One for Hutch

[Buckman]

Do you recognise the helicopter in the picture.

It was used by the South African Air Force in the sixties. Believe it or not, in this case it was being used to attack sharks off Margate on the Natal coast as there were no shark nets. They had a case full of grenades and while patrolling along the coast, if they saw a shark they dropped grenades to kill the shark or chase it away. Prior to the picture been taken two young lads from the interior were attacked and killed by the sharks. We lived in Uvongo next door to Margate, but at a much later time and by that time shark nets were in place.

 

[Hutch]

Well it worked No Sharks and the helicopter has gone back to base.

 

[toad a caravan]

Sharks now selling caravan parts,need a chopper to axe the prices(pun?) 😄

 

[Buckman]

Not sure what happened, but should have checked after posting. Picture now there.

 

[RogerL]

It'll depend where the SA authorities bought the helicopter - if they bought it in the USA from Sikorsky, it'll be the H-19 Chickasaw - but if they bought in the UK from Westland it'll be a Whirlwind - which was built here under licence from Sikorsky.

 

[Hutch]

It'll depend where the SA authorities bought the helicopter - if they bought it in the USA from Sikorsky, it'll be the H-19 Chickasaw - but if they bought in the UK from Westland it'll be a Whirlwind - which was built here under licence from Sikorsky.

They originally had three different types of rotary engines, by Pratt and Whitney, and Wright engines,
The Westland S-55 were converted to use a single Rols Royce, Gnome gas turbine engine, a delight to work on, grease , oil, metal then more grease, but reliable

 

[RogerL]

They originally had three different types of rotary engines, by Pratt and Whitney, and Wright engines,
The Westland S-55 were converted to use a single Rols Royce, Gnome gas turbine engine, a delight to work on, grease , oil, metal then more grease, but reliable

Wasn't the Westland Whirlwind originally fitted with an Alvis Leonides radial engine ?

 

[Buckman]

It'll depend where the SA authorities bought the helicopter - if they bought it in the USA from Sikorsky, it'll be the H-19 Chickasaw - but if they bought in the UK from Westland it'll be a Whirlwind - which was built here under licence from Sikorsky.

More than likely it would have been British as in the early sixties SA was still a "British" colony?

 

[Hutch]

Wasn't the Westland Whirlwind originally fitted with an Alvis Leonides radial engine ?

Yes I think it might have been, I would have to look it up.
Fred Drift slightly,
During the Biafran war in Nigeria, one of the Nigerian Fitters, Lambert Obali, recovered the Magnetos from a S 55 to stop the rebels from using the aircraft.
He retired from Bristows in the 1990's and became our Mr Fixit, for anything we needed.

 

[Buckman]

During our bush war we used Alouettes extensively, but towards the end we managed to get some Hueys ex-Vietnam. The Alouettes were the mainstay of the troops on the ground and had a very distinctive whine. LOL! 🤣