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135-590: The Westland Scout is a light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters . Developed from the Saro P.531 , it served as a land-based general purpose military helicopter, sharing a common ancestor and numerous components with the naval-orientated Westland Wasp helicopter. The type's primary operator was the Army Air Corps of the British Army , which operated it in several conflict zones including Northern Ireland and

270-610: A runway . In 1942, the Sikorsky R-4 became the first helicopter to reach full-scale production . Although most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, the configuration of a single main rotor accompanied by a vertical anti-torque tail rotor (i.e. unicopter , not to be confused with the single-blade monocopter ) has become the most common helicopter configuration. However, twin-rotor helicopters (bicopters), in either tandem or transverse rotors configurations, are sometimes in use due to their greater payload capacity than

405-683: A change in designation. The M134D is an improved version of the M134 designed and manufactured by Dillon Aero , while Garwood Industries manufactures the M134G variant. Available sources show a relation between both M134 and GAU-2/A and M134 and GAU-2B/A. A separate variant, designated XM196 , with an added ejection sprocket was developed specifically for the XM53 Armament Subsystem on the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne helicopter. Another variant

540-444: A collective input is made, all the blades change equally, and the result is the helicopter increasing or decreasing in altitude. A swashplate controls the collective and cyclic pitch of the main blades. The swashplate moves up and down, along the main shaft, to change the pitch of both blades. This causes the helicopter to push air downward or upward, depending on the angle of attack . The swashplate can also change its angle to move

675-417: A constant altitude. The pedals serve the same function in both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft, to maintain balanced flight. This is done by applying a pedal input in whichever direction is necessary to center the ball in the turn and bank indicator . Due to the operating characteristics of the helicopter—its ability to take off and land vertically, and to hover for extended periods of time, as well as

810-492: A few more flights and achieved a height of nearly 2.0 metres (6.5 ft), but it proved to be unstable and was abandoned. Minigun "Minigun" refers to a specific model of weapon that General Electric originally produced, but the term "minigun" has popularly come to refer to any externally powered rotary gun of rifle caliber. The term is sometimes used loosely to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration, regardless of power source and caliber. The Minigun

945-473: A four-seat bench when fitted with modified rear doors. It was used for general light work, including observation, liaison, training and search & rescue. When fitted as a light attack helicopter, it carried either two, skid-mounted, forward-firing machine gun ( L8A1 General Purpose Machine Gun ) packs or a single pintle-mounted machine gun in the rear cabin. The pintle mount was available in both port and starboard mountings. The gun-packs, which were both aimed at

1080-459: A gift by their father, would inspire the Wright brothers to pursue the dream of flight. In 1861, the word "helicopter" was coined by Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt , a French inventor who demonstrated a small steam-powered model. While celebrated as an innovative use of a new metal, aluminum, the model never lifted off the ground. D'Amecourt's linguistic contribution would survive to eventually describe

1215-506: A greater capacity for a high firing rate, since the serial process of firing, extraction, and loading is taking place in all barrels simultaneously. Thus, as one barrel fires, two others are in different stages of shell extraction and another three are being loaded. The minigun is composed of multiple closed-bolt rifle barrels arranged in a circular housing. The barrels are rotated by an external power source, usually electric, pneumatic , or hydraulic . Other rotating-barrel cannons are powered by

1350-548: A gyro-stabilised Marconi unit shoe-horned into the rear cabin. The Heli-Tele unit weighed some 700 lb (320 kg), although later developments reduced this significantly. The aircraft was also used for mounting Eagle patrols. In this role, the rear cabin doors and seats were removed and four troops sat in the rear cabin with their feet resting on the skids. Operating with two aircraft in unison, this allowed an eight-man patrol to be quickly inserted into an area and mount snap vehicle check points (VCPs) if necessary. Up until 1973,

1485-405: A helicopter determines the size, function and capability of that helicopter design. The earliest helicopter engines were simple mechanical devices, such as rubber bands or spindles, which relegated the size of helicopters to toys and small models. For a half century before the first airplane flight, steam engines were used to forward the development of the understanding of helicopter aerodynamics, but

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1620-504: A helicopter powered by a gasoline engine with box kites attached to a mast by cables for a rotor, but it never flew. In 1906, two French brothers, Jacques and Louis Breguet , began experimenting with airfoils for helicopters. In 1907, those experiments resulted in the Gyroplane No.1 , possibly as the earliest known example of a quadcopter. Although there is some uncertainty about the date, sometime between 14 August and 29 September 1907,

1755-416: A helicopter. This is because a helicopter generates its own gusty air while in a hover, which acts against the fuselage and flight control surfaces. The result is constant control inputs and corrections by the pilot to keep the helicopter where it is required to be. Despite the complexity of the task, the control inputs in a hover are simple. The cyclic is used to eliminate drift in the horizontal plane, that

1890-566: A number of times, he then directed three Hawker Hunter airstrikes onto the target. At the start of Operation Corporate , six Scouts from 3 CBAS were operating alongside three machines from No. 656 Squadron AAC . When the 5th Infantry Brigade landed, they were joined by another three Scouts from 656 Squadron. During the Falklands conflict, the Scout was engaged in casualty evacuation , re-supply and special forces insertion roles. One aircraft, XT629 ,

2025-431: A particularly important piece of role equipment was introduced in the form of the "Nightsun" 3.5 million candlepower searchlight. Operations at night were greatly enhanced with the introduction of night vision goggles, although these missions could still be hazardous. This was evident on the night of 2 December 1978, when the pilot of XW614, 659 Sqn, became disorientated during a sortie and crashed into Lough Ross , killing

2160-475: A period. During World War I , several German companies were working on externally powered guns for use in aircraft. One of these designs was the Fokker-Leimberger , an externally powered 12-barrel rotary gun using the 7.92×57mm Mauser round; it was claimed to be capable of firing over 7,000 rpm, but suffered from frequent cartridge-case ruptures due to its "nutcracker" rotary split-breech design, which

2295-526: A pre-set convergence angle, carried 200 rounds of ammunition and were mounted on a tubular spar that was fixed between the front and rear undercarriage legs. In the anti-tank role, it could carry four guided missiles (the Nord SS.11 ). The sighting unit was the AF.120, the result of a joint venture between Avimo and Ferranti, had x2.5 and x10 magnification. The APX Bezu sight unit was also evaluated but rejected, although it

