Del'd: 26 - 1960 to 1969

Bristol Type 192 Belvedere
in
united kingdom Royal Air Force








Royal Air Force Type 192 Belvedere

First heavy lift and tandem rotor helicopter for the British armed services. Delivered initially to the Belvedere Trials Unit at RAF Odiham in 1960, and after about a year it entered operational service in Sep 1961 as the Belvedere HC.1. The fleet was grounded between Aug and Sep 1962 following an accident in Germany (which was ultimately caused by a design failure in the cockpit ergonomics).

It had a reputation for unreliable engine starters, which gave trouble throughout most if its operational life and the laminated rotor blades were prone to distintegration during flight. A rectification programme saw it give service in the UK, the Middle East (where dust abrasion of the rotor blades was also problematic) and Far East.

Originally designed for a service life of 1000 flying hours, work during 1964 showed it could be extended to 1700 hours.

It was never hugely successful and was eventually withdrawn in Mar 1969. It did however serve a heavy lift requirement and it was to be 1980 and two false starts later, before the RAF took delivery of the Chinook HC.1 to replace the Belvedere.




I remember using this aircraft on survey operations in Aden in the early 60s. I thought there were some mechanical issues there and ( possibly) an accident. I know they were grounded as my party were "marooned" on a fairly inhospitable and hostile area until "rescued" by the Army Air Corp via scouts.

Seven Belvederes served with 26 Squadron in Aden, Yemen. Two were destroyed in crashes in which 3 crew were killed and 3 were injured. A third aircraft was severely damaged when a starter motor blew up on start up and had to be returned to the Westland factory for a complete rebuild.




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  Units


YearsUnitsBase
1964/66Belvedere Conversion UnitRAF Odiham
1962/6526 SquadronYE Khormaksar / Aden International
RAF Odiham
1961/6966 SquadronSG Seletar
RAF Odiham
MY Kuching
MY Butterworth
1961/6472 SquadronRAF Odiham
1960/61Belvedere Trials UnitRAF Odiham



List of Aircraft


C/NModBuiltID     In this OrgIn other Org
13342 scrapped 1966 1958 XG447 dd 31 Mar 1959 to Royal Air Force.
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG447: FF at Oldmixon, prototype Type 192 and 1st development ...
13343 scrapped 1969 1959 XG448 RAF
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG448: FF at Oldmixon, 2nd development airframe.
13344 scrapped 1969 1959 XG449 RAF 72 Sqdn; went to 66 sqdn; broken up 1969 Seletar
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG449: built as a static trials rig and instrumented as such. ...
13345 scrapped 1970 1959 XG450 RAF
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG450: FF as 3rd development airframe at Oldmixon.
13346 scrapped 1967 1959 XG451 RAF
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG451: built as 4th development aircraft. FF 10 Jul 1959. Sub...
noted at SBAC 1959 Farnborough Air Show, demonstrating ...
13347 1960 XG452 RAF Belvedere Type 192 HC.1; 24jul93 pictured preserved at International Helicop...
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG452: 5th development Belvedere. Used to rectify handling iss...
- G-BRMB: xfer UK Civil register as G-BRMB, pres as XG452
13348 w/o 1969 1960 XG453 D RAF
13349 1960 XG454 7th pre-production airframe; handed over to Belvedere Trials Unit ( BTU ) at Old...
13350 scrapped 1969 1963 XG455 RAF Belvedere HC.1 d/d 15feb63; 16mar69 soc and scr at No.389 MU Seletar, Sin...
13351 scrapped 1968 1960 XG456 RAF
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG456: FF 18 Sep 1960 at Oldmixon.
13352 scrapped 1968 1961 XG457 RAF
13353 scrapped 1969 1961 XG458 E RAF
13354 scrapped 1969 1961 XG459 A RAF
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG459: FF 23 Apr 1961
13355 scrapped 1969 1961 XG460 L RAF
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG460: FF 5 May 1961
13356 scrapped 1965 1960 XG461 RAF; w/o 31dec64
13357 scrapped 1964 1961 XG462 RAF; preserved (nose) at Weston-Super-Mare helicopter museum
13358 w/o 1964 1961 XG463 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1, XG463, 03Nov61; w/o 30Oct64.
13359 scrapped 1969 1961 XG464 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG464, 06Dec61; soc and scr at No.389 MU Seletar, Sing...
13360 w/o 1962 1961 XG465 J del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG465, 06Dec61; w/o 30Jul62.
13361 scrapped 1968 1962 XG466 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG466, 10Jan62; soc and scr at No.389 MU Seletar, Sin...
13362 scrapped 1969 1962 XG467 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG467, 08Mar62; soc and scr at No.389 MU Seletar, Sin...
13363 scrapped 1969 1962 XG468 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG468, 20Feb62; w/o 25Jan68; soc and scr at No.389 MU ...
13364 w/o 1963 1962 XG473 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG473, 29May62; w/o 04May63.
13365 1962 XG474 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG474, 08Jun62; soc 20Mar69; pres in 66 Sqn marks, O, ...
13366 w/o 1963 1962 XG475 del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG475, 10May62; w/o 05Dec63; soc and scr at No.71 MU B...
13367 scrapped 1968 1962 XG476 P del RAF as Belvedere HC.1 XG476, