Top right: The band let loose in the museum for the hangar dance.

Centre right: The Mill Auto convention housed in our hangar. Bottom right: A Westland Lynx Mk9A visits from Middle Wallop. Bottom left: A classic car club visits the museum to appreciate a very different type of engineering. Centre Left: A close up of our Hind showing the engineering that lies beneath the panels. Top Left: A marriage proposal on the helipad; She said YES!

News Hangar Dance: September saw one of our most renowned events return to the museum in spectacular fashion. The annual Hangar Dance once again drew in the crowds for an evening of 40/50s themed fun and frolics.

Tour guide Tutors Saunders-Roe (Saro) Skeeter: AOP Mk. 12 XL811: (Written by the museum tour guide team) XL811 was assembled at Eastleigh, Hampshire, after transfer from the Cowes IoW factory in 1958. As a twoseat army observation helicopter it was the twenty-fourth production aircraft and made its first flight on the 6th of February 1959. XL811 First saw service with 651 Squadron Advanced Helicopter Flight for pilot training. It later served with 656 Squadron BAOR in Germany. It was withdrawn from use and placed in storage in December 1967 and later purchased and delivered by road to Weston in September 1992.

Everyone that attended can attest that there was a really great atmosphere at the event; made even more fun with the costumes worn by the guests and museum volunteers! Mill Auto Trading Festival: The museum is constantly branching out to companies and organisations that need venues. Mill Auto loved our hangar and so did all of their customers. A number of different companies attended and it is safe to say a good deal of business took place.

The AOP Mk. 12 was powered by a DH Gypsy Major 160kw engine and had a rotor diameter of 9.76m. The length was 8.10m and the height was 2.29m. The max speed was 167km/h, service ceiling 3900m and the range was 340km.

One product on display, and a firm crowd favourite, was the Ariel Atom made famous worldwide by the motoring show Top Gear. If you would like to use our hanger for an event please contact Lee Mills or Sharon Webber.

In addition to XL811, the museum recently took delivery of four Skeeter pods and five tail booms. All had served with the AAC in Germany.

Restoration News XM328: (Written by Chris Hallewell) XM328 was built at Yeovil in 1959 as a pre-production HAS.1 anti-submarine helicopter for the Royal Navy, powered by a single Napier Gazelle engine. Between 1965 and 1968 forty-three Wessex HAS.1s, including XM328, were upgraded to HAS.3 specification. This included a new ARI 5955 search radar, with the aerial in the characteristic dorsal dome, a Plessey Type 195 dipping sonar system, an uprated 1650 shp Napier Gazelle engine. The HAS.3 had the ability to carry two small homing torpedoes or four depth charges and featured a full automatic flight control system, giving altitude and heading control with barometric or radar altimeter height hold. From 1970 XM328 was stationed at Portland, Dorset, in a training role, with 737 Naval Air Squadron and later from the stern platforms of several County Class destroyers.

Restoration News In 1984 XM328 was transferred to RNAS Culdrose and used for training, for the next twenty years, by the School of Flight Deck Operations, before sale to The Helicopter Museum in 2004. In June 2007 XM238 was brought into the recentlycompleted Museum Engineering Hangar where refurbishment and conservation work began. By October 2010 the main gearbox, with most of the transmission deck components, had been removed, overhauled and repainted, where necessary, before reassembly. Much of the cockpit and cabin equipment has been cleaned and refurbished with the remaining instrument and control panels overhauled and partly re-equipped. Corrosion was found in several external and internal aluminium skin panels and these were treated appropriately, or replaced, before etch primer was applied followed by finishing coats of paint. Painting of the exterior should be near completion by the end of 2012.

Towards the end of the 1970s most Wessex HAS.3 helicopters had been replaced by Westland Sea Kings but a few, including XM328, remained in service until after the Falklands conflict in 1982. One of these, XP142 (Humphrey), seriously damaged near San Carlos Water, was replaced by XM328 on HMS Antrim for her second three month deployment to the South Atlantic, in November 1982.