2430-470: A process of rebracketing , the word is often (erroneously, from an etymological point of view) perceived by English speakers as consisting of heli- and -copter , leading to words like helipad and quadcopter . English language nicknames for "helicopter" include "chopper", "copter", "heli", and "whirlybird". In the United States military, the common slang is "helo" pronounced /ˈhiː.loʊ/. A helicopter

2565-545: A purpose-built "Minigun module" for gunship use, designated the MXU-470/A . These units first arrived in January 1967 with features such as an improved 2,000-round drum and electric feeder allowing simplified reloading in flight. The initial units were unreliable and were withdrawn almost immediately. By the end of the year, the difficulties had been worked out and the units were again being fitted to AC-47s, AC-119s, and AC-130s , with

2700-469: A refit and the two M61 Vulcans were removed and replaced with one General Dynamics 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-12/U Equalizer 5-barrel rotary cannon (while still retaining the H suffix). The improved MXU-470/As were even being proposed for lighter aircraft such as the Cessna O-2 Skymaster used by Forward Air Controllers but proved too heavy and cumbersome. A fit of two MXU-470/As was also tested on

2835-551: A relatively new invention at the time. Even after Gatling slowed the mechanism, the new electrically powered Gatling gun had a theoretical rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute, roughly three times the rate of a typical modern, single-barreled machine gun. Gatling's design received U.S. Patent #502,185 on July 25, 1893. Despite his improvements, the Gatling gun fell into disuse after cheaper, lighter-weight, recoil and gas operated machine guns were invented; Gatling himself went bankrupt for

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2970-489: A rotor. The spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released. The 4th-century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong ( 抱朴子 "Master who Embraces Simplicity") reportedly describes some of the ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft. Designs similar to the Chinese helicopter toy appeared in some Renaissance paintings and other works. In the 18th and early 19th centuries Western scientists developed flying machines based on

3105-418: A rudimentary system of drawing a small cross on the windscreen with a chinagraph pencil . In sandy conditions, these weapons could jam, which necessitated one of the free crew leaning out of the cockpit door and 'booting' the offending weapon in the hope of clearing it. This procedure was not strictly in accordance with the flight reference cards. The L7A1 pintle-mounted weapon was operated by a door gunner. In

3240-478: A search and rescue mission was mounted. Although the aircraft and the remains of the pilot, the escort rifleman and the suspect were never found, a fisherman later dredged up small parts of the aircraft wreckage. On 23 September, the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times , printed a story speculating that the Scout had been hijacked by the prisoner who had somehow managed to capture his escort's weapon and then ordered

3375-443: A selectable fire rate of either 2,000 or 4,000 rpm. There is mention of a possible GAUSE-17 designation (GAU-Shipboard Equipment-17), in reference to the system when mounted on surface ships, though this would not follow the official ASETDS designation system's format. One of the first applications of the weapon was in aircraft armament pods. These gun pods were used by a wide variety of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft mainly during

3510-441: A single main rotor, but torque created by its aerodynamic drag must be countered by an opposed torque. The design that Igor Sikorsky settled on for his VS-300 was a smaller tail rotor. The tail rotor pushes or pulls against the tail to counter the torque effect, and this has become the most common configuration for helicopter design, usually at the end of a tail boom . Some helicopters use other anti-torque controls instead of

3645-508: A specific ammunition load that replaced every fifth 'ball' round with a tracer round to enable better accuracy by the gunners, and also earning these airborne gunships the nickname 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by the Viet Cong due to their apparent ability of spitting fire and making everything they hit disappear or die. The AC-47 had three side mounted MXU-470/As (four were mounted on its replacement,

3780-417: A state called translational lift which provides extra lift without increasing power. This state, most typically, occurs when the airspeed reaches approximately 16–24 knots (30–44 km/h; 18–28 mph), and may be necessary for a helicopter to obtain flight. In forward flight a helicopter's flight controls behave more like those of a fixed-wing aircraft. Applying forward pressure on the cyclic will cause

3915-527: A total of 10 missiles (nine missiles hit, one failed) from the ridge overlooking the Argentine positions 3,000 m away and succeeded in hitting the howitzers, nearby bunkers, an ammunition dump and the command post. The Argentine troops returned mortar fire, a round landing directly in front of Capt Greenhalgh's Scout. In Northern Ireland, the Scout pioneered the use of the Heli-Tele aerial surveillance system, having

4050-496: A variable (i.e. selectable) rate of fire, specified to fire at rates of up to 6,000 rpm with most applications set at rates between 3,000 and 4,000 rounds per minute. The Minigun was mounted on Hughes OH-6 Cayuse and Bell OH-58 Kiowa side pods; in the turret and on pylon pods of Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters; and on door, pylon and pod mounts on Bell UH-1 Iroquois transport helicopters. Several larger aircraft were outfitted with miniguns specifically for close air support :

4185-429: Is a cylindrical metal shaft that extends upwards from the transmission. At the top of the mast is the attachment point for the rotor blades called the hub. Main rotor systems are classified according to how the rotor blades are attached and move relative to the hub. There are three basic types: hingeless, fully articulated, and teetering; although some modern rotor systems use a combination of these. Most helicopters have

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4320-460: Is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors . This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically , to hover , and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of short take-off and landing ( STOL ) or short take-off and vertical landing ( STOVL ) aircraft cannot perform without

4455-452: Is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more horizontally-spinning rotors. By contrast the autogyro (or gyroplane) and gyrodyne have a free-spinning rotor for all or part of the flight envelope, relying on a separate thrust system to propel the craft forwards, so that the airflow sets the rotor spinning to provide lift. The compound helicopter also has a separate thrust system, but continues to supply power to

4590-543: Is being produced with this firing rate as well as 4,000 rpm and the previous standard 3,000 rpm rate. Garwood Industries made several other modifications to the 1960s Minigun design in order to meet modern-day military and ISO standards. This includes modifications to the drive motor, feeder and barrel clutch assembly. From 2015 to 2017 Garwood Industries CEO Tracy Garwood collaborated with firearms dealer Michael Fox and weapons smuggler Tyler Carlson to supply miniguns to Mexican drug cartels. Garwood submitted false paperwork to

4725-452: Is called an aerial crane . Aerial cranes are used to place heavy equipment, like radio transmission towers and large air conditioning units, on the tops of tall buildings, or when an item must be raised up in a remote area, such as a radio tower raised on the top of a hill or mountain. Helicopters are used as aerial cranes in the logging industry to lift trees out of terrain where vehicles cannot travel and where environmental concerns prohibit

