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Westland – Sikorsky Dragonfly HR.5

Westland – Sikorsky Dragonfly

In December 1946, Westland Aircraft signed an agreement to build under licence the world’s first successful operational helicopter, the American Sikorsky S-51, which became the first production helicopter in Britain. Named the Dragonfly, the first British-built S-51 flew on 5 October 1948. Westland produced a total of 149. Of these 71 went to the Royal Navy, where they served mainly as plane guards to aircraft carriers to recover downed airmen, doing what had been the task for a destroyer and 250 men. A further 16 went to the Royal Air Force to form the first frontline helicopter squadron in the service.

WH991 first flew on 4 February 1953. Shortly afterwards it joined HMS Illustrious, but was soon returned to Westland for repairs. During the next few years it served on HMS Centaur and at Lee-on-Solent and Eglington in Northern Ireland. After modifications in 1958, WH991 was sent to Trinidad to serve on the survey ship, HMS Vidal. Back in England in 1960, the helicopter joined 700 Squadron at Yeovilton and 705 Squadron at Culdrose. In 1994, it was found in a nearby scrapyard by Museum member Ray McElwain, who has restored it for static display.

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Blackburn Mercury Monoplane 1911 (Replica) AH (BAPC) 130 YAM Jan.1995

The Blackburn Mercury Monoplane is regarded as the first truly successful aircraft made by Blackburn at their factory in Leeds. The Mercury I, powered by a 50 hp Isaacson radial engine, was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in March 1911 and made its debut flying from the beach at Filey with the newly formed Blackburn Flying School. In May 1911, it flew from Filey to Scarborough and back in 19 minutes at an average speed of 50 mph, reaching an altitude of 1200 feet.
This aircraft crashed the next day when the engine seized and the propeller flew off! The Mercury I was followed by two Mercury II aircraft powered by 50 hp Gnome engines, and six Mercury III aircraft, with a number of different engines. Sadly, a Renault powered Mercury crashed at Filey in December 1911, killing an instructor and passenger.
The Museum’s replica was built for Yorkshire Television in 1979 for the Edwardian drama series ‘Flambards’, and was taxied with a car engine. It came to YAM on 10th January 1995 and after a long period in storage it was painstakingly restored to a superb display standard, and was unveiled in June 2000 by Professor Robert Blackburn, grandson of Robert Blackburn, the aviation pioneer.

AVRO 504K ‘H1968’ (Replica) AH (BAPC) 42 YAM Oct. 1994

The Avro 504 first flew in 1913. In the opening phases of the First World War, it served with front-line squadrons in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service for bombing and reconnaissance, but from 1915 onwards the aircraft entered the training role for which it is most celebrated.

Over 8,000 Avro 504s were built. In 1918, the Royal Air Force had about 3,000, of which 2,276 were trainers.

The Avro 504 was stationed at many Yorkshire airfields, including Tadcaster near the A1/A64 junction, where a period hangar can still be seen.

The Yorkshire Air Museum’s replica was built by apprentices at RAF Halton and appeared at the Royal Tournament in 1968 to commemorate what was then fifty years since the end of the First World War. The aircraft was refurbished in early 2015 to be transported to Thiepval, Northern France, for the Somme Centenary commemoration event, on request of the British Government. In May 2018, it was also displayed at the impressive Hotel Les Invalides in central Paris for a joint RAF / French Air Force event to mark the Centenary of the Royal Air Force and over 100 years of British and French Air Force collaboration.