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**Savoia** · 2nd March 2016, 11:10

Royal Navy Sharks as seen in 1975

**Savoia** · 2nd March 2016, 11:34

SA341B 3D-HGZ (cn WA1600) as seen at Thunder City in Cape Town on 19th September 2008 (Photo: John Tomlinson)

Ex-Army Air Corps XZ317 now flying as ZU-RLH.

**Savoia** · 3rd March 2016, 11:18

We have recently welcomed a new member 'Fene Strong' to the forum (see here).

FS had posted several replies to various comments on this thread and which you can read here.

Gazelles in Hong Kong

According to Keen and Sutton's book 'Craftsmen of the Army':

"Gazelles that had replaced the Westland Siouxs in RAF Sek Kong towards the end of 1974 had been found unsuitable for Hong Kong and, by the end of 1975, had been returned to the UK."

'Twoud be interesting to one day discover what (specifically) it was about Hong Kong that made it unsuitable for the Gaz .. when compared with the Sioux of all things!

British Army Gazelle (or is it perhaps Royal Marines?) as seen in Kong Kong c.1975

**Savoia** · 4th March 2016, 11:39

RAF GAZ

RAF SA341D ZB627 (cn 1914) from No. 7 Squadron, as seen at RAF Brize Norton on 5th June 1993 (Photo: Gary Morris)

Now with the Gazelle Squadron as G-CBSK.

Does anyone know why the RAF sometimes painted their Gazelles in this colour?

**Rotorspot** · 4th March 2016, 13:38

Seen at Airbus Helicopters in Marignane on 25-Feb-2016: F-ZWBU, SA342, white tail section.

Does anyone know which one this might be?

**Savoia** · 5th March 2016, 10:57

IAC SA342L '237' (cn 1772) as seen during a load-lifting exercise (no further details)

**Savoia** · 6th March 2016, 09:44

Gaz Roundup!

SA341H E7-AAB (cn 034) of the Serbian Police being wheeled towards her hanger in Banja Luka recently

These two Gazelles have recently arrived in South Africa, according to Gavin Rynders who posted this photo

G-CGJZ (cn 1735) ex-XZ933 as seen being primed for re-paint at Bourne Park in January

Recent visitors to Bourne Park take a look at Gaz restoration work

L'armée de terre Gazelle Viviane landing at Lycée Charles Jully Technological And Vocational School at Saint-Avold in France

**Savoia** · 6th March 2016, 20:13

EU planning to take-over Britain's Coastguard

Check-out this and other stories on ..

**Zishelix** · 7th March 2016, 08:47

This Gazelle uses a removable tinted windscreen for IFR training and which is used in combination with special goggles.

By the way, I've never seen any UK machine use such training aid.

**Zishelix** · 7th March 2016, 12:13

"Happiness is a Particle Separator on my Turbomeca engine" says the proud owner of ZU-HHP who installed the part on his machine recently.

We can only agree with him!

**Rotorspot** · 7th March 2016, 19:40

All newly registered 03-Mar-2016 to AEROSPATIALE SA34X INC, WILMINGTON (DE) and all ex-ALAT:

N172GZ, SA341F2, c/n 1172
N285GZ, SA341F2, c/n 1285
N374GZ, SA341F2, c/n 1374
N523GZ, SA341F2, c/n 1523

(Registrations derived from the last three of the c/n, plus GZ).

Cheers,
Jos.

**Savoia** · 8th March 2016, 10:24

Five years ago today, HA-LFB crashed at Honister Mine in Cumbria, England

Accident Report here.

SA341G HA-LFB (cn 1074) as seen over Cumbria on 21st July 2010 (Photo: Mark Wright)

Mark at Honister

LFB at Mark's home

Mark departing Honister

Mark going to work with LFB

**Savoia** · 8th March 2016, 10:31

Which Gaz?

This Gaz was evidently seen at a hangar in or near Bristol in the UK earlier this month.

She appears to be a dark blue stretch, although I'm not entirely certain.

Anyone with any clues as to which craft this could be?

**Savoia** · 9th March 2016, 20:15

Soko SA341H HA-LFR (cn 021) - sadly no further details

**Savoia** · 9th March 2016, 20:42

Kuwaiti Air Force SA342L No. '515'

See more Kuwaiti Gazelles on the previous page.

**Helipixman** · 10th March 2016, 18:22

HA-PPY to help !

Seen at one of the Helitech shows at Duxford (Photo by Helipixman)

**md600driver** · 10th March 2016, 19:41

Originally posted by Savoia View Post

Btw, does anyone know why this craft was painted in the UK police/government colours? There must surely be better colour schemes to choose from!

I remember well when this was painted in Hungary.

The question really aught to be why did the UK police paint their aircraft in a scheme similar to a Hungarian Gazelle helicopter !!!

If I remember correctly the police didn't use hi-vis colours at that time.

With regard to a better colour scheme, this was what the owner wanted, and when completed everyone liked it including me.

My helicopter at the time was painted in blue with a yellow stripe similar to happy.

**Savoia** · 11th March 2016, 19:57

Elipix/Jos: Thanks for the feedback guys.

Yes, the rotor tips are often in yellow and sometimes red in order to offer a degree of visibility, although I think the safety application of coloured tips is largely redundant. As far as main rotor paint for collision avoidance goes, there are some interesting schemes which have been devised over the years which can cause the disc (looking onto it from above) to 'perform' some pretty impressive visual effects, such as inward and outward 'ripples' as well as a sort of 'skipping' pattern by using different coloured blade stripes 'stepped' against each other (on alternate blades) along the upper surface of the blade. In the 1980's some of PHI's Louisiana-based LongRangers had such blade paint.