4860-458: Is different to that of conventional rotary gun designs. None of these German guns went into production during the war, although a competing Siemens prototype (possibly using a different action), which was tried on the Western Front , scored a victory in aerial combat. The British also experimented with this type of split-breech during the 1950s, but they were also unsuccessful. In the 1960s,

4995-535: Is equipped to stabilize and provide limited medical treatment to a patient while in flight. The use of helicopters as air ambulances is often referred to as " MEDEVAC ", and patients are referred to as being "airlifted", or "medevaced". This use was pioneered in the Korean War , when time to reach a medical facility was reduced to three hours from the eight hours needed in World War II , and further reduced to two hours by

5130-665: Is the Sud-Ouest Djinn , and an example of the hot tip jet helicopter is the YH-32 Hornet . Some radio-controlled helicopters and smaller, helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicles , use electric motors or motorcycle engines. Radio-controlled helicopters may also have piston engines that use fuels other than gasoline, such as nitromethane . Some turbine engines commonly used in helicopters can also use biodiesel instead of jet fuel. There are also human-powered helicopters . A helicopter has four flight control inputs. These are

5265-411: Is to control forward and back, right and left. The collective is used to maintain altitude. The pedals are used to control nose direction or heading . It is the interaction of these controls that makes hovering so difficult, since an adjustment in any one control requires an adjustment of the other two, creating a cycle of constant correction. As a helicopter moves from hover to forward flight it enters

5400-480: Is used by several branches of the U.S. military. Versions are designated M134 and XM196 by the United States Army , and GAU-2/A and GAU-17/A by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy . The ancestor to the modern minigun was a hand cranked mechanical device invented in the 1860s by Richard Jordan Gatling . He later replaced the hand-cranked mechanism of a rifle-caliber Gatling gun with an electric motor ,

5535-589: Is used in several branches of the U.S. military, under a number of designations. The basic fixed armament version was given the designation M134 by the United States Army , while the same weapon was designated GAU-2/A (on a fixed mount) and GAU-17/A (flexible mount) by the United States Air Force (USAF) and United States Navy (USN). The USAF minigun variant has three versions, while the US Army weapon appears to have incorporated several improvements without

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5670-498: The ATF claiming that some M134G rotor housings had been destroyed when they were actually sold to the gun-running ring. In 2017 federal agents raided Fox's home and recovered two of the rotor housings that Garwood had reported destroyed. A number of the rotor housings were shipped to Mexico and a completed M134G using a reportedly destroyed rotor housing was recovered from a cartel by Mexican law enforcement. Garwood claimed he did not know that

5805-558: The Bell 205 and the Erickson S-64 Aircrane helitanker. Helicopters are used as air ambulances for emergency medical assistance in situations when an ambulance cannot easily or quickly reach the scene, or cannot transport the patient to a medical facility in time. Helicopters are also used when patients need to be transported between medical facilities and air transportation is the most practical method. An air ambulance helicopter

5940-572: The Bell 206 with 3,400. Most were in North America with 34.3% then in Europe with 28.0% followed by Asia-Pacific with 18.6%, Latin America with 11.6%, Africa with 5.3% and Middle East with 1.7%. The earliest references for vertical flight came from China. Since around 400 BC, Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys (or Chinese top). This bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to

6075-929: The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly with an internal gun and with pods on wing hardpoints ; and the Douglas A-1 Skyraider , also with pods on wing hardpoints. Other famous gunship airplanes are the Douglas AC-47 Spooky , the Fairchild AC-119 , and the Lockheed AC-130 . The U.S. government had procured some 10,000 Miniguns during the Vietnam War . Around 1990, Dillon Aero acquired a large number of Miniguns and spares from "a foreign user". The guns kept failing to shoot continuously, revealing that they were actually worn-out weapons. The company decided to fix

6210-517: The Cornu helicopter which used two 6.1-metre (20 ft) counter-rotating rotors driven by a 24 hp (18 kW) Antoinette engine. On 13 November 1907, it lifted its inventor to 0.3 metres (1 ft) and remained aloft for 20 seconds. Even though this flight did not surpass the flight of the Gyroplane No. 1, it was reported to be the first truly free flight with a pilot. Cornu's helicopter completed

6345-408: The Douglas AC-47 Spooky and Fairchild AC-119 , the side-firing armament was fitted by combining SUU-11/A aircraft pods, often with their aerodynamic front fairings removed, with a locally fabricated mount. These pods were essentially unmodified, required no external power, and were linked to the aircraft's fire controls. The need for those pods for other missions led to the development and fielding of

6480-680: The Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker , though the Royal Thai Air Force later elected to use another configuration with the M197 20 mm cannon. In September 2013, Dillon Aero released the DGP2300 gun pod for the M134D-H. It contains 3,000 rounds, enough ammunition to fire the minigun for a full minute. The system is entirely self-contained, so it can be mounted on any aircraft that can handle

6615-564: The Fairey Aviation Division factory at Hayes . The Scout formed the backbone of the Army Air Corps throughout the 1960s and well into the 1970s; the first Scout flew on 29 August 1960 and an initial order for 66 aircraft followed a month after its first flight. Engine problems delayed the introduction of the Scout until 1963, and as an interim measure the Army Air Corps received a small number of Alouette II helicopters. Although

6750-702: The Falklands War . Both the Scout and the Wasp were developed from the Saunders-Roe P.531 , itself a development of the Saunders-Roe Skeeter . With the acquisition of Saunders Roe, Westland took over the P.531 project, which became the prototype for the Scout (originally called Sprite) and the Wasp. The initial UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) development contract was for a five to six seat general purpose helicopter. The first version that met both RN and Army requirement,

6885-671: The United States Armed Forces began exploring modern variants of the electrically powered, rotating barrel Gatling-style weapons for use in the Vietnam War . American forces in the Vietnam War, which used helicopters as one of the primary means of transporting soldiers and equipment through the dense jungle, found that their helicopters were vulnerable to small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks when they slowed to land. Although helicopters had mounted single-barrel machine guns, using them to repel attackers hidden in

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7020-440: The Vietnam War . In naval service a prime function of rescue helicopters is to promptly retrieve downed aircrew involved in crashes occurring upon launch or recovery aboard aircraft carriers. In past years this function was performed by destroyers escorting the carrier, but since then helicopters have proved vastly more effective. Police departments and other law enforcement agencies use helicopters to pursue suspects and patrol