It was thought that the areas below the cabin floor, where most of the flexible fuel tanks are housed, would show severe corrosion due to the possible ingress of sea water from dipping sonar operations. Only very small areas of such corrosion were found. Dear volunteers: With the winter months upon us the environment in the hangar is going through a great deal of change. This poses a number of challenges for the museum, not least the conservation of our aircraft. If you notice anything strange concerning the museum collection please let a member of staff know. Catching an issue early could help us to avoid big problems.

Restoration News Team Faireys visit to the Midland Air Museum: (Written by Mike Lait) On Thursday the 11th of October the team restoring the Fairey Ultra-Light visited the Midland Air Museum at Coventry. The museum houses the only other surviving Ultra-Light in the world. The Coventry machine is more complete than the one at our museum and the purpose of the visit was to sketch, measure and photograph missing parts so that realistic replicas can be made.

Photograph competition Instead of the usual photograph competition, this week I am going to show off Mike Costellos travel pictures for us all to enjoy. Mike visited a number of aviation museums in America and has some fantastic pictures of some even more fantastic aircraft. Cheers Mike!

Presidential Sea King.

Much time was spent on the top of a step ladder recording details of the rotor head assembly. As a bonus the Coventry Air Museum donated their spare collective pitch control lever which will now be cleaned up and fitted to our Ultra-Light.

R-4 Hoverfly.

New Volunteers Please welcome the following volunteers to the museum: Mandy Lloyd front of house

If you know anyone that has a particular skill set that we could use point them in our direction.

US Navy Seahawk.

Archive News Work in the archives has been busy as usual. Work is divided between volunteers entering newly donated items into the system and the preserving and organising of the existing collection (a mighty task indeed). The archive database system now holds 3688 items, with plenty more to come. Amongst the latest items to be entered into the archives, the most numerous have been manuals for a wide variety of helicopter models. We have an extremely impressive air publication collection, with most shelves full to the brim and looking like this!

Two minutes with Dick Cavil This week Dick Cavil gives us his thoughts on the museum and provides us with some information about his lifelong love of all things aviation. Dick is a restoration and conservation volunteer at the museum and has currently been working on keeping our display aircraft up to scratch. How long have you been at the museum? Three and a half years What did you do before joining the museum? I have spent my whole life working in various aspects of aviation. I joined the RAF after leaving school. I then worked with Westland Helicopters at W-s-M. I then spent 4 years as a trainer in the Royal Saudi Air Force. Finally I worked for BAC/BAE systems/Airbus at Filton until retirement 5 years ago. What has been your best experience at the museum? Being able to have contact with aviation again and volunteer with like minded people, also to converse with visiting public on aviation matters.

What would you like to see happen at the museum in the future? I would like to see the expansion of the museum to allow more space to display the exhibits and acquire the adjacent land to enable development of the restoration part of the museum with maybe even an education aspect included.

With many new items constantly being donated, the office had begun to become extremely cluttered with items being stored here, there and everywhere. Restoration guru Greg offered to construct some shelving to make the office a lot safer and to protect items in progress. Cheers Greg, smashing job!

Spotters section Spotter information about the aircraft that have landed at the museum in the last 2 months for all you spotters out there: September: Date, Type, Registration, Flown From: 07.09.2012, Lynx Mk9A, XE375, Middle Wallop 10.09.2012, Lynx, ?, ? 13.09.2012, Squirrel, ZJ263, Middle Wallop 17.09.2012, Lynx Mk9A, ? Yeovilton 25.09.2012, Bell 206, MFMF, Chard

Spotters section Continued August: Date, Type, Registration, Flown From: 05.10.2012, Merlin, ?, RAF Benson 14.10.2012, Bell 206, MFMF, Chard 18.10.2012, Merlin, ?, RAF Benson 22.10.2012, A109, G-EVIP, Liskeard 24.10.2012, Merlin, ?, RAF Benson 26.10.2012, Lynx, ?, Middle Wallop Announcements Jump Jet for Helicopter Museum: An experimental Harrier Jump-Jet used by Rolls-Royce in the 1980s to test a modified engine for a potential supersonic version, has become the first fixed-wing aeroplane to join the vertical flight collection at The Helicopter Museum in Weston-super-Mare.

Upcoming events November: November 4th Open Cockpit day and flights. December: December 9th - Christmas fun day Santas flight school and flights. Any additional offers of help from volunteers for the above events would be warmly received. Please contact Lee Mills if you can lend a hand. Interesting visitors The following groups have all enjoyed tours around our museum in the past couple of months. Mill Auto Ashcombe Cubs St Stephens Men Crossroads Carers

If you would like to visit the museum with a group, we can offer a guided tour to give you specialist information about our unique collection. Visitor Feedback Just a few comments from the museum visitor book: Previously with the BAC Collection and Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust at Kemble in Gloucestershire, the Harrier has recently been moved by road and will temporarily be stored until it can be re-assembled to go on permanent display at the Weston attraction. The aircraft uses a much-modified airframe with the nose and tail of one Harrier (XV798) and the wing of another (XW264), married to a specially-built centre section. This houses a vectored-thrust Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine modified with plenum chamber burning (PCB). A form of reheat, whereby fuel is mixed with unburnt oxygen in the engine exhaust to provide a ramjet effect, PCB can double the engine thrust but also results in much higher exhaust temperatures. Loved the Huey, fantastic time Lovely atmosphere, kids loved it! Great flight + fantastic day Truly amazing + memorable experience Excellent value day out, interesting, kids loved it! Well preserved aircraft, very pleasant staff

Hire The Museum!

Do you have a Birthday or anniversary coming up? Have you thought about Hiring your village hall for a party? The Helicopter Museum is available for public hire and is not as expensive as you might think. We already have several private events booked in for 2012 with groups ranging from 50-500 people. If you are interested in aviation, the museum can provide a unique backdrop for your special day. Please contact Lee Mills or Sharon Webber for details.

Other Ways You Can Help?

There are many ways in which you can volunteer to help The Helicopter Museum. Many of us have our own set duties in our own little section of the museum; but there are many times throughout the year when all volunteers including outside supporters can branch out and get involved in a number of ways, raising funds being one of the main ones. If volunteers would like to play their part and help the museum raise funds and secure its future, please have a chat with either Lee or Sharon. The museum is always desperate for volunteers to help out at its events and you can play your part in many ways. When was the last time you took some museum leaflets to your local pub, club or school? Have you ever pinned up a museum event flyer on your local village notice board? Could you give up an hour or so to help prepare for an event? Have you given unwanted items to a charity shop recently, could they have been given to the museum to sell on its bric-a-brac stalls? Please don't just leave it for other people to do, play your part and support the museum you volunteer at.

Your Museum Needs You!

How to contact us?

Tel: 01934-635227, Email: helimuseum@btconnect.com Website: www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Whilst it is easy to forget, The Helicopter Museum is indeed a charity. Aircraft do not preserve themselves and a big part of what the museum does is conservation and restoration based. The acquisition, preservation and restoration of aircraft, some of which are the only existing examples left in the world, takes place on a daily basis at the museum so that our aircraft can be enjoyed for generations to come. If you would like to help us in our task by contributing to the restoration budget, then please fill in the form below and send it off to us.

Your Donation
I would like to support the Helicopter Museum in their efforts to conserve and restore aircraft and educate the public about vertical flight history and technology with a gift of: 10 Name: Phone Number: Email Address: Home Address: Postcode: I enclose a cheque made payable to The Helicopter Museum Help us further by using gift aid Thanks to the gift aid scheme we can reclaim money on your donation from the government. For every pound you give us, we can claim an extra 25p. For example, a donation of 15 becomes 18.75 with gift aid at no extra cost to you. I am a UK taxpayer and would like The Helicopter Museum to treat all future donations from today as gift aid donations. I understand that in the relevant tax year I must pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains tax at least equal to the tax that the charity reclaims on my donation. Signature: Please return this form in an envelope to: The Helicopter Museum, Locking Moor Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, BS24 8PP 20 30 50 100 Other