Announcement

**Savoia** · 28th May 2020, 08:13

SA341G JA9098 (cn.1012) as seen at Osaka International Airport on 10th October 1985

New photos of Japan's modest Gazelle fleet are a rarity, making this lovely shot of Toho Air Service's '098' a real treat.

098 did of course have a sister ship known as JA9164 .. which went on to become N505HA.

SA341G N505HA (cn.1022) as seen recently in Belgium

N505HA .. rebuilt !!

**Savoia** · 29th May 2020, 09:51

Members of 5e EHAC as seen in 1997 (Photo by Denis Bertrand)

SA341C ZU-HBH (WA1418) as seen in South Africa in 2019 (Photo by Mark Mansfield)

SA342K KAF 514 (cn.1341) as seen at the Kuwait Aviation Show in January 2020 (Photo by Abdallah Alnaggar)

**Savoia** · 30th May 2020, 11:52

SA342L L815 (cn.1820) as seen at Rayak Air Base in Lebanon

L815 being assigned to No. 8 Squadron LAF.

SA341B XX390 (WA1298) as seen at Middle Wallop on 26th July 1975 (Photo by Fred Taylor)

Check out this contemporary classic photo taken a fortnight ago from an SA341B.

**Savoia** · 1st June 2020, 10:20

SA342L's in live fire operations during 'Exercise Bright Star' in September 2017

SA341F2 ZU-RRW (cn.1369) as seen over Maputo on 20th June 2019 (Photo by Mark Mansfield)

SA342MV F-MGBJ (cn.2084) as seen at Poznan-Lawica Airport in Poland on 20th May 2018 (Photo by Alexey)

Montenegro Replacing Gazelles .. with Bell 505's

The Montenegro Ministry of Defence has announced that it has signed a contract worth € 3.2 million to procure two Bell 505's for its armed forces. Montenegro will become the first military operator of the Bell 505 with the first example being delivered in July 2020 and the second arriving in early 2021.

In April 2019, Bell Helicopter demonstrated Bell 505 F-HJRX proposing this as a replacement for the Montenegro's Gazelle helicopters. Bell visited the homebase of Montenegro's helicopter squadron at Podgorica-Gulobovci where the Bell 505 was demonstrated to the Minister of Defence, Predrag Bošković as well as officials from the Armed Forces. In November 2019 the Ministry of Defence announced that it intended to procure in total of four Bell 505's for its armed forces.

Bell 505 F-HJRX being demonstrated in Podgorica in April 2009 alongside a Montenegrin 412

Over the next five years the Bell 505 will replace Montenegro's Gazelle helicopters which are now over 30 years old. According to Scramble Magazine, Montenegro has 13 Gazelle helicopters in its Army inventory plus one attached to the Police of which 8 are reported to be in active service.

SA342M Gaz clip

**Helipixman** · 1st June 2020, 19:57

Saturday 30th May 2020

YU-HEY Stanbridge > St Albans > Stanbridge
G-HSDL Castle Clough > Blackpool and Lancaster area

Sunday 31st May 2020

G-BZYD Ripe > Isle of Wight (Shanklin area) > Ripe
YU-HEY Stanbridge > Stapleford Tawney (track lost over Lee valley) ?

Monday 1st June 2020

G-BZYD looked quite busy and did a possible flight from Ripe > Bourne Park !
YU-HVZ Visted Norwich today (NFI)

**Savoia** · 2nd June 2020, 11:03

SA341G(S) YU-HVZ (cn.1295) as seen at Norwich Horsham St. Faith on 1st June 2020 (Photo by Keith Newsome)

In confirmation of Elipix's 'Gaz Movements' above.

SA341B XZ338 (WA1682) as seen at Le Luc Le Cannet on 23rd June 2007 (Photo by Kurt Greul)

WA1299 as seen in Germany on 1st June 2020 (Photo courtesy of Avia member Vitaly)

WA1299 is currently for sale on the GazMart.

2-ALOU for sale on Alouettes and Lamas.