7155-824: The Westland Lynx AH Mk 7 , the Scout AH Mk 1s operated by 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron (3 CBAS) were British Army helicopters on loan. 3 CBAS flew the Scout from 1971 through to 1982, when it was replaced by the Westland Lynx, and the squadron was eventually renumbered as 847 Naval Air Squadron . The Scout saw operational service in Borneo during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation , the Aden Emergency , Oman ( Jebel Akhdar War ), Rhodesia, Northern Ireland and then in

7290-497: The semi-automatic (SACLOS) system used by the MILAN missile. In the casualty evacuation role (CASEVAC), the Scout could carry two stretchers internally or two on externally mounted pods, the co-pilot's seat could also be reversed to allow an attendant to face the casualties. Although the general design of the aircraft was robust, with an airframe fatigue life of 7,200 hours, the cockpit ergonomics were less than perfect. An example of this

7425-571: The 160th SOAR as its standardized weapon system. The gun then went through the Army's formal procurement system approval process, and in 2003 the Dillon Aero minigun was certified and designated M134D . Once the Dillon Aero system was approved for general military service, Dillon Aero GAU-17s entered Marine Corps service and were well received in replacing the GE GAU-17s serving on Marine UH-1s. The core of

7560-404: The 7.62mm General Electric Minigun and the two-inch rocket pod. The rocket pods were mounted either side of the central fuselage section on the multi-spar weapon booms and both smooth tube and fin-stabilised rockets were tested, although the accuracy was described as "indifferent". Studies were also carried out for a pintle-mounted M2 Browning machine gun in place of the standard 7.62 GPMG, and

7695-605: The AC-119) and when all firing at once created a devastating image in the eyes of the enemy. The first AC-130A Gunship IIs did away with the MXU-470/A mounts and instead used GAU-2/As, and not only had four 7.62mm GAU-2/A minigun mounts, but added four 20mm M61 Vulcan 6-barrel rotary cannons; this configuration was upgraded two years later in 1969 by removing two each of the GAU-2/As and M61s and adding two 40mm (1.58 in) L/60 Bofors cannons in

7830-554: The Bambi bucket, are usually filled by submerging the bucket into lakes, rivers, reservoirs, or portable tanks. Tanks fitted onto helicopters are filled from a hose while the helicopter is on the ground or water is siphoned from lakes or reservoirs through a hanging snorkel as the helicopter hovers over the water source. Helitack helicopters are also used to deliver firefighters, who rappel down to inaccessible areas, and to resupply firefighters. Common firefighting helicopters include variants of

7965-755: The Chinese top in a model consisting of contrarotating turkey flight feathers as rotor blades, and in 1784, demonstrated it to the French Academy of Sciences . Sir George Cayley , influenced by a childhood fascination with the Chinese flying top, developed a model of feathers, similar to that of Launoy and Bienvenu, but powered by rubber bands. By the end of the century, he had progressed to using sheets of tin for rotor blades and springs for power. His writings on his experiments and models would become influential on future aviation pioneers. Alphonse Pénaud would later develop coaxial rotor model helicopter toys in 1870, also powered by rubber bands. One of these toys, given as

8100-478: The Chinese toy. It was not until the early 1480s, when Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci created a design for a machine that could be described as an " aerial screw ", that any recorded advancement was made towards vertical flight. His notes suggested that he built small flying models, but there were no indications for any provision to stop the rotor from making the craft rotate. As scientific knowledge increased and became more accepted, people continued to pursue

8235-454: The French AME.621 20mm cannon. Another was the installation of a Bendix R.100 lightweight weather and ground-mapping radar , which had a range of eight and 40 miles. This was mounted behind the fibreglass nose access panel along with a small viewing screen in the cockpit. The radar antenna was moved further forward later in the development to improve downward scanning. During the development of

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8370-730: The Gulf ahead of the 2003 Iraq War - 59 systems were installed in 30 days. The GAU-17/A is designated Mk 44 in the machine gun series and is generally known as the Mk 44 when installed on British warships. The weapon is part of both the A/A49E-11 armament system on the UH-1N; and of the A/A49E-13 armament subsystem on the USAF Sikorsky HH-60H Pave Hawk helicopter. The weapons on these systems feature

8505-453: The Gyroplane No. 1 lifted its pilot into the air about 0.6 metres (2 ft) for a minute. The Gyroplane No.   1 proved to be extremely unsteady and required a man at each corner of the airframe to hold it steady. For this reason, the flights of the Gyroplane No.   1 are considered to be the first manned flight of a helicopter, but not a free or untethered flight. That same year, fellow French inventor Paul Cornu designed and built

8640-514: The M134D was a steel housing and rotor. To focus on weight reduction, a titanium housing and rotor were introduced, creating the M134D-T which had reduced weight from 62 lb (28 kg) to 41 lb (19 kg). The gun housing had a 500,000-round lifespan before it wore out, which was far higher than a conventional machine gun's 40,000-round lifespan but lower than that of other rotary guns. A hybrid of

8775-566: The Martian atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's, its two blades spin at close to 3,000 revolutions a minute, approximately 10 times faster than that of a terrestrial helicopter. In 2017, 926 civil helicopters were shipped for $ 3.68 billion, led by Airbus Helicopters with $ 1.87 billion for 369 rotorcraft, Leonardo Helicopters with $ 806 million for 102 (first three-quarters only), Bell Helicopter with $ 696 million for 132, then Robinson Helicopter with $ 161 million for 305. By October 2018,

8910-557: The Navy began mounting Dillon miniguns on specialized small boats. In 2005, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division procured guns to mount on Humvees . In Iraq, US Army Special Forces units on the ground were frequently engaged by opposition forces, so they mounted M134D miniguns on their vehicles for additional firepower. After several engagements the attackers seemed to avoid vehicles with miniguns. Later,

9045-486: The Nimbus during the early part of its service was notoriously low, with four to six flying hours being the norm. A competition was allegedly held, with a prize to the first unit that could achieve an engine life of 25 flying hours. Operational experience and development work steadily improved the reliability of the Nimbus and by 1964 engine life had improved to two or three engine changes per 1,000 flying hours. The Scout AH Mk 1

9180-433: The P.531-2, flew on 9 August 1959 with a Bristol Siddeley Nimbus engine. A de Havilland Gnome engine-equipped version was also trialled, starting 3 May 1960. The production Scout AH.1 used a Rolls-Royce Nimbus engine (RR having acquired Bristol Siddeley by then). The engine was rated at 1,050 shp (780 kW), but the torque was limited to 685 shp (511 kW). Extensive theoretical design and practical testing

