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  • Royal Navy Sharks as seen in 1975

    Comment




    • 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.

      Comment


      • 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

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        • 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?

          Comment


          • Fene Strong
            Fene Strong commented
            Editing a comment
            May have supported 'SF' role? Note the small tail number.

          • Savoia
            Savoia commented
            Editing a comment
            Grazie FS!

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

          Does anyone know which one this might be?

          Comment


          • Savoia
            Savoia commented
            Editing a comment
            This could be an ALAT craft on secondment to Airbus for testing equipment or systems of some sort?

          • Zishelix
            Zishelix commented
            Editing a comment
            Any photo available?

          • Rotorspot
            Rotorspot commented
            Editing a comment
            Now confirmed as c/n 1459, ex ALAT serial 3459.



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

          Comment


          • 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

            Comment


            • Zishelix
              Zishelix commented
              Editing a comment
              Interesting pics, thanks a lot!

              Any chance to find out ID of those two new South African birds?

            • Savoia
              Savoia commented
              Editing a comment
              I am hoping Jos will have the info, but I also think he mentioned that some new Gazelles were registered in South Africa?

          • EU planning to take-over Britain's Coastguard

            Check-out this and other stories on ..

            Comment


            • 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.

              Comment


              • Savoia
                Savoia commented
                Editing a comment
                It seems as if both front screens are tinted (at least in the second photo). Flying with rose-tinted windows!

            • "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!

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              • 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.

                Comment


                • Savoia
                  Savoia commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Well done Jos!




              • 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

                Comment


                • 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?

                  Comment


                  • N48284
                    N48284 commented
                    Editing a comment
                    YU-HPZ is from Bristol area.

                  • Savoia
                    Savoia commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Thanks Andy. HPZ it must be!

                    These two (G-OGAZ and YU-HPZ) must be the only two dark blue stretched Gazelles in the UK.

                  • Zishelix
                    Zishelix commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Well done, Gazelle detectives!



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

                  Comment


                  • Zishelix
                    Zishelix commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Soko's licencly built SA.341H (HO-42) was delivered in 1980 to Yugoslav AF as 12653. Allocated to Police forces as YU-HDN in early 1990s and then sold on civil market to become the first Gazelle in Hungary. Registered HA-VLA in 1996 to Business Air Hungary, then to Open World Kft. Re-registered HA-LFR 10/98 and HA-PPY 5/99 to Gazella Légiszolgáltató Kft.

                    The above photo was probaly taken at Blackbushes in January 2006 by Mr David Fogwill

                  • Savoia
                    Savoia commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Some nice info there Zis, grazie.



                • Kuwaiti Air Force SA342L No. '515'

                  See more Kuwaiti Gazelles on the previous page.

                  Comment


                  • HA-PPY to help !


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

                    Comment


                    • Savoia
                      Savoia commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Ah Elipix .. welcome back! Nice shot.

                      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!

                  • 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.

                    Comment


                    • Savoia
                      Savoia commented
                      Editing a comment
                      I see that the top section (yellow) is in fact 'borrowed' from the scheme she wore when she was 'LFR'.

                      Even though I have asked the question several times in the past, I never received a response as to why yellow and black were specifically chosen for the UK's police and military training aircraft. Personally I preferred when the police craft wore the 'jam butty' livery - but there we are.

                    • Helipixman
                      Helipixman commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Police yellow/black scheme - I am sure I heard the reason was pure and simple.... if flying underneath the black would be visible against either a cloudy or blue sky - if flying above the yellow stands out more against other colours on the ground.

                      I guess that's why the tips of rotor blades are sometimes yellow ??

                    • Rotorspot
                      Rotorspot commented
                      Editing a comment
                      I think it was the RAF who undertook a study into aircraft visibility and came up with the colours black and yellow. See e.g.
                      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sa...k-1146643.html
                      The UK training aircraft are painted in those colours, like the Tucano's being black, the Squirrels HT2 being black and yellow.

                  • 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.

                    Comment


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

                      Comment


                      • Savoia
                        Savoia commented
                        Editing a comment
                        Ha ha, nice clip XB!

                      • Zishelix
                        Zishelix commented
                        Editing a comment
                        Hey XB, where did you hide this one for so long? Great!

                    • 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?

                      Comment


                      • 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:




                        Comment


                        • Savoia
                          Savoia commented
                          Editing a comment
                          LOL, exactly! Anything but the dreaded black and yellow!

                          Looking at LFP's underbelly, I see that the painter, while perhaps suffering from the after-effects of having earnestly sampled various Hungarian refreshments, nonetheless managed to keep his artwork symmetrical!

                      • 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!

                        Comment


                        • Zishelix
                          Zishelix commented
                          Editing a comment
                          Seems like a crowded helipad

                        • Savoia
                          Savoia commented
                          Editing a comment
                          Yes, and none than a little confusing with the helipad markings superimposed on the vehicle parking bays!

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

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                        • Savoia
                          Savoia commented
                          Editing a comment
                          Tweety Bird has a new owner?

                          Love the Dak in the back!

                      • 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!

                        Comment


                        • Zishelix
                          Zishelix commented
                          Editing a comment
                          LOL, good one!

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

                        Comment




                      • 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!

                        Comment


                        • Zishelix
                          Zishelix commented
                          Editing a comment
                          Possible NOTAM for Courchevel fixed-wingers: 'Warning - V1 occurs just after application of power!'

                        • Savoia
                          Savoia commented
                          Editing a comment
                          LOL, quite!

                          Btw, regarding F-HGUN, it seems as if someone if putting together a Vario kit in her colours: > http://www.jectek.com/?page_id=1964

                      • 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!

                        Last edited by Zishelix; 15th March 2016, 14:02.

                        Comment


                        • Savoia
                          Savoia commented
                          Editing a comment
                          Some people pay good money to stand in tightly-huddled groups at windy snow-laden locations each year - generally during the skiing season!



                      • 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.

                        Comment


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


                          Photo: Paul Rumsey, April 2003.

                          Comment


                          • Savoia
                            Savoia commented
                            Editing a comment
                            Grazie Zis!

                        • 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.

                          Comment


                          • Zishelix
                            Zishelix commented
                            Editing a comment
                            It looks as if Mr. Anthony has good engineering skills and good taste in helicopters
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