The Helicopter Museum (Weston)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Established | 1989 |
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| Location | Weston-super-Mare, England |
| Director | Wendy Cowlin |
| Website | Helicopter Museum |
The Helicopter Museum in Weston-super-Mare, England, is a dedicated museum featuring a collection of more than 80 helicopters from around the world, both civilian and military. With its extensive archive of helicopter-related material and a number of conservation projects the museum claims to be the largest dedicated helicopter museum in the world.
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[edit] Location and History
The museum is situated on the south-eastern edge of Weston-super-Mare airfield. The museum originated in 1958 when its founder, aviation writer/historian Elfan ap Rees, began to build up a private collection of rotorcraft documentation and artefacts. Over the next ten years his collection grew and in 1969 he acquired his first complete helicopter, a Bristol Sycamore Mk.3.
[edit] Brief History of the collection
- In 1974 Elfan ap Rees purchased a Bristol Belvedere and formed a volunteer group to restore it. In December 1976 an ex Royal Navy Westland Whirlwind HAS Mk.7 was acquired and added to the collection.
- In 1977 and 1978 more aircraft were added, including an ex Royal Air Force Bristol Sycamore HC Mk.14 and several rare prototypes: the Fairey Ultra-Light tip-jet driven helicopter, the Thruxton Gadfly HDW.1 two-seat autogyro and the Campbell Cougar autogyro.
- In the 1978 the museum acquired a small area and some buildings on Weston-super-Mare airfield, including a Second World War armoury building and air-raid shelter. The buildings required extensive repair work but by the summer of 1978 the collection was opened to the public, with nine aircraft and a range of other artefacts on display.
- Throughout the eighties, remains from rare helicopters were added to the collection, often preventing them from being scrapped, including the only remaining major parts of the Fairey Rotodyne.
- Other aircraft acquired in the eighties included two more variants of the Westland Whirlwind, a Westland Scout AH Mk.1 and a Westland Wessex.
- On 3 November 1989 the Museum was officially opened by HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who arrived in a Wessex HC.4 of the Queen's Flight.
- The museum continues to restore and display many types of helicopters from various countries and purposes.
[edit] The Museum Today
The museum's collection of helicopters now exceeds 80 complete rotorcraft with many more in restoration or only partly complete. The museum features many foreign helicopters, particularly Soviet-era and Eastern European craft, for example the Ka-26 Hoodlum and the Mi-24 Hind, and more modern ones such as the EH-101.
