Article: Historic Helicopters

Tucked away in the rolling hills of Somerset just off the A30 between Chard and Crewkerne lies Whitehouse Farm home to the Chard Equestrian Centre, but also home to one of the fastest growing private collections of Helicopters. Historic Helicopters is the brain child of former soldier Andrew Whitehouse. Operating a plethora of Westland built helicopters.

The story starts when Andrew bought Westland Whirlwind HAR10 XJ729 (G-BVGE) in 2013. The whirlwind is no stranger to the southwest however with it being previously owned by Brian Austen owner of Oaksey Park Airfield before heading out to Ireland where Andrew was given the opportunity to fly it with owner Jim Kelly, Jim unfortunately fell ill and wanted to see the Whirlwind go to a safe home and eventually convinced Andrew to take on the 1950’s built Search and Rescue helicopter. If there was one aircraft in the Chard based fleet that Andrew is very partial to it has to be this one, any of the other airframes, however the Whirlwind is his and only his.

It was whilst attending the 2013 Yeovilton Air Day with the Whirlwind that Andrew was approached by Captain Nick Blackman Royal Navy,  enquiring if he would be interested in restoring a Wessex to flight. little did anyone know that 6 years later XT761 (G-WSEX) a 1967 built Westland Wessex HU5 returned to the skies of the now named Royal Navy Airshow to open the flying display information with a pair of Westland Wasps and followed by their modern day counterparts of a Agusta Westland Merlin HM2 and Agusta Westland Wildcat HMA2. Arriving in Chard in July 2017. In the hands of Captain Steve Daniels RN (ret’d) Chief Pilot of Historic Helicopters and Rotary Wing Test Pilot Instructor at the Empire Test Pilot School, MOD Boscombe down, a thorough five hour test program was devised with a cautious and progressive approach. which started with rotor engaged engine runs, hover checks, and finally flying away from the circuit and conducting ground taxing and brake testing at nearby RNAS Yeovilton.  XT761 isn’t the only Wessex to have graced the grounds of Chard along with 761 another mk5 was purchased by Historic Helicopters XT771 itself a veteran of the Falklands War, XT672 a mk2 Wessex preserved as a gate guard with the Tactical Support Wing at RAF Stafford who asked Historic Helicopters to cosmetically restore the aircraft in return the chard based engineers were able to remove any airworthy parts they required, XS507 a Mk5 that was previously a gate guard for 606 (Chiltern) Sqn RAuxAF, RAF Benson another machine purchased for spare parts, this particular airframe has now made its way to superb South Wales Aviation Museum, at St Athan Airfield, South Wales.

Quite possibly the most iconic aircraft in the Hangar at Chard is the Westland Sea King HAR3. After the Red Arrows its fair to say that the yellow Search and Rescue helicopters are the aircraft the general public would associate with the Royal Air Force.  The first airframe XZ597 (G-SKNG) was delivered from Witham (Specialist Vehicles) Ltd in December 2017 and undertook a two year rebuild which was broadcast on Yesterday TV’s Warbird Workshop Series two after the success of the Wessex restoration on series one. XZ597 took to the air in the hands of Captain Steve Daniels.

The Second Mk3 Sea King XZ588 (G-SEAK)  in the squadron colours of 202 Sqn. After retiring from RAF Service in 2015 588 became an instructional airframe with Standard Aero’s Fleetlands, Gosport Facility Completing its permit to test in June 2020.

Sea King HC4 ZA314 (G-CMDO) in the hands of Captain Steve Daniels, Co-Pilot Jayne Gregory and Crewman Andy Vaines carried out the public display debut in civilian hands of a Westland Sea King at the  Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden on 4th July 2021 after completing a ten month long restoration. Delta Oscar was taken out of service from QinetiQ’s test fleet at MOD Boscombe Down in December 2015 and transferred to Whittle Hangar,  Defense School of Aeronautical Engineering, HMS Sultan, Gosport where the MOD were storing the vast majority of retired Sea King’s prior to onward disposal, arriving in Chard in January 2020. However this wasn’t the first Junglie Sea King to arrive. with ZF122 arriving from Witham (Specialist Vehicles) Ltd in December 2017 however due to the amount of work needed to return it to flight due to a number of undocumented Urgent Operational Requirements and the large amount of sand that had accumulated in the airframe, this airframe had in fact been retired from service straight from Operation Herrick in Southern Afghanistan and sent directly to HMS Sultant. In between the many other projects that the engineering team at Historic Helicopters has to deal with good progress is being made with the restoration of the second Mk4 Sea King.

With multiple airframes representing both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, it was only a mater of time before ex Royal Engineer Andrew acquired an ex British Army helicopter. The Airframe in question a Westland Lynx AH7 last saw service with No. 657 Squadron Army Air Corps operating from RAF Odiham, within part of the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing. Arriving along with 588 from Fleetland’s at the end of April 2020 the main hangar suddenly became very busy. The Lynx AH7 retired from service with the Army Air Corps in 2015 which would normally mean spare parts would be easy to come by, however due to the commonality of parts between the the AH Model and the maritime lynx which is still in service with ten air arms, along with commonality with the Wildcat airframe certain parts have been hard to come by. A second non airworthy lynx AH7 Cabin XZ220 was purchased to be used as a parts donor however one particular part were extremally hard to come by the Main Rotor Head Tie-bars these key parts have a shelf life of five years or six years if they are fitted to the aircraft, these parts had to be machine in the USA at great cost. After being issues a Permit to Test in late October 2021, 24 hours later the first test flight was successful and less than three weeks later its full flight test program was successfully completed and a Permit to Fly was applied for.

