Bristol Sycamore

Thanks guys, I appreciate your help. I was a pupil at St Austell Grammar School at the time and can well remember that at school assembly the head master sternly ordering us to hand in any parts of the aircraft that we had retrieved.

After leaving Yatesbury, while doing National Service, I was posted to ASWDU, St Mawgan in July 1952. The unit had two Bristol Sycamores one of which is illustrated in ‘The Observers Book Of Aircraft’, popular at the time. In the September one of the helicopters was due to give a display at St. Austel speedway in the interval to commemorate Battle of Britain. I was a member of the ground crew to service the aircraft if needed and we attended the display. The helicopter flew in from St. Mawgan at the start of the meeting and sat in the arena waiting for the interval. By the time of the display it was fairly dark and the arena was lit by festooned lighting around the track. The crew were the station CO. Group Captain Dorret, our unit CO. Flt. Lt. Minifie and two others. The display started well and the helicopter demonstrated flying backwards and sideways etc., while doing the display it was noticed that the engine note suddenly changed and the aircraft had difficulty gaining altitude. The pilot decided to clear the spectators by landing in the adjacent car park but had problems with lift and the tail skid severed the lighting cable and plunged the stadium in darkness. It was at this moment we realised he was in serious trouble and the pilot tried to land in a clear space but caught a coach and the helicopter fell onto its side. I ran to the crash, three of the crew managed to get out but the other, our CO. Flt. Lt. Minifie was seriously injured and unconscious. The police took charge of the proceedings and called an ambulance and the three survivors were well enough to say over the PA system that all was in hand. I think the rest of the match was abandoned. Later we heard that our CO died of a fractured skull and a week or so later our unit attended a military funeral with a gun salute in St Columb Minor cemetery. How the rest of the crew only had superficial injuries and Flt. Lt. Minifie was badly injured was because he had undone his seat belt to operate a manual floodlight to light up the ground to land and when it crashed he was thrown against the helicopter,s dashboard.
Apparently the episode was front page news in the ‘Daily Herald’, a national newspaper of the time.

God that brings back memories. I well remember the slide with the metal plates and the go kart tracks.When i used to play on the Sycamore it didn’t have the wooden structure over the cockpit. i spent many an hour sitting in the seats and waggling the controls making chopper sounds.
Also i don’t ever remember hearing of any major injuries caused by playing in that adventure playground, even while making homemade camps and cooking over open fires. Try that today.Kids don’t know what their missing.
Thanks for posting that video limk.

God that brings back memories. I well remember the slide with the metal plates and the go kart tracks.When i used to play on the Sycamore it didn’t have the wooden structure over the cockpit. i spent many an hour sitting in the seats and waggling the controls making chopper sounds.
Also i don’t ever remember hearing of any major injuries caused by playing in that adventure playground, even while making homemade camps and cooking over open fires. Try that today.Kids don’t know what their missing.
Thanks for posting that video limk.

Better a broken arm from crashing a shopping trolley go-kart than suffering an addled brain from spending all one’s waking hours deifying a PlayStation!

Better a broken arm from crashing a shopping trolley go-kart than suffering an addled brain from spending all one’s waking hours deifying a PlayStation!

As someone who broke his arm due to ‘adventurous play*’ as a kid, I shuddered at that wobbling tower!!

*Shopping trolley gokart!!

As someone who broke his arm due to ‘adventurous play*’ as a kid, I shuddered at that wobbling tower!!

*Shopping trolley gokart!!

Please forgive me dragging this corpse back to life after nearly five years but only today have I come across a 1967 Pathé newsreel concerning the Cherry Lane Adventure Playground, in Langley Green, Crawley, that shows the remains of the Bristol Sycamore serving as a childrens’ plaything in the adventure playground. The newsreel can be viewed at http://www.britishpathe.com/video/home-made-playground.

I hope no-one who works for Health and Safety watches that, otherwise they’ll go completely crackers…:p

Please forgive me dragging this corpse back to life after nearly five years but only today have I come across a 1967 Pathé newsreel concerning the Cherry Lane Adventure Playground, in Langley Green, Crawley, that shows the remains of the Bristol Sycamore serving as a childrens’ plaything in the adventure playground. The newsreel can be viewed at http://www.britishpathe.com/video/home-made-playground.

I hope no-one who works for Health and Safety watches that, otherwise they’ll go completely crackers…:p

Please forgive me dragging this corpse back to life after nearly five years but only today have I come across a 1967 Pathé newsreel concerning the Cherry Lane Adventure Playground, in Langley Green, Crawley, that shows the remains of the Bristol Sycamore serving as a childrens’ plaything in the adventure playground. The newsreel can be viewed at http://www.britishpathe.com/video/home-made-playground.

