücken beim Verlag VDM und nun endgültig in der Sammler- und Hobbywelt. Oliver hat den Heli wieder so lackiert, wie er bei der Royal Navy geflogen ist (blau/orange).”
By: Rlangham - 7th December 2006 at 13:06
Nice, looks good in RN colours. What was her serial number in RN service? I always thought that the Bristows Whirlwinds were bought from new, obviously not!
By: Stratofreighter - 7th December 2006 at 13:00
Hello David,
Judging from http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/showthread.php?t=32748 and further on the Whirlwind is now at Sammler & Hobbywelt in Alten-Buseck near Giessen.
Only if you subscribe to this forum you can see the pictures, but I understand that she has been there since last June. Apparently she has been painted in her original Royal Navy colours.
If you click at the website of this rather large Scale Model and Model Railway Exhibition Center at http://www.suhw.de/ (with a lot of other things on display like Keramics, old office equipment, jars, postcards, petrol lamps, uniforms, etc…) you can just about view the Whirlwind in the background.
At http://www.suhw.de/Sammlerwelt/Sikorsky_S-55/sikorsky_s-55.html the arrival of the Whirlwind at her present location can be seen. Please note that the helicophter is private-owned by a certain “Oliver” and apparently only “lodging” at the premises of this Center.
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December 4, 2006 at 4:52 pm