9315-559: The RAN, and the RAN operated these helicopters up until 1973, when they were replaced by Bell 206B-1 Kiowas . The RAN experience with the Scouts aboard HMAS Moresby illustrated the need for a higher-level maintenance regime as a result of operating the helicopters in areas with high concentrations of abrasive coral sand encountered around the Australian coastline and the detrimental effect that it had on

9450-530: The South Atlantic. The Territorial Army (AAC) formed 666 Squadron with a number of Scouts in the late 1980s. Mystery still surrounds a Scout that went missing 20 September 1965. XR599 set off for a 40-nautical-mile (74 km) night flight from Lundu to Kuching, the mission being to transport a local communist suspect to the Sarawak capital for interrogation. At 23:00 hrs, the aircraft was posted as missing and

9585-535: The Special Forces units began concealing their weapons so opposition troops would not know they were facing the weapon; the regular Army units did the opposite, creating minigun mock-ups out of painted PVC pipes tied together to resemble barrels to intimidate enemies. Garwood Industries created the M134G version with several modifications to the original GE system. The optimum rate of fire was determined by Garwood to be around 3,200 rounds per minute (rpm). The M134G

9720-580: The Vietnam War, remaining in inventory for a period afterward. The standard pod, designated SUU-11/A by the Air Force and M18 by the U.S. Army, was a relatively simple unit, completely self-contained, with a 1,500-round magazine directly feeding delinked ammunition into the weapon. This means the Minigun fitted to the pod does not require the standard MAU-56/A delinking feeder unit. A number of variants of this pod exist. Initially on fixed-wing gunships such as

9855-500: The WG.13 Westland Lynx , two Scouts were used as testbeds and fitted with full-scale, composite construction semi-rigid Lynx main rotor heads as the Scout had the nearest size rotor. The first test flight was achieved 31 August 1970. The first prototype MBB BO 105 tested the airframe with Scout main rotor head and blades but it was destroyed due to ground resonance during its initial trials. About 150 Scouts were built through 1968, primarily at

9990-727: The air; mainly in the UK; as of 2014 there were 10 Scouts remaining on the UK civil register, including the Army Air Corp's Historic Flight 's aircraft. Outside the UK, the last of six Scouts that were exported to New Zealand have been withdrawn from use, leaving only ZS-HAS flying in South Africa operating. Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66 General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Helicopter A helicopter

10125-436: The aircraft's entry into service was delayed, the Scout still had a number of teething troubles when it was introduced. One of the earliest losses was XR596, which crashed into the jungle near Kluang airfield in southern Malaya on 16 July 1964, following a fuel pump failure. The two crew died in the incident. Engine failures were responsible for the loss of at least 11 military and civilian registered aircraft. The engine life of

10260-550: The aircraft's handling properties under low airspeed conditions—it has proved advantageous to conduct tasks that were previously not possible with other aircraft, or were time- or work-intensive to accomplish on the ground. Today, helicopter uses include transportation of people and cargo, military uses, construction, firefighting, search and rescue , tourism , medical transport, law enforcement, agriculture, news and media , and aerial observation , among others. A helicopter used to carry loads connected to long cables or slings

10395-543: The anti-tank role, four SS.11 ATGWs were carried two each side; these could be carried in conjunction with the pintle-mounted GPMG. During the Falklands campaign, the SS.11 achieved some success, being used to attack Argentine positions on 14 June 1982. For nighttime reconnaissance, the Scout could carry four 4.5-inch (110 mm) parachute flares mounted on special carriers. In addition, two smaller parachute flares could be carried to allow emergency landings at night. These were fitted on

10530-646: The aptly named AC-130A 'Surprise Package'. This configuration lasted two more years until, in late 1971, the AC-130E Pave Aegis arrived, which did away with the miniguns altogether and one of the 40mm Bofors and instead went to the configuration of two 20mm M61 Vulcan, one 40mm L/60 Bofors and one 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzer , a configuration that lasted until the early 2000s when the AC-130Hs (the AC-130Es had had an avionics upgrade and redesignated to H models) underwent

10665-461: The aviation industry; and the turboshaft engine for helicopter use, pioneered in December 1951 by the aforementioned Kaman K-225, finally gave helicopters an engine with a large amount of power and a low weight penalty. Turboshafts are also more reliable than piston engines, especially when producing the sustained high levels of power required by a helicopter. The turboshaft engine was able to be scaled to

10800-435: The blades angle forwards or backwards, or left and right, to make the helicopter move in those directions. The anti-torque pedals are located in the same position as the rudder pedals in a fixed-wing aircraft, and serve a similar purpose, namely to control the direction in which the nose of the aircraft is pointed. Application of the pedal in a given direction changes the pitch of the tail rotor blades, increasing or reducing

10935-677: The building of roads. These operations are referred to as longline because of the long, single sling line used to carry the load. In military service helicopters are often useful for delivery of outsized slung loads that would not fit inside ordinary cargo aircraft: artillery pieces, large machinery (field radars, communications gear, electrical generators), or pallets of bulk cargo. In military operations these payloads are often delivered to remote locations made inaccessible by mountainous or riverine terrain, or naval vessels at sea. In electronic news gathering , helicopters have provided aerial views of some major news stories, and have been doing so, from

11070-481: The campaign, the first, XR634 , was through pilot error whilst landing on 16 May 1966. Although initially repairable, this aircraft was subsequently damaged beyond economic repair when it was dropped by the RAF Westland Wessex sent to recover it. The second aircraft, XT635 , flew into a hillside during a night patrol at Jebal on 5 May 1967, killing the two crew and the two passengers. The third aircraft, XT641 ,

11205-406: The cockpit from overhead. The control is called the cyclic because it changes cyclic pitch of the main blades. The result is to tilt the rotor disk in a particular direction, resulting in the helicopter moving in that direction. If the pilot pushes the cyclic forward, the rotor disk tilts forward, and the rotor produces a thrust in the forward direction. If the pilot pushes the cyclic to the side,

11340-546: The commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment , Lt Col Anthony Farrar-Hockley , used a Scout to reconnoitre the Wadi Dhubsan area, Radfan. The aircraft was hit by enemy fire and the pilot made an emergency landing behind enemy lines. The aircraft was subsequently recovered; Farrar-Hockley rejoined the unit and was awarded the Bar to his Distinguished Service Order for his leadership. Three Scouts were written off during

11475-464: The cyclic, the collective, the anti-torque pedals, and the throttle. The cyclic control is usually located between the pilot's legs and is commonly called the cyclic stick or just cyclic . On most helicopters, the cyclic is similar to a joystick. However, the Robinson R22 and Robinson R44 have a unique teetering bar cyclic control system and a few helicopters have a cyclic control that descends into