As far as rotor paint goes. the real priority is of course for tail rotor awareness where again, yellow and red are common safety colours.

In the article linked by Jos the comment which stood out for me was the final one, which read: "We went back to the drawing board and looked at how to make aircraft more conspicuous and painting them black - believe it or not - was the answer," said an MoD spokesman. And I am distinctly in the 'believe not' category.

They were citing a desire to increase visibility specifically in relation to near misses which, as anyone knows, does not only involve a requirement to see a potentially converging threat from above (ie. looking up against an often blue, white or grey sky), but from every gradient angle in relation to whichever attitude one happens to be at, and this (obviously) includes the need to see those threats below the horizon. In this respect, and in all sincerity, a black aircraft isn't going to offer maximum visibility unless one happens to be operating in Antarctica.

What works in making anything 'conspicuous' is contrast; but the moment you rely on a single colour to achieve this, well, you've defeated yourself! If the agenda was truly to make the aircraft as conspicuous as possible, they would have gone for an all yellow base covered with broad Day-Glo (fluorescent) orange stripes interspersed with darker (perhaps black) stripes in order to deliver maximum contrast against the broadest spectrum of backgrounds.

As for the police aircraft, the same effect could easily be achieved with a navy blue finish; but I remain totally unconvinced that a predominantly (ie. more than 50% of the airframe) dark colour offers maxiumim visibility.

I should love to read the MoD report on this study one day.

**xbdt** · 11th March 2016, 21:02

Here you can see some nice effect from the blades as seen from above:

**Savoia** · 12th March 2016, 11:03

More Hungarian Gaz ..

SA341G HA-LFT (cn 1413) as seen at Breighton Aerodrome (aka Steveport) on 22nd September 2013 (Photo: Chris Procter)

Now flying as N341GL.

Is anyone able to advise whether this aircraft is now domiciled in the US, or has she remained in Europe but flying on the N-reg?

**Zishelix** · 12th March 2016, 11:17

Staying with the Hungarian birds, here's a helicopter livery for those who want to be noticed both in the sky and on the ground:

**Savoia** · 13th March 2016, 10:44

Heli-Russia

With Heli-Russia approaching (19-21 May), a chance to look at a snapshot from last year:

SA341B RA-05703 (cn WA1524) as seen amidst a rabble of Robinsons (and one 520N) at Heli-Russia 2015

Not forgetting that Russia have their own 'form' of Gazelle!

**Zishelix** · 13th March 2016, 20:10

Ex-Crabtree bird in her new home at Church Fenton Aerodrome. Photo courtesy of fellow Aviaforan. Thanks Steve!

**Savoia** · 14th March 2016, 11:05

Of Gazelles and Dakotas ..

SA341H Soko Gazelle HA-LFL (cn 007) possibly at Budaörs Airport, Hungary in 2012

What a great serial number!

Regarding the Dakota, not Zis-HE-lix .. but Zis-HA-lix!

**Zishelix** · 14th March 2016, 13:18

Still with Hungarian-registered ex-Crabtree Gazelles, the right-moment-snapshot of HA-LFM during Northolt Open Day on June 13th, 2015.

**Savoia** · 15th March 2016, 12:27

First Heli-Show at Courchevel

The first ever helicopter show (Salon de l'hélicoptère) has taken place at Courchevel in Saint-Bon-Tarentaise in the French Alps.

The event was held this past weekend from 11-13 March and showcased mountain rescue procedures, a static display, 'first time flights' for show attendees as well as a photo contest.

Companies in attendance included: Mont Blanc Helicopteres, Jet Systems, Euro Rectimo, SAF Helicopteres, Robinson, SwiftCopters, Helico-Fascination and Blugeon Helicopteres.

The show's special guest was Sébastien Loeb, nine times world rally champion, who is also a helicopter pilot.

Some of the helicopters attending included an Alouette II, Bell 206, Agusta 109, SA315B Lama, MD500, various Ecureuil and Colibri, Robinson R44 and R66, a Kompress, a Sikorsky and SA342 F-HGUN.

https://50skyshades.com/news/events-...tain-couchevel

The first ever Salon de l'hélicoptère was held this past weekend at Courchevel ski resort in the French Alps

Attending the event was a frequent visitor to Courchevel, SA342J(S) F-HGUN (cn 1058)

SA342J(S) F-HGUN (cn 1058) as seen at Courchevel Altiport on 12-13th March 2016

If you are new to the forum and haven't yet seen the 'Courchevel Citation', then may I recommend that you take a peek.

Enjoy!

**Zishelix** · 15th March 2016, 14:19

Poor people, probably freezing and squeezed in tightly at windy snow-laden mountain airport!

Just kidding of course.

Cheers to the 1st Salon de l’hélico à Courchevel!

**Savoia** · 16th March 2016, 11:00

Getting Your Gaz Out of the Hangar

Uploaded yesterday.

Zis, can you provide some info about this craft please, because I can't see a registration on her.

**Zishelix** · 16th March 2016, 13:55

It's N552T s/n 1246. I see the owner modernised ground handling of his helicopter in the meantime

Photo: Paul Rumsey, April 2003.

**md600driver** · 16th March 2016, 19:57

Originally posted by Zishelix View Post

It's N552T s/n 1246. I see the owner modernised ground handling of his helicopter in the meantime.

The owner Anthony is sitting in the helicopter. His business is making helicopter and aeroplane movers. The little tracked machine is one of his inventions.

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