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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1374.PDF
528 FLIGHT, 16 October 1953 HELICOPTERS AFLOAT The Helicopter Association Hears Lectures on Shipborne Operations AS briefly recorded in last week's issue, the second meeting of the Helicopter Association's 1953-54 session took place on October 3rd in the library of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Two papers were read, "Shipborne Helicopter Operations," by Lt-Cdr. H. R. Spedding, M.B.E., and "Helicopters and the Whaling Industry," by Mr. A. E. Bristow, A.R.Ae.S. A summary of the papers, and notes on the discussions, are given here. THE chairman of the meeting, W/C. R. A. C. Brie, introduced the first lecturer. Lt-Cdr. Spedding, he said, was the commanding officer of No. 705 Helicopter Squadron, R.N.A.S. Gosport. He had been flying with the Fleet Air Arm since 1940 and had converted to helicopters in 1952. Of his total of 2,000 flying hours, 500 had been on helicopters. He had been appointed M.B.E. for his work in connection with the flood rescues in Holland, and had had the honour of being pilot to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh when His Royal Highness flew from Buckingham Palace in a helicopter. Lt-Cdr. Spedding prefaced his remarks by giving a brief history of the helicopter operations in the Royal Navy. No. 705 Squadron was formed in 1947 out of a post-war helicopter flight at R.N.A.S. Gosport, operating Sikorsky R-4 machines. In 1950, the squadron was re-equipped with W.S.51s (Dragonflies) and its tasks of pilot training, communication, photographic and radar calibration duties were increased to include air/sea rescue work. Now crews were trained in the technique, and at the present time each aircraft carrier in commission was equipped with two Dragonflies, as were the major Naval air stations. In November, 1952, the first Royal Naval operational helicopter squadron was formed at Gosport and by February, 1953, it had started anti-bandit operations in Malaya. Before the introduction of the helicopter in its rescue capacity, he continued, an aircraft carrier had to have a destroyer in attend ance whenever aircraft were being flown-off or landed-on. The destroyer followed some two or three hundred yards astern with its sea boat ready for lowering. Not only did the helicopter, with its crew of two, replace the destroyer, but it could carry out any required rescue more quickly and efficiently. The destroyer was thus released to carry out its normal screening duties, an important factor in time of war. When employed on plane guard duty, as this work was termed, the helicopter took up a position off the starboard side of the carrier, level with the "island," a few minutes before the fixed-wing aircraft were due to take off. This position was maintained until all the aircraft had left the vicinity of the carrier, after which the helicopter landed back aboard. When aircraft were due to return to the carrier the helicopter took station between 50 and 100 yards off the starboard quarter, from which point it could rapidly pick up the survivors of a possible ditching without inter fering with the approach path. Normally the helicopter lowered a sling: the survivor passed this under his armpits and was then hoisted aboard. If the man was unconscious, the pilot could lower the aircrewman on the winch to secure the survivor to the sling, whereupon both were hoisted up together. There were numerous instances of pilots being back on board the carrier within three minutes of ditching. When not in use the helicopter was secured in the aircraft hangar with rotor-blades folded. The machine was placed on the elevator, which was then raised to approximately six feet below the flight-deck level. The blades could then be folded or spread by an experienced crew in about four minutes. This operation, and also that of starting and stopping the rotors, proved to be difficult and somewhat hazardous when wind speeds exceeded 25 kt, but the actual take-off and landing were not so difficult provided reasonable care was exercised. It was found that the best practice was for the helicopter to take off before the carrier turned into wind or built up speed to launch its fixed-wing aircraft. This avoided subjecting the rotor to unnecessarily high wind-speeds over the flight deck. For landing the approach was made fairly steeply to a point between 10 and 15 ft above the deck. Height was then reduced to 5 ft while hovering, and the ground cushion tended to make the helicopter move up and down in sympathy with any rise and fall of the deck. From this position a steady rate of descent was maintained until the wheels made contact. The collective-pitch A Naval Dragonfly approaching to alight on the stern deck of H.M.S. "Fort Duquesne" during seo-going trials. The grass-rope net was used to assist in securing the aircraft to the deck immediately on touch-down an essential operation if a high wind was blowing. lever was then lowered and held iii the fully down position. Although the carrier helicopter's primary function was rescue, Lt-Cdr. Spedding went on, it had also performed a number of extremely useful general-purpose duties, including gunnery and torpedo spotting, and communications between ships. In the latter role, mails, equipment and personnel could be rapidly and easily transferred from one ship to another, there being no necessity for the ships themselves to change station. Apart from the carrier operations, actual helicopter landings had been made on H.M.S. Vanguard and, early in 1951, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel was fitted with a steel landing platform over the stern. The platform measured 59 ft fore and aft by 50 ft beam. At the forward end were three 12 ft high screens which could be raised or lowered as required to give wind protection. A number of sunken eye-bolts and cleats were fitted to enable the machine to be satisfactorily secured in rough weather conditions and the surface of the deck was painted with a special non-skid paint. In all, a total of 183 deck landings were made in these experi ments, of which 27 were carried out while the ship was in harbour. The maximum ship movement observed during the sea landings was 10-14 ft vertical, and 10 ft lateral through rofi. The maximum wind speed recorded was 38 kt. As a result of these trials there were several features which should be embodied in a helicopter for shipborne use, to enable it to be able to operate in all but the worst of sea conditions. The c. of g. should be as low as possible to reduce the tendency to turn over on a rolling deck; the skid-type, or a four-wheeled, undercarriage of wide track was preferable to the three-wheel undercarriage; the deck itself should be fitted with a turntable, thereby allowing the helicopter to be manoeuvred into the relative wind without any alteration of course by the ship; and an improved method should be devised to secure the helicopter to the deck immediately the landing had been completed. So far as helicopter operation from small ships was concerned the survey vessels of the Royal Navy offered the greatest possi bilities. The helicopters would be of enormous value to such a vessel, said the lecturer in conclusion, to assist in all forms of reconnaissance, and their further development would increase considerably their usefulness and efficiency. HELICOPTERS AND WHALING 'T'HE second paper was then read by Mr. A. E. Bristow, who was -*- chief pilot in the Antarctic whaling expeditions of 1950-52, who had previously had considerable Naval and (with Westland Aircraft) test-flying experience with helicopters. The lecturer showed an interesting film of whale operations in the Antarctic and said that he first used a helicopter on a whaling expedition during the 1950-51 season. The machine was a Hiller
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