One weekend, I was at Boeing Field for a visiting warbird. I was pleasantly surprised to see some US Marine Corps helicopters across the field too. A combination of UH-1Y Venoms and AH-1Z Vipers were on the ramp. I had no idea if or when they would fly. However, luck was on my side as a Venom/Viper pair fired up and launched on a training mission. The rest stayed on the ramp while I was there but this pair taxied out to the main runway and then departed past my location. A nice extra!
Our vacation in the UK wasn’t about aviation exploits but, if an opportunity presents itself, it would be churlish not to follow up. I had made arrangements to visit my friend Paul while I was in Hampshire and, halfway between us is Middle Wallop, home of Army aviation in the UK and also a museum. I guess that would be a good place to meet up.
The museum isn’t large but it has recently gone through some refurbishment and it is definitely a good place to spend a couple of hours. Army aviation has a strong rotary element to it but there has also been plenty of fixed wing activity. The collection is a good reflection of both. I will save one exhibit for a separate post but there are plenty of others. The Lynx was a big part of the Army’s fleet for many years and the example that they have in the first hangar is actually a development airframe that has been restored. The three windows on the cabin door are the most conspicuous identification item. There is another operational Lynx in the second hangar too.
A selection of Austers are included in the displays. There is also a Scout (with a second one on the grass by the parking lot). An Agusta 109 is tucked away too. This example was in service with Argentina in the Falklands and was co-opted by the UK forces when they took control. It was used for support to the SAS along with a second example. They ended up buying two more so I guess they worked well. The Beaver was also used extensively with one sitting outside too. The Alouette had a career with the Army but was not as widely used. It is still displayed, though. There are some old types reflecting the early days or military aviation too.
The only thing that confused me was the name. I have seen it called the Army Flying Museum (on the wall) and the Museum of Army Aviation. I wonder which it really is!
The scanner is a good way of tracking what is about to happen but it can also give you an insight to what might not have gone to plan. I heard a Robinson R66 call in for its approach. When things are on a north flow, the helicopters will run along the river and turn in to land. They can often come at quite a good angle for getting a shot. This one worked out well, despite the backlighting, and I was getting back in the shade as it touched down. I then heard the tower ask if he was ready to take down the phone number he needed to call. Oops! I have no idea what the infraction may have been and I hope it all worked out okay.
I was down in Juanita Bay with mum during her visit when the sound of a helicopter came towards us. I managed to switch a few of the settings to get things mostly write although not the exposure. However, RAW is quite forgiving these days. It was the King County Sheriff’s JetRanger that was making a tour of Juanita Bay for some reason. They were pretty low as they buzzed by and then circled around to the north side of the bay and disappeared. Not sure why they came that way – maybe they know someone there?
I had read quite a few articles about the Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter but I had not ever got close to one. Then, when we were at Klamath Falls, I regularly saw two of them showing up on FlightRadar24. Since they were not a focus for the visit, I didn’t think much of it. However, at the end of one day, we were positioning for the return of a Huey that we knew was out on a flight. While we were waiting, the two Cabris flew overhead. One continued on southwards but the other turned to make an approach. Their base was apparently close to where we were waiting and they taxied right by. The person in the left seat was clearly feeling the heat as they had opened the door and were dangling their hand out of the gap while the right seater taxied them back to the ramp.
One of the last legs of the trip Mark and I took was to Medford for an overnight before heading home. Medford is also home to Erickson Aircrane’s operations and I had intended to swing by to see if there was anything to see there. As we drove towards the airport, an S-64 was flying downwind. It wasn’t apparent whether it was heading away or arriving. However, I knew the route to their parking lot so we made a rapid move there just as the helo turned on to approach.
It made a stately descent and then taxied in. We were able to shoot through the fence as it did so without any problem – if you ignore the fact that the temperature was 103F and getting out of an air conditioned car was quite a shock. They taxied in and shut down and we rapidly retreated to the cool of the car. We really couldn’t have timed the arrival any better!
This Bell LongRanger came in to Boeing Field and I got a few shots of it as it made its approach. It was painted gray which made it look a little out of the ordinary. Once I got home, I decided to check out who owned it. However, trying to find the registration proved to be a little tricky. Registration markings are supposed to be clearly visible with rules governing how they are applied. I think the idea is to mean your registration can quickly be read if needed. The choice of color and the placement made this one very hard to detect. I assume someone doesn’t want you to know.
For a while, I was able to shoot up at Arlington a bit. Our location there in the afternoons is close to the ramp used by Airlift Northwest. They have some Airbus Helicopters EC135s that they use for aeromedical flights. It is a nice looking airframe and theirs are painted well. (They have recently painted one in UW colors which I have only shot from a distance.). They seemed to be in action a lot while I was there so was able to get the teams crewing up, departing, arriving and shutting everything down. They are happy to give you a wave too which is nice.
Lightroom has three methods for stitching the panoramas together. I tend to use one but for some shots, a different style is beneficial. I was flipping through some shots of an HH-101 Caesar helicopter that I took at RIAT in 2019. I also had a Danish AW101 that I had shot in pano format. The Danish airframe had not been shot as well as it could have been and I did not have sufficient coverage. I decided to try different versions of the stitching to see which one gave the best result. Some result in a more natural look while others look more fish eyed. I can also stitch in Photoshop which gives me more capability for filling in gaps but, with the tricky areas being the rotors, that wasn’t going to work well since the AI is not going to work that out. Stitching also allows some warping to fill edge gaps but this can mess with the alignment of the main part of the image. I tried a couple of versions and they are compared here.
I was rather sad to read that Sikorsky is shuttering production of the S-76 helicopter. The design first flew over 40 years ago but it has gone through a number of upgrades over the years. It is a sleek looking machine and quite a bit larger than it might initially appear. My first encounter with one was on the school fields of my high school when it was parked after bringing some people in for Cowes Week. I got to chat with the pilot for a while. No camera in those days, though.
When I worked in London, they had replaced the Queens Flight Wessex airframes with a pair of S-76s in a maroon color and they would often fly past our building as they landed at the palace. I have had various other times when I have seen them since but not a huge number. The most recent version is the S-76D which replaced the S-76C++ (catchy name, huh?). It has not sold particularly well and the development program was rather protracted. Without many customers, Sikorsky has called time for now. Whether it gets resurrected in the future – perhaps with production at their facility in Poland – we shall see.