11610-487: The delinker's performance and began ordering them by 1997. This prompted Dillon to improve other design aspects including the bolt, housing and barrel. Between 1997 and 2001, Dillon Aero was producing 25–30 products a year. In 2001, it was working on a new bolt design that increased performance and service life. By 2002, virtually every component of the minigun had been improved, so Dillon began producing complete weapons with improved components. The guns were purchased quickly by

11745-403: The dense jungle foliage often led to overheated barrels or cartridge jams. To develop a more reliable weapon with a higher rate of fire, General Electric designers scaled down the rotary-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon for 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition. The resulting weapon, designated M134 and known as the "Minigun", could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute without overheating. The gun has

11880-552: The design was used exclusively by the army from the outset. All current operators require an 'Experimental' certificate to fly them. Two Scout helicopters were acquired by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in April 1963 and were operated by 723 Naval Air Squadron , with the aircraft being rotated aboard the hydrographic survey ship HMAS Moresby . The RAN Scouts proved the practicalities of operating helicopters from small ships for

12015-528: The early 21st century, as well as recently weaponized utilities such as artillery spotting , aerial bombing and suicide attacks . The English word helicopter is adapted from the French word hélicoptère , coined by Gustave Ponton d'Amécourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix ( ἕλιξ ), genitive helikos (ἕλῐκος), "helix, spiral, whirl, convolution" and pteron ( πτερόν ) "wing". In

12150-439: The event was taken by Max Skladanowsky , but it remains lost . In 1885, Thomas Edison was given US$ 1,000 (equivalent to $ 34,000 today) by James Gordon Bennett, Jr. , to conduct experiments towards developing flight. Edison built a helicopter and used the paper for a stock ticker to create guncotton , with which he attempted to power an internal combustion engine. The helicopter was damaged by explosions and one of his workers

12285-486: The first half of the 20th century was that the amount of power produced by an engine was not able to overcome the engine's weight in vertical flight. This was overcome in early successful helicopters by using the smallest engines available. When the compact, flat engine was developed, the helicopter industry found a lighter-weight powerplant easily adapted to small helicopters, although radial engines continued to be used for larger helicopters. Turbine engines revolutionized

12420-405: The gas pressure or recoil energy of fired cartridges. A gas-operated variant, designated XM133 , was also developed. While the weapon can feed from linked ammunition, it requires a delinking feeder to strip the links as the rounds are fed into the chambers. The original feeder unit was designated MAU-56/A, but has since been replaced by an improved MAU-201/A unit. The General Electric minigun

12555-455: The high operating cost of helicopters cost-effective in ensuring that oil platforms continue to operate. Various companies specialize in this type of operation. NASA developed Ingenuity , a 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) helicopter used to survey Mars (along with a rover). It began service in February 2021 and was retired due to sustained rotor blade damage in January 2024 after 73 sorties. As

12690-473: The idea of vertical flight. In July 1754, Russian Mikhail Lomonosov had developed a small coaxial modeled after the Chinese top but powered by a wound-up spring device and demonstrated it to the Russian Academy of Sciences . It was powered by a spring, and was suggested as a method to lift meteorological instruments. In 1783, Christian de Launoy , and his mechanic , Bienvenu, used a coaxial version of

12825-498: The in-service and stored helicopter fleet of 38,570 with civil or government operators was led Robinson Helicopter with 24.7% followed by Airbus Helicopters with 24.4%, then Bell with 20.5 and Leonardo with 8.4%, Russian Helicopters with 7.7%, Sikorsky Aircraft with 7.2%, MD Helicopters with 3.4% and other with 2.2%. The most widespread model is the piston Robinson R44 with 5,600, then the H125/ AS350 with 3,600 units, followed by

12960-440: The intended buyers were Mexican cartels although he was aware that they were to be used for illegal activity. The basic minigun is a six-barrel, air-cooled, and electrically driven rotary machine gun. The electric drive rotates the weapon within its housing, with a rotating firing pin assembly and rotary chamber. The minigun's multi-barrel design helps prevent overheating, but also serves other functions. Multiple barrels allow for

13095-662: The lack of an airstrip would make transport via fixed-wing aircraft impossible. The use of transport helicopters to deliver troops as an attack force on an objective is referred to as " air assault ". Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) helicopter systems of varying sizes are developed by companies for military reconnaissance and surveillance duties. Naval forces also use helicopters equipped with dipping sonar for anti-submarine warfare , since they can operate from small ships. Oil companies charter helicopters to move workers and parts quickly to remote drilling sites located at sea or in remote locations. The speed advantage over boats makes

13230-581: The late 1960s. Helicopters have also been used in films, both in front and behind the camera. The largest single non-combat helicopter operation in history was the disaster management operation following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster . Hundreds of pilots were involved in airdrop and observation missions, making dozens of sorties a day for several months. " Helitack " is the use of helicopters to combat wildland fires . The helicopters are used for aerial firefighting (water bombing) and may be fitted with tanks or carry helibuckets . Helibuckets, such as

13365-555: The limited power did not allow for manned flight. The introduction of the internal combustion engine at the end of the 19th century became the watershed for helicopter development as engines began to be developed and produced that were powerful enough to allow for helicopters able to lift humans. Early helicopter designs utilized custom-built engines or rotary engines designed for airplanes, but these were soon replaced by more powerful automobile engines and radial engines . The single, most-limiting factor of helicopter development during

13500-410: The main gearbox failed at the main input drive and the aircraft made a forced landing at the lakeside in around four feet of water. The two crew were picked up another 656 Sqn Scout piloted by Capt J G Greenhalgh later that day. The aircraft was eventually recovered and airlifted to Fitzroy by Sea King on 11 June, but was subsequently written off on its return to the UK. XR628 was also the aircraft that

13635-481: The monorotor design, and coaxial-rotor , tiltrotor and compound helicopters are also all flying today. Four-rotor helicopters ( quadcopters ) were pioneered as early as 1907 in France, and along with other types of multicopters , have been developed mainly for specialized applications such as commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) due to the rapid expansion of drone racing and aerial photography markets in

13770-586: The nearby park, the Parco Forlanini. Emmanuel Dieuaide's steam-powered design featured counter-rotating rotors powered through a hose from a boiler on the ground. In 1887 Parisian inventor, Gustave Trouvé , built and flew a tethered electric model helicopter. In July 1901, the maiden flight of Hermann Ganswindt 's helicopter took place in Berlin-Schöneberg; this was probably the first heavier-than-air motor-driven flight carrying humans. A movie covering