Waiting in the wings for restoration to flight is ex Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Sea King HU5SAR XV647, this particular airframe has saved hundreds of people including being involved in the MSC Napoli rescue off the coast of Lyme Regis on the 18th January 2007. Rescuing twenty six sailors which had abandoned the container ship due to a breached hull. Entering service in 1988 replacing the Wessex 5 which had a limited range for long range SAR in the Atlantic ocean. the HU5SAR was a modified HAS5 the anti submarine variant of the Sea King. Modifications included the removal of all sonar and sonics role equipment, equipping then cabin with troop seats, bubble windows and  sea tray to contain salt water (and bodily fluids) for sea winching procedures, a search light fitted to the winch and an additional foot step was added to the cabin doorway. 14 Sea King HU5SAR’s were converted finally retiring in March 2016 although three airframes still remain on the military register operated by long time supporter of Historic Helicopters Heli Operations Ltd at Portland HLS.

For many years the Historic Helicopters team have said they’d like to smell the smell of Avgas in the Chard air. After scouring the country for a suitable airframe including the Dragonfly HR5 at the North East Land Sea and Air Museum, Andrew, Chief Pilot Steve Daniels and Chief Engineer Dave Wells went to Sloane Helicopters at Sywell who for the last six years has had stored in the back of a hangar Westland WS.51 Widgeon 2 G-ANLW. Transported down to Chard in October 2021 it is hoped that a restoration to airworthiness can be achieved in due course.

Also arriving in October 2021 but from slightly further afield than Sywell was RS-02 (OO-SEA) and RS-04 (OO-KNG) a pair of ex Belgian Air Component Mk48 Sea King’s. A story that could be its own separate article in its own right. After 43 years in service with the Belgian Air Component the Mk48 Sea King’s were retired in March 2019.  it was at the Royal Navy Airshow 2019 at Yeovilton whilst displaying the Wessex in the flying display and Whirlwind in the static display that Andrew was approached by a member of the Belgian Air Component’s Alouette III crew. Informing him that two of the five ex Koksijde based search and rescue Helicopters were soon to be up for disposal twelve months later with a huge amount of support from one of the Cabin Operators on 40 Squadron, Historic Helicopters had successfully purchased RS-02  and RS-04. With a team of five current and ex serving Belgian Air Component Sea King Engineers and Crew performing preventative maintenance until a time aloud that Historic Helicopters were able to make their way across the north Sea to take charge of the two Mk48’s.

As well as Historic Helicopters, Whitehouse has operated a number of private helicopters over the years from Schweizer 269C-1/300 to Sikorsky S-76A+. Regularly accompanying the Whirlwind around the airshow circuit would be Agusta-Bell 206B JetRanger II G-OCST later to become 2-OCTS and Agusta A.109’s 2-LIFT and G-DIDO, and we hope that the same came be said with Andrew’s latest personal acquisition M-LIFT a Sikorsky S-76A+

Walking into Historic Helicopters facility in Chard, you can’t escape from noticing the professionalism of the outfit. From a purpose built briefing room, to overnight accommodation, café, bar and pizzeria even providing their own Fire fighting and Rescue Service with their two dedicated fire trucks.it really does feel like a military unit with a hint of equine thrown in for good measure. We’ve been fortunate to visit Squadron crew rooms across Europe and we think its fair to say the set up at Chard is certainly in our top two.

From early on it was evident Historic Helicopters is more than just one man and a collection of helicopters. within their aims listed on their website they hope to engage with a broad range of of the public from the early years; beavers and cub scouts right the way through to Ex-service personnel associations, but one that deserves special mention is there relationship with Bridgewater College, Since very early on in the Wessex restoration Historic Helicopters have hosted two aeronautical engineering students every term time week, allowing the next generation of aircraft engineers get hands on with airworthy aircraft under the expert tutorage and supervision of Dave Wells and his team, one success story of many is a young female who since working on the Wessex restoration with Historic Helicopters has gone on to gain an apprenticeship with Leonardo Helicopters at their Yeovil Facility.

Its easy to hope that a fleet of Westland helicopters that has grown so rapidly will continue to grow, however its also very easy to overlook that this private collection is larger than many air arms of NATO member states and the operating and maintenance costs must be phenomenal all of which is funded by one individual.

If you would like to find out more about Historic Helicopters including Update’s on projects, in far more depth than you would see published anywhere else, behind the scene footage, Historic Helicopter memorabilia and a exclusive area at the Historic Helicopter Open Days you can join their supporters club for just £10 a month here

South West Aviation Photographers would like to thank all at Historic Helicopters for making this article possible.

Report by Matt Sudol, Gary Morris & Kevin Slade

© South West Aviation Photographers 2022