Please forgive me dragging this corpse back to life after nearly five years but only today have I come across a 1967 Pathé newsreel concerning the Cherry Lane Adventure Playground, in Langley Green, Crawley, that shows the remains of the Bristol Sycamore serving as a childrens’ plaything in the adventure playground. The newsreel can be viewed at http://www.britishpathe.com/video/home-made-playground.

As 442`s pictures show,the droop stops prevent excessive drooping of the blades,when the rotor is starting/ stopping.They are basically a `wedge` between the blades and the rotor head,and act by `flying -out` under centrigugal force,against spring pressure,as RRPM increase,and `fly-in` as it reduces,usually at about 20-30 % of RRPM.They are usually painted a contrasting colour to the rotorhead components,so that the marshaller/crewman can see if they are `all-in/out`.On the Sycamore they look like `lollipops -on -stick` and the weights protrude above the rotor-head…Rigid -rotor heads don`t need them of course….

Chinooks we never bothered with, but Wessex, Puma and Seakings we did, Wessex were prone to chopping the tail off in high winds with a stop stuck out, when the blades are flying they have the full range of movement and clear the tail, when stopping or starting they sag so the full range would then cause contact, hence the stops, Wessex and Pumas etc we used self adhesive dayglo tape to make them more visible….. If you had one stick out you would try repeated attempts to shut down, if that failed a fire engine was used to direct high pressure water onto it to try and knock it in, I once on a really stuck one watched a rigger lying on the main rotor gearbox platform trying to hit it with a hide face hammer as if came around, there were hammers everywhere lol, it worked!……….. other methods have been simply to taxy into the hangar burning and turning, shut the doors and shut down indoors…….. before you are aghast at that, on SAR if the wind limits was out for start up, they would get it running and turning in the shed, open the doors and taxy out…….. bloody noise and dust levels were unreal…… On Jags you would get a pair running in the HAS on exercise before opening up and letting em out…… that was the equivalent of about 40 fags a day….. your eyes would smart as one engine on both were pointing at the rear wall, not out the rear doors

Well lets see, you’d need to overhaul the engine, airframe, blades, gearboxes, refit new perspexes and controls, instruments, electrics, fuel system, new blades……not to mention design support for an extinct flying type…….Never, is the word you are looking for

when wil this aircraft be flying then?

As 442`s pictures show,the droop stops prevent excessive drooping of the blades,when the rotor is starting/ stopping.They are basically a `wedge` between the blades and the rotor head,and act by `flying -out` under centrigugal force,against spring pressure,as RRPM increase,and `fly-in` as it reduces,usually at about 20-30 % of RRPM.They are usually painted a contrasting colour to the rotorhead components,so that the marshaller/crewman can see if they are `all-in/out`.On the Sycamore they look like `lollipops -on -stick` and the weights protrude above the rotor-head…Rigid -rotor heads don`t need them of course….

Droop stops are part of the rotor head, rather than the blade ground supports seen in the other photograph. By design, the blades are allowed to move up and down during normal flight, but must be locked as the rotorhead slows down to a stop.

http://www.helistart.com/Pictures/rotorheads/_MG_5946Droop.jpg

http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/maintenance/issues/droop_stops/droop_stop.htm

The blade supports in the Farnborough photo are to stop the blades bouncing around during windy conditions while the aircraft is parked. With Sea Kings, we fitted ‘tip socks’ which slipped over the blade tips and were then tied to the sponsons or lower fuselage with a length of rope.

http://www.sonsofdamien.co.uk/sea%20king%20marks_files/image016.jpg

I would guess that, since the main rotor blades are laminated wood attached to steel roots, that that is to prevent the blades from becoming warped by being allowed to droop over long periods (as well as to prevent people from knocking their heads into the blades).

I know that what is in the pic is different from what is described in this 1958 Flight Global article, but I found this interesting (any clue what is being described?):
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958%20-%200353.html

The blades are supported when at rest or turning slowly by droop stops which ensure the necessary clearance between the blades and the fuselage for starting and stopping in high or gusty winds. When the rotor speed exceeds approximately 100 r.p.m., these stops are withdrawn, leaving the full freedom of movement which is essential for flight. These stops ensure that the minimum clearance between the main rotor blades and the ground is 6ft 10in. The rotor can be started or stopped in winds of at least 50 kt and on board a ship rolling through 24 deg.

I love the blade supports in that photo – never seen anything like that before. Slim and elegant. For aesthetic or engineering reasons, I wonder?

Bristol Sycamore WA577

Hello Scott

Phil is correct: the markings that WA577 has today (and has worn since NEAM acquired it) are the markings that she has always had.

As proof, check this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/giantrider/2071441268/in/set-72157603321217109 which is of WA577 at the 1950 SBAC Show at Farnborough.

She looks the same as she does today, only very shiny and highly polished!

if you can please Phil, would be appreciated