**Savoia** · 3rd June 2020, 12:08

SA341F2 ZU-RIH (cn.1175) as seen at Wonderboom Airport on 21st September 2018 (Photo by Vince Horan)

Ex-N341FG.

SA341G(S) G-BZLA (cn.1392) as seen at Silverstone in the 2000's (Photo by Graeme Lovell)

**Savoia** · 4th June 2020, 10:51

SA342J(S) N342ET (cn.1058) as seen at Aérodrome d'Albertville in Tournon in June 2020 (Photo by Simon Guillotin)

SA341B ZB691 (WA2006) as seen at SPTA in 2018 (Photo by Philip Stevens)

Flying as 'Army Air 744'.

XX453

SA341B XX453 (WA1454) as seen at SPTA in 2018 (Photo by Philip Stevens)

**Savoia** · 5th June 2020, 09:57

SA341G G-RALE (cn.1187) seen 'serving time' at RAF Odiham c.1988

Perhaps its just the light on this photo, but the blades appear to be green!

SA342J(S) F-GJGT (cn.1094) as seen at Bern Heliport in the 1990's (Photo by E. Krebs)

**Savoia** · 6th June 2020, 12:28

SA341GC I-PNIC (cn.002) as seen at Trento Mattarello on 15th September 2019 (Photo by Davide Olivati)

SA341G N37UP (cn.1224) as seen at Aeroporto di Pavullo nel Frignano on 1st June 2018 (Photo courtesy of Liberio)

SA341G) G-GAZI (cn.1136) as seen at the Thurlow Steam & Country Fair near Haverhill in Suffolk c. 2001

SA341C G-GAZL (WA1078) wearing her cover NFI

SA341B on an island off the coast of Belize NFI

Cypriot Air Force article published last month

**Rotorspot** · 7th June 2020, 14:43

UNFICYP Gazelles

The request below was made on other groups. Hopefully someone here can provide an answer.

I am attempting to compile a list of all UK military aircraft that have been used in the United Nations peacekeeping Force In Cyprus (UNFICYP). So far, only one Gazelle is known: ZB668. Have other Gazelles been used for UNFICYP?

**Savoia** · 8th June 2020, 08:41

Cypriot Air Force SA342L as seen at Paphos Air Base on 10th November 2018

SA341F2 N497MM (cn.1384) as seen in Florida, possibly late 2019

Serbain Air Force SA342 possibly in June 2020

Serbian Gaz with modified missile

SA341G(S) G-BXJK (cn.1417) as seen at Weston-super-Mare c. late 1990's

Royal Navy Sharks visiting Middle Wallop on 23rd July 1982 (Photo by Graham Tiller)

SA341B G-BZYD (WA1648) ex-XZ329 flight over southern England in early June 2020

Anthony Chan (I think) Gaz flight in the US

Check out the air intake which we have featured before on the thread.

**Savoia** · 9th June 2020, 11:57

N685ZB Now Sold

Former British Army Gazelle ZB685 (now N685ZB) has been sold and has settled into her new home hangar.

SA341B N685ZB (WA1994) as seen being transported to her new owner on 5th May 2020

SA341B N685ZB (WA1994) as seen in her new home hangar in America on 8th May 2020

Looking to buy or sell a Gazelle? Then check out GazMart for a great selection of aircraft.

Antonio performing a 'spirited' take-off at Chino Airport, San Bernardino County, California in June 2020 in N383GZ

SA341F2 N383GZ landing at Chino Airport in June 2020

SA341H HA-LFN (cn.045) as seen in Hungary on 4th June 2020

SA341H HA-LFX (cn.090) as seen in Hungary on 4th June 2020

**Rotorspot** · 9th June 2020, 19:06

N71PU Change in Ownership Details

N71PU, SA341G, c/n 1137, had its ownership name changed from Qualitair LLC into Qualitair LLC Trustee, Michelstadt (Germany) on 04-Jun-2020.

