Like some of you out there, my daily commitments and specialist aviation interests result in only a partial read of my monthly Flypast, homing onto the articles that really interest me. Every now and then I pull my socks up and decide to read the mag from cover to cover usually done when spending time on ‘the throne’.
Fortunately for me, my ‘throne’ reading this month enabled me to read of the saving and restoration of Whirlwind HAS1 XA870, and it’s relocation from the Flambards Village Theme Park to Aeroventure, home of the Yorkshire Helicopter Preservation Group (YHPG), at the former Doncaster airfield. It’s a really interesting story of the planning involved, the physical disassembly of the rare Mk 1 helicopter, and it’s restoration and reassembly, by a small group of dedicated individuals. If it had not been for their efforts, this aircraft would not have been saved. I know that helicopters (or ‘egg-beaters’ as Moggy calls them) are not everyones cup of tea, but they are as much a part of our aviation heritage as fixed-wing aircraft.
Those mentioned in Flypast were: Allan Beattie, David Burke (Hi David), Mike Fitch, David Edwards, Brian Dixon, Steve Hague, ‘The Flambards Team’, the Cornish farmer with a forklift, Ray McElwain, Marie Taylor, Kev Lewis, Peter Clayphon, James, Gemma, Dave Knowlson, Bill Bartlett, The HMS Protector Association, Steve Hague, Tony Harrison, Mansfield Spong, and Bill Barltett.
Well done to everyone involved, the helicopter looks great 🙂
By: scott c - 15th September 2003 at 11:51
hi all
Joe is right we do have a lot of egg beaters at doncaster some belong to the yorkshire helicopter preservation group who are based at aeroventure and the rest belong to the museum.
They are:-
YHPG
Whirlwind HAS.1 XA870
Whirlwind HAR.10 XJ398
Whirlwind HAR.10 XP345- Under Restoration
Sioux AH.1 XT242
Museum:-
Robinson R.22B G-DELB- Under Restoration
Skeeter AOP.12 XM561
Whirlwind HAR.9 XN386
Scout AH.1 XP190
Scout AH.1 XP902- cockpit section
Wessex HU.5 XS481 – Under restoration
Sycamore HR.14- Under Restoration
I think thats all of them. The helicopter group have been donated a blister hanger when this has been constucted all the helicopters should be going into that hanger.
Scott C
By: Joe Petroni - 15th September 2003 at 11:30
And finally:
By: Joe Petroni - 15th September 2003 at 11:26
They have quite a colection of Helicopters at Doncaster:
By: Joe Petroni - 15th September 2003 at 11:20
They have made a nice job of the Whirlwind, and for those of us who havn’t seen it in Flypast:
By: mike currill - 14th September 2003 at 09:32
Originally posted by scott c
To everyoneDont just look at the pic’s in flypast come down to aeroventure in doncaster and have a look the helicopter guy’s have done an amazing job i didnt have anything to do with the resteration (too buys with my lightning) but i did see it slowly coming back together and it look great at the roll out day.
Scott C
Sorry, it’s still the wrong sort of whirlwind the only thing right is the manufacturer
By: scott c - 7th September 2003 at 20:20
To everyone
Dont just look at the pic’s in flypast come down to aeroventure in doncaster and have a look the helicopter guy’s have done an amazing job i didnt have anything to do with the resteration (too buys with my lightning) but i did see it slowly coming back together and it look great at the roll out day.
Scott C
Sign In
September 7, 2003 at 7:31 pm