13905-464: The nose to pitch down, with a resultant increase in airspeed and loss of altitude. Aft cyclic will cause the nose to pitch up, slowing the helicopter and causing it to climb. Increasing collective (power) while maintaining a constant airspeed will induce a climb while decreasing collective will cause a descent. Coordinating these two inputs, down collective plus aft cyclic or up collective plus forward cyclic, will result in airspeed changes while maintaining

14040-553: The pilot to either fly out to sea or over the jungle towards the Indonesian border until they ran out of fuel. Tragedy struck a second time on 25 September when an RAF Westland Whirlwind HAR.10 of 225 Sqn, searching over jungle for XR599 , crashed killing the five crew. In Aden and Radfan , a number of Scouts were shot down, although these usually resulted in a forced landing and the aircraft were recovered, repaired and returned to service. An example of this occurred on 26 May 1964 when

14175-411: The power normally required to be diverted for the tail rotor to be applied fully to the main rotors, increasing the aircraft's power efficiency and lifting capacity. There are several common configurations that use the counter-rotating effect to benefit the rotorcraft: Tip jet designs let the rotor push itself through the air and avoid generating torque. The number, size and type of engine(s) used on

14310-490: The problems encountered, rather than simply putting the guns into storage. Fixing failure problems ended up improving the Minigun's overall design. Word of Dillon's efforts to improve the Minigun reached the 160th SOAR , and the company was invited to Fort Campbell, Kentucky , to demonstrate its products. A delinker, used to separate cartridges from ammunition belts and feed them into the gun housing, and other parts were tested on Campbell's ranges. The 160th SOAR were impressed by

14445-420: The radio and requested a "HELARM" using SS.11 missiles to attack them. As he was engaged in ammunition re-supply, his Scout was not fitted with missile booms – this was in order to reduce weight and increase the aircraft lift capability. Capt Greenhalgh then returned to Estancia House, where his aircraft was refuelled, fitted out, and armed with four missiles in 20 minutes with the rotors still turning. An 'O' group

14580-533: The rotor blades, airframe and engine components. Despite the additional effort to maintain the helicopters, the Scouts were considered to be superior to the seaplanes and flying boats that had previously been used in this role. One of the Scouts ditched in Wewak Harbour while taking off from HMAS Moresby in April 1967; it was subsequently recovered but the aircraft was deemed to be written off. Although none are operational in military roles, there are still Scouts in

14715-436: The rotor disk tilts to that side and produces thrust in that direction, causing the helicopter to hover sideways. The collective pitch control or collective is located on the left side of the pilot's seat with a settable friction control to prevent inadvertent movement. The collective changes the pitch angle of all the main rotor blades collectively (i.e. all at the same time) and independently of their position. Therefore, if

14850-406: The rotor in cruise, which allows its rotation to be slowed down , thus increasing the maximum speed of the aircraft. The Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne diverted up to 90% of its engine power to a pusher propeller during forward flight. There are three basic flight conditions for a helicopter: hover, forward flight and the transition between the two. Hovering is the most challenging part of flying

14985-422: The rotor throughout normal flight. The rotor system, or more simply rotor , is the rotating part of a helicopter that generates lift . A rotor system may be mounted horizontally, as main rotors are, providing lift vertically, or it may be mounted vertically, such as a tail rotor, to provide horizontal thrust to counteract torque from the main rotors. The rotor consists of a mast, hub and rotor blades. The mast

15120-472: The site to evacuate the survivor. Another Scout, XR628 , of 656 Sqn AAC, suffered a main rotor gearbox failure whilst in a low hover over MacPhee Pond on 8 June 1982. XR628 had taken cover as two pairs of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks from Grupo 5 approached; these aircraft later attacked the RFA landing ships Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram at Bluff Cove . Once the threat had passed and the pilot began to climb away,

15255-418: The size of the helicopter being designed, so that all but the lightest of helicopter models are powered by turbine engines today. Special jet engines developed to drive the rotor from the rotor tips are referred to as tip jets . Tip jets powered by a remote compressor are referred to as cold tip jets, while those powered by combustion exhaust are referred to as hot tip jets. An example of a cold jet helicopter

15390-483: The skies. Since helicopters can achieve a unique aerial view, they are often used in conjunction with police on the ground to report on suspects' locations and movements. They are often mounted with lighting and heat-sensing equipment for night pursuits. Military forces use attack helicopters to conduct aerial attacks on ground targets. Such helicopters are mounted with missile launchers and miniguns . Transport helicopters are used to ferry troops and supplies where

15525-494: The standard tail rotor colour scheme for the Scout was bands of red and white. On 14 September 1973, a soldier died during training at Gosford Castle, Armagh, after coming into contact with the tail rotor blades whilst the aircraft was on the ground. Following this accident, the tail rotor blade colour scheme was changed to the distinctive black and white bands. Because of the specialist nature of operations in Northern Ireland,

15660-475: The starboard rear fuselage on a special attachment point. About 150 Scout helicopters were acquired for the Army Air Corps, which operated them until 1994. The way British military aviation has been established has meant that the Royal Marines have never actually "owned" their own aircraft. The larger Westland Whirlwind , Westland Wessex and Westland Sea Kings have been Fleet Air Arm helicopters and, like

15795-475: The tail rotor, such as the ducted fan (called Fenestron or FANTAIL ) and NOTAR . NOTAR provides anti-torque similar to the way a wing develops lift through the use of the Coandă effect on the tail boom. The use of two or more horizontal rotors turning in opposite directions is another configuration used to counteract the effects of torque on the aircraft without relying on an anti-torque tail rotor. This allows

15930-448: The throttle is to maintain enough engine power to keep the rotor RPM within allowable limits so that the rotor produces enough lift for flight. In single-engine helicopters, the throttle control is a motorcycle-style twist grip mounted on the collective control, while dual-engine helicopters have a power lever for each engine. A compound helicopter has an additional system for thrust and, typically, small stub fixed wings . This offloads

16065-417: The thrust produced by the tail rotor and causing the nose to yaw in the direction of the applied pedal. The pedals mechanically change the pitch of the tail rotor altering the amount of thrust produced. Helicopter rotors are designed to operate in a narrow range of RPM . The throttle controls the power produced by the engine, which is connected to the rotor by a fixed ratio transmission. The purpose of