**Savoia** · 10th June 2020, 13:02

Lebanese Air Force SA342L NFI

'Rougail Saucisses' Food for French helicopter pilots

SA342L1 12871 (102) in Serbia

Gazelles Being Transported in France

SA342M's on the move in France June 2020

**Rotorspot** · 10th June 2020, 13:25

G-MANN visiting Holland in 1992

An interesting brief on Gazelles in general and G-MANN (now YU-HVZ) in particular:

The Aérospatiale SA341G Gazelle is a small single-turbine-engine utility helicopter that can accommodate up to two crew and three passengers.

The Gazelle is operated on transport, scouting and light attack duties. Development of the SA-341 Gazelle started in 1966 under Sud-Aviation banner as project X 300 to meet a French army requirement for a light observation helicopter with seating for five people to replace the Alouette II. Soon afterwards, the name SA 340 was adopted for the project when Sud-Aviation began working on the light observation helicopter.

While in the final design stages the SA 340 attracted British interest as a replacement of the Bell Sioux. This British interest led to a joint development and production share-out agreement signed on 22 February 1967 and officially confirmed on 2 April 1968. This share-out agreement was part of the Franco-British agreement to licence production that also included the Puma and Lynx helicopters. The Sud-Aviation SA-341 is the production derivative of the SA-340, two prototypes of which have been tested.

he first SA340 prototype c/n 340-01 had a traditional tail rotor and performed its first flight with test-registration F-WOFH on 7 April 1967. It was powered by a Turboméca Aztazou IIN turboshaft and equipped with a new semi-rigid rotor with composite blades developed in a cooperative effort with Bolköw.

The second SA-340 prototype c/n 340-02 featured the 13-blade shrouded anti-torque rotor, the newly designed 'Fenestron' tail rotor instead of a conventional tail rotor, to be utilised by the SA-341, flew first with test-registration F-ZWRA on 17 April 1968. Four pre-production SA341s were built, with the first, c/n 314-01 test flown as F-ZWRH on 2 August 1968. The third pre-production SA341, c/n 341-03, was equipped to British Army requirements, assembled and tested in France, and then re-assembled by Westland Helicopters Ltd in the UK as the prototype Gazelle AH.1. As Gazelle AH.1 it was first flown at Yeovil as XW276 on 28 April 1970.

As the SA341 Gazelle was interesting for both the military and civilian market, CofA was requested. On 7 June 1972, National Certification of the Model SA 341 G was given by the DGAC-F. On 27 April 1976, the more powerful Model SA 342 J was certified by DCAG. Over the years 1775 Gazelle helicopters were built in France by Sud Aviation / Aérospatiale / Eurocopter and under licence by Westland Helicopters Ltd. in the United Kingdom as the Westland Gazelle; by SOKO in Yugoslavia as the SOKO HO-42 and variants; and by the Arab British Helicopter Company (ABHCO) in Egypt as the ABHCO SA-342 Gazelle.

On 1 January 1970, Sud-Aviation was merged with a number of other French aerospace companies to form the SNIAS (Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale). From 1984, SNIAS operated under the name of Aérospatiale. The helicopter divisions of MBB from Germany and Aerospatiale from France merged in January 1992 to form the Eurocopter Group.

As a result of the merger between the Eurocopter parents Aérospatiale-Matra; DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) and Construcciones Aeronàuticas Sociedad Anonima (CASA) in July 2000, the Eurocopter group became a division of the new formed EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space company). Taking off into 2014, EADS was rebranded as "Airbus Group". Uniting all its activities under a single brand, its helicopter division Eurocopter was rebranded as Airbus Helicopters on 8 January 2014.

