Westland Whirlwind HAR10 – 1563 Flight RAF, Nicosia 1973

Corgi Aviation Archive 1/72 scale AA39104: Westland Whirlwind HAR10, XP345 of 1563 Flight, RAF Nicosia, Cyprus in 1973. Finished in grey and green camouflage with UN insignia. Limited edition of 1,000 pieces.

Length 10.5 inches Rotorspan 8.75 inches

First flying in 1962, Whirlwind XP345 was delivered to the Central Flying School at Ternhill, where it served for a number of years before suffering an engine failure and crash landing on Snowdonia. Returned to Westland at Yeovil for repair in 1968, it was then allocated to 202 Squadron, and was then in turn attached to 1563 Flight at Nicosia, Cyprus in 1970.
XP345 served with the UN detachment in Cyprus throughout the 1970s, suffering bullet damage on a number of occasions and helping to resupply the UN garrison on the island during this troubled part of the island’s history.
After being retired from RAF service in the early 1980s it was preserved and is now at the Aeroventure Museum. It is also the only preserved machine in UN colours in the United Kingdom.

As well as being used extensively by both the Royal Navy and the RAF in Search and Rescue roles, the Whirlwind was also used by the RAF and the British Army as a general transport helicopter, dropping men and supplies into conflict zones and moving items between bases. This particular Whirlwind, XP330, was used in this capacity during the insurgency in Borneo, moving men of the Australian SAS around the jungle to combat patrols by Indonesian forces. It is in roles like this that the helicopter is vital and the Whirlwind excelled. 230 Squadron RAF operated the Whirlwind from the early 1950s until 1971 whereupon it converted to the then new Puma, of which it continues to fly today from its base at RAF Benson. XP330 ended its days being used for fire training before being scrapped.

The Westland Whirlwind helicopter was a British licence-built version of the U.S. Sikorsky S-55/H-19 Chickasaw. It primarily served with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in anti-submarine and search and rescue roles.

In 1950, Westland Aircraft, already building the American Sikorsky S-51 under license as the Westland Dragonfly, purchased the rights to manufacture and sell Sikorsky’s larger Sikorsky S-55 helicopter. While a Sikorsky-built pattern aircraft was flown by Westland in June 1951, converting the design to meet British standards (including the provision of a revised main-rotor gearbox), was time consuming, and the first prototype British aircraft, registered G-AMJT, powered by the 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-40 Wasp did not fly until August 1953. This was followed by ten Whirlwind HAR.1s, which entered service shortly afterwards. They served in non-combat roles, including search and rescue and communications functions. The HAR.3 had a larger 700 hp Wright R-1300-3 Cyclone 7 engine.

The performance of early versions was limited by the power of the American Wasp or Cyclone engines, and in 1955, the HAR.5, powered by the more powerful British power plant, the Alvis Leonides Major, flew for the first time. This was followed by the similarly powered HAS.7, which became the first British helicopter designed for anti-submarine warfare in the front-line when it entered service in 1957. It could either be equipped with a dipping Sonar for submarine detection or carry a torpedo, but could not carry both simultaneously, so sonar equipped “Hunters” were used to direct torpedo armed “Killers”. The HAS.7 was powered by a 750 hp (560 kW) Alvis Leonides Major 755/1 radial engine. It had a hovering ceiling at 9,400 ft and a range of 334 miles at 86 mph.

Later in their lives, some HAR.7s were converted to use the Rolls-Royce Gnome turboshaft engine.

After entering service with the Royal Navy, the Whirlwind came to be used by the British Army and Royal Air Force. More than 400 Whirlwinds were built, of which nearly 100 were exported to foreign customers.