Helicopters 75 Years! Part-One.

Come a long Way!

The day of the helicopter is not yet over, despite many new drones are cheaper than keeping an helicopter in the sky? The helicopter derived from gyro-dynamics in aircraft to act like an early form of the Boeing-Vertol Osprey BV-22, which still occupies U.S. military research into the development and deployment of much newer and stable platform, which is changing the battlefield from science-fiction to reality!

Today nearly anyone can go up in a helicopter from pleasure flying to search and rescue? The small machines are in the Robinson family, while Bell and Sikorsky have held both the military and commercial market, go to any horse racing event and there are more helicopters between the tracks now parked up since riders cover more than one meeting a day?

The largest machines are still dominated by the Russians and Ukrainians with the Mil Mi-26 capable of carrying three tracked vehicles and one hundred and twenty-five combat troops! This helicopter was a development of the Mi-6 well known is Russia as the Cow because it was slow and vulnerable to ground rocket fire?

Mid range giants are the Chinook, Boeing-Vertol CH-47, which has been around since the Vietnam wars of the 1960s and the Sikorsky CH-53 Super stallion, S-92 SAR after that is the successful Westland-Leonardo EH-101 and the various derivatives of the Puma SA-330 to the H332 Super Puma that dominates the North Sea oil and gas supply rigs and wind turbines.

Europe has also taken the lead of the world market with the H-135/145 helicopter in Air Ambulance and police, electric line work along with several other smaller types?

Wales Airshow 2015. Part-Two.

Aircraft.

The Red Arrows in their stylish painted BAE Systems Hawks are a regular, despite the dull weather. The RAF Eurofighter Typhoon stole the show with its victory roles and tight manoeuvres, while classics such as the Hawker Hunter and the Avro Vulcan bomber made noisy performances.

Visitors were the Royal Jordanian display team who were only seen prior to the weekend show, the Czech L-29 Delphin showed off what it could do. it being one of the lesser known combat fighters of the Warsaw Pact during the 'Cold War years.

An Auto-Gyro was pleasant to watch and so the helicopters of the Royal Navy AW-159 Wildcats, Sea King WS-61 SAR, RAF Boeing-Vertol Chinook and the AS-355 Squirrel DHFS. A Cessna 208B Grand Caravan flew over prior to the drop of the Tigers Parachute team.

The local Swansea Ospreys in their five Vans RV-8s replaced the Royal Jordanians.

Clutha.

One Year On.

After the sad crash of a Eurocopter, now Aerospastial EC-135 in Glasgow last year, there is still no report published on what was the cause of this crash. Eurocopter has meanwhile changed hands, is this a clue to an ongoing problem with the type or just business.

The EC-135 was the development of the Kawasaki-117, which was a great step foward in helicopter design. 

Meanwhile the helicopter is and will remain an essential kit for the emergency service, search and rescue and the military until the Boeing V-22 Osprey and its succesive types become more popular.