A History of s/n 1295

The 1975-built Aérospatiale SA341G Gazelle 1 s/n 1295 flew first with test-registration F-WKQH.
In February 1977, the Gazelle was registered N47316 in the USA with Aerospatiale Helicopters Corp., Grand Prairie, TX.
In April 1977, registration N47316 was changed to N444JJ and in May 1977, to N44QQ as before with Aerospatiale Helicopters and finally to N44DQ. As N44DQ, the SA341G Gazelle entered service with San Joaquin Helicopters, Delano, California.
On 18 November 1982, registration N44DQ was cancelled as exported to the UK.
On 11 January 1983, the helicopter was registered G-BKLW in the UK with Helicopter Services, Weston-super-Mare.
On 14 April 1986, the Gazelle was registered G-MANN with International Trust Corp., Isle of Man. Since, the G-MANN was registered with a number of private owners.
On 29 October 2004, MW Helicopters at Stapleford Aerodrome, was registered as owner/operator of the Gazelle G-MANN.
On 29 October 2004, the helicopter was registered with Nigel Edward Robert Brunt and on 21 November 2008, the G-MANN returned to MW Helicopters.
In 2012, G-MANN was repainted into a smart black and silver paint scheme.
On 10 July 2014, registration G-MANN was placed on the Serbian register and on 23 July 2014, the Aérospatiale SA341G Gazelle was registered YU-HVZ with Martin Wood helicopters. Although registered in Serbia, the helicopter was not exported to Serbia but to the Netherlands.
Since July 2014, Aérospatiale SA341G Gazelle YU-HVZ has been owned by Peter van Zutphen and based at Best in the Netherlands. The helicopter is registered in Serbia to make it easier to have the maintenance carried out by SOKO.

SA341G(S) G-MANN s/n 1295 at Groningen Airport Eelde in Holland on 20th August 1992

G-MANN Cowling Incident

On 25 July 1993, when chartered from a private owner in London, a strange incident with the helicopter was reported: after completion of the pre-flight checks and briefing the passengers, the helicopter departed for a flight from Islay to Carlisle.

Immediately after take off, the pilot noticed a vibration which he believed to be blade tape becoming detached. He landed the aircraft immediately and found that the front catch on the right side of the gearbox cowling was undone and the aft cowling link hinge was broken.

The pilot then fastened the forward catch; made sure the cowling was in its correct position and then continued the flight. After the completion of this flight, the pilot flew this helicopter to Thruxton Airfield, were it was routinely maintained. Subsequent inspection by the maintenance company revealed that both sides of the cowling were cracked close to the rear fastening clip. It was also found that the rear end of both cowlings had been abraded around the tail rotor drive-shaft opening and that the drive-shaft itself was abraded.

The damage to both the cowling and the drive-shaft were sufficiently severe that all had to be replaced. Although the rear link hinge was broken, the other hinge and all the clip fasteners were serviceable and in good condition. The loss of the rear link hinge considerably reduces the positive location of the aft end of the cowling, allowing it to drop down and move laterally.

https://avia-dejavu.net/photo%20G-MANN.htm

**Savoia** · 11th June 2020, 11:49

SA341B XX379 (WA1261) as seen at RAF Lyneham on 16th April 2008 (Photo by Tony Osborne)

SA342M's in France, possibly recently NFI

SA341C ZU-HBH (WA1418) landing at Wonderboom in July 2019

**Helipixman** · 11th June 2020, 20:34

Only a couple of Gazelle movements noted over the last week.....

G-CBSK was noted as a brief blip on FR24 on Saturday 6.6.20 in local area of Bourne Park
G-CBSK did a slightly longer flight on Monday 8.6.20 around the North Wessex Downs area

**Savoia** · 12th June 2020, 10:43

SA341 F-WTNA (cn.1001) NFI

Looking for any suggestions as to the possible location of this shot.

