6106 x 4044 px | 51,7 x 34,2 cm | 20,4 x 13,5 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
2001
Ubicazione:
Shawbury Shrewsbury Shropshire
Altre informazioni:
RAF Shawbury Our mission is to provide the United Kingdom’s Armed Forces with highly trained helicopter aircrew, air traffic controllers and flight operations personnel, and to prepare our people for deployment on operations anywhere in the world Westland built sixteen Wessex 60s, based on the RAF's HC.2 model, for Bristow Helicopters, between 1965 and 1975, to replace some of the Widgeons and Whirlwinds in their fleet, which serviced the expanding UK and overseas offshore oil and gas exploration sector. The seventh Westland Wessex Series 60 to be built, G-AVNE, Con.No. WA/561, a 16 passenger civil transport with twin 1350 shp Rolls-Royce Gnome H1200, Mk.660, turboshaft engines, was delivered to Bristow, at Redhill, in 1967. It was the first long-range Series 60 and, soon after delivery, was despatched to Sunderland, N.E. England, where it operated in support of one of the early offshore oil rigs, 'Glomar IV'. In 1970 G-AVNE was flown out to Kuantan, in Malaysia, and transferred to Bristow's Far East operations, serving successively in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and back to Malaysia, each time with appropriate re-registration. It returned to the UK in 1973. In 1974 G-AVNE was transferred to the Warri base in Nigeria, again to support offshore oil rigs. It was re-registered as 5N-AJL and remained in Nigeria until 1981 when, following three unexplained accidents to Wessex 60s, it was withdrawn from service and returned, via Redhill, to Westland in Weston-super-Mare. In 1987, following three years in storage at Hurn Airport near Bournemouth, G-AVNE was bought by The Helicopter Museum for static display at the Museum (right), which, at that time, was sited adjacent to the Westland factory in Weston-super-Mare. GAV 1018