16200-722: The two crew. XW614 was the last of five Scouts written off during operations in the province. Unlike its naval counterpart, the Scout did not achieve the same export success as the Wasp, with the Royal Jordanian Air Force acquiring three helicopters, two were operated in Uganda, and Bahrain had two helicopters, which were operated by the Bahrain Public Security Force in police service roles. The Scout never received civilian airworthiness certification, which prevented it from being sold to civilian operators, and meant that

16335-561: The two weapons resulted in the M134D-H , which had a steel housing and titanium rotor. It was cheaper with the steel component and only 1 lb (0.45 kg) heavier than the M134D-T, and restored its lifespan to 1.5 million rounds. The M134D-H is currently in use on various 160th Regiment platforms. Dillon also created specialized mounts and ammunition-handling systems. Initially, mounts were made only for aviation systems. Then from 2003 to 2005,

16470-400: The undercarriage skid booms and one fixed or flexible machine gun on the port or starboard side of rear cabin (it is possible to carry two pintle-mounted GPMGs in the cabin, although this would, unsurprisingly, be somewhat cramped). These GPMG combinations were sometimes used in unison to great effect. The forward firing GPMGs were electrically operated, being fired by the pilot and aimed using

16605-563: The vertical flight he had envisioned. Steam power was popular with other inventors as well. In 1877, the Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer Enrico Forlanini developed an unmanned helicopter powered by a steam engine . It rose to a height of 13 meters (43 feet), where it remained for 20 seconds, after a vertical take-off from a park in Milan . Milan has dedicated its city airport to Enrico Forlanini, also named Linate Airport , as well as

16740-466: The weight, rotational torque, and recoil force (190 lbf (850 N)) of the gun. The pod has its own battery which can be wired into the aircraft's electrical system to maintain a charge. Various iterations of the minigun have also been used in a number of armament subsystems for helicopters, with most of these subsystems being created by the United States. The first systems utilized the weapon in

16875-590: Was adopted for use on the Westland Wasp. Additional testing and trials were carried out with the Swingfire anti-tank guided missile. Initial firings were carried out in early 1972, to test the "Hawkswing" system for the Westland Lynx , the associated AF.530 gyro-stabilized sight was subsequently trialled in 1974. The Hawkswing system was cancelled in 1975 due to its manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) compared to

17010-486: Was badly burned. Edison reported that it would take a motor with a ratio of three to four pounds per horsepower produced to be successful, based on his experiments. Ján Bahýľ , a Slovak inventor, adapted the internal combustion engine to power his helicopter model that reached a height of 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) in 1901. On 5 May 1905, his helicopter reached 4 meters (13 feet) in altitude and flew for over 1,500 meters (4,900 feet). In 1908, Edison patented his own design for

17145-494: Was carried out to provide an undercarriage that was tolerant to ground resonance . The first Army Scout AH Mk 1 flew on 4 August 1960, a powered-controls version followed in March 1961 and deliveries started in early 1963. Following trials ranging from Canada to Nairobi, the airframe was released for operations between −26 °C and ISA +30 °C. Behind the two front seats was a three-seat bench, although this could be replaced with

17280-497: Was destroyed on the ground in an incident where the pilot and his Foreign Office intelligence officer passenger were captured and shot dead by the National Liberation Front after landing in a wadi bed whilst on a flight from Ataq to Mayfa’ah on 3 September 1967. The NLF then set fire to and destroyed the aircraft. On 1 August 1968, Westland Sioux XT123 crashed at Sharjah, Oman, and was subsequently written off when it

17415-825: Was developed by the USAF specifically for flexible installations, beginning primarily with the Bell UH-1N Twin Huey helicopter, as the GAU-17/A. Produced by General Dynamics , this version has a slotted flash hider. The primary end users of the GAU-17/A have been the USN and the United States Marine Corps (USMC), which mount the gun as defensive armament on a number of helicopters and surface ships. GAU-17/As from helicopters were rushed into service for ships on pintle mountings taken from Mk16 20 mm guns for anti-swarm protection in

17550-522: Was dropped by the Westland Scout that was attempting the recovery. Lt David John Ralls, Royal Corps of Transport , was awarded the DFC for counter-attacking a large group of enemy which had previously attacked an army road repair party on the road to Habilayn. Lt Ralls attack, on 30 May 1967, utilised both the forward-firing and pintle-mounted weapons, forcing the enemy to retreat. Despite his aircraft being hit

17685-457: Was one of two Scouts of B Flight, 3 CBAS that was attacked by two FMA IA 58 Pucarás (the only Argentine air-to-air victory in the war) of Grupo 3 near Camilla Creek House, North of Goose Green . XT629 was hit by cannon fire and crashed, killing the pilot and severing the leg of the crewman, who was thrown clear of the wreckage on impact. The second Scout evaded the Pucarás and later returned to

17820-407: Was operated by the Army Air Corps on general light work, including observation and liaison. Like the Wasp, the Scout could be fitted out with different role equipment including flotation gear and a Lucas air-driven hoist which had a lift capacity of 600 lb (270 kg). In the light attack role, it was capable of carrying two forward-firing 7.62mm L7 General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) fixed to

17955-698: Was shot down on 26 May 1964, carrying 3 Para's CO, Lt Col Farrar-Hockley. Scouts armed with SS.11 anti-tank missiles were used to great effect during the Falklands campaign. On 14 June 1982, an Argentine 105 mm pack howitzer battery dug in to the West of Stanley Racecourse was firing at the Scots Guards as they approached Mount Tumbledown. As the guns were out of range of the MILAN ATGWs of nearby 2nd battalion, Parachute Regiment , their second in command, Major Chris Keeble, contacted Capt J G Greenhalgh of 656 Sqn AAC on

18090-596: Was the cabin heater switch being mounted next to the fuel cock; this led to the loss of at least four aircraft when the pilot inadvertently closed the fuel cock instead of switching off the cabin heater, causing the engine to shut down. The autorotational qualities of the Scout have also been described by some pilots as 'startling'. In service trials and testing were carried out by the AAC's Development Wing at Middle Wallop, Hampshire. A wide variety of weapons and equipment were evaluated, although many were never adopted. Amongst these were

18225-454: Was then held with the crews of two Scouts of 3 CBAS and Capt Greenhalgh took off on a reconnaissance mission, while the other aircraft were fitted out and readied. Within 20 minutes, he had located the target and carried out a detailed reconnaissance of the area. He fired two missiles at the enemy positions and then returned to a pre-arranged RV to meet up and guide in the other two Scouts. The three aircraft, positioned 100 metres apart, then fired

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