SA342M's at Étain-Rouvres in May 2018 (Photo by Loïc Lauze)

Anja with Serbian Air Force Gazelle in June 2020

**Savoia** · 13th June 2020, 11:04

SA342J HA-LFH (cn.1775) as seen during her C2 inspection in Hungary in June 2020 (Photo courtesy of Avia member Adriano)

HA-LFH fenestron blades being overhauled in Hungary in June 2020 (Photo courtesy of Avia member Adriano)

Maintaining the Hungarian theme:

SA341H HA-LFX (cn.090) as seen in Hungary on 4th June 2020

SA342M 3549 (cn.1549) as seen at Camp De Caylus, Tarn-et-Garonne, France in 1985

**Savoia** · 15th June 2020, 11:11

SA342M F-MGEZ as seen during Exercise 'Strike' at Camp des Garrigues in Nîmes on 2nd June 2020

SA342L 241 (cn.1854) as seen at RAF Cottesmore (date unknown)

SA341B XZ328 (WA1647) as seen at RAF Alconbury on 21st July 1985 (Photo by Lewis Grant)

Can anyone hazard a guess as to what the wire is which is plugged into the starboard fuselage just behind the rear door?

Stefano wrote: I notice in this photo that none of the aircraft are fitted with wire cutters. Does anyone know when the French Army installed cutters on all their Gazelles?

SA342M 3549 (cn.1549) as seen at Camp De Caylus, Tarn-et-Garonne, France in 1985

Fabrizio .. are you able to assist with the above question?

**Helipixman** · 15th June 2020, 17:40

Saturday 13.6.20
G-EZZL Local flight leatherhead area
G-HSDL Local flight from Blackpool ?

Sunday 14.6.20
G-BZYD Ripe > Isle of Wight > Ripe

Monday 15.6.20
HA-HSG This showed up as a very brief blip, confirmation needed did this fly today ?

**Zishelix** · 16th June 2020, 09:08

One of the first G-BAGL photos, October 1972

**Savoia** · 16th June 2020, 11:02

SA341H HA-LFK (cn.051) as seen at Hungaroring racetrack in Budapest on 5th August 2007 (Photo by Wojtek Kmiecik)

Check out latest Gazelle for sale .. on the GazMart

**Savoia** · 17th June 2020, 09:01

A further update on LFH's C2 inspection which is taking place at this time (Photos courtesy of Adriano)

SA341F2 ZU-RNV (cn.1608) as seen at Wonderboom on 16th June 2020 (Photo courtesy of Jean-Pierre)

SA341B XW843 (WA1004) as seen at AAC Netheravon on 2nd September 1988 (Photo by Stefan Szrama)

**Zishelix** · 18th June 2020, 09:05

Playing with Paint.net

**Savoia** · 18th June 2020, 11:24

Montenegrin Air Force Gazelle (Photo by Sven van Roij)

SA314G(S) YU-HVZ (cn.1295) as seen at Breda Airport on 1st June 2020

The Gazelle is now for sale on the GazMart

SA341C G-IBNH (WA1033) Bournemouth 11 Sep 15 (Photo by Lee Weston)

SA342L ZU-RZR (cn.1854) as seen at Wonderboom on 16th June 2020 (Photo by Rawat Gaurav)

SA341B as seen at Middle Wallop in 1984 (Photo by Stuart Mitchell)

Does anyone know what type of truck is shown in this photo. It is a British manufactured truck?

You are Invited to Attend an Online Lecture on Monday 22nd June 2020 at 7pm UK Time

Listen to Brigadier Colin Sibun share his experiences of commanding 656 Squadron Army Air Corps during the Falklands War in 1982.

Discover how SNEB rockets were mounted on British Army Gazelles and tested in theatre, also how SS11 missiles were fired from Scouts.

Click here for more details.

**Savoia** · 19th June 2020, 10:17

SA341G G-BAGL (WA1067) as seen at Yeovil in the mid 1970's

**Savoia** · 20th June 2020, 09:43

Montenegrin Air Force Gazelle during a military exercise NFI

SA341H HA-LFW (cn.096) start and depart from Karlsruhe-Baden Airport in Germany on 18th June 2020

Iraqi Army Gazelles performing fly-by in Iraq NFI

**md600driver** · 20th June 2020, 13:13

Originally posted by Savoia View Post

Do you think 'GL' and 'ZL' were Westland efforts at abbreviations for 'Gazelle'?

I think you will find that it’s a quick ID for BAZL. ,BAGL, BAGK and BAGJ.

Announcement

Shrieking Gazelles

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