Helicopter location (slightly MV related)

[Rlangham]

Hey all, as well as an MV nut i'm also an aircraft nut as well. I'm looking for a Whirlwind helicopter that has been in the north west region (near Bolton) recently, but no one seems to know where it is at the minute. Came across a photo of it with a Stalwart behind, so thought maybe someone here knows where it is, after all can't be that many Stalwarts near Bolton (if it's still there). Thanks for any help or leads

 

http://www.demobbed.org.uk/images/xn385.jpg

 

Cheers, Rob

[fv1609]

can't be that many Stalwarts near Bolton (if it's still there).

 

Yes Bolton's still there, sorry!

 

As you're into helicopters, what do make of this picture of a Whirlwind my father snapped when it made an emergency landing on the seafront at Teignmouth, Devon? I was quite small at the time but what impressed me was not the helicopter so much but I was convinced that there was a policeman guarding it & he had a rifle. This would have been mid 1950s height of cold war China exploding it first nuclear weapon, aftermath of Korea, Suez building up, IRA mounting incursions into Ulster etc a very unstable time. But to this day I can picture this armed police constable.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/fv1620/File0028.jpg[/img]

[ArtistsRifles]

Rob,

 

Asked the question for you over on the Stalwart owners group and one of the guys there replied thus:

 

Neil, although the stally in the picture is not very clear I'm fairley certain that its STAL 38. I purchased the truck via e-bay in August 2005 from a chap in Westhoughton, Bolton. At the time he also had listed the helicopter, a Sopwith camel bi-plane, some vintage motorbikes, a jet engined single seat training air plane, two Winebago camper vans plus a few other wierd and wonderfull contraptions. His name is Doug Hacking and lives on a farm to the north of junction 5 of the M61 Motorway. When I went to see him the copter had already gone but he still had everthing else. Doug is a very well known dealer of motorcyles in the Bolton area. He sells stuff on e-bay and goes by the name of mrlaughalot, or something like that. He seemed like a nice chap although I could never get a straight answer to my questions about the Stalwart. . I don't have Dougs number but

if your mate wants to contact him I suppose a search on google for "Doug Hacking motorcycles, Lancashire" should do the trick.

 

I tried the google search and gave this result:

 

http://www.doughackingmotorcycles.co.uk/contact.htm

 

Not sure this is the answer you were looking for though!!!

[Rlangham]

Cheers for the answer ArtistsRifles, should do the trick! Fv1620, I can tell from the photo that it's an early Whirlwind, as it has the earlier piston engine (clamshell doors at the front, later Whirlys had a more pointed nose and a gas turbine engine), and it's a very early mark as it has the straight tailboom and dihedral tailplanes.

 

I'm guessing the registration finishes in 971 because of the number on the nose, but I googled 'Whirlwind 971' as I couldn't find any Whirlwinds with 971 in the registration in a book on british helicopters i've got. Instead I came across this set of decals on a model shop http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=ML72121

 

so apparently the Whirlwind is a HAS.3 (helicopter anti-submarine) from 971 ship flight, so presumably based on HMS Ark Royal as the aircraft in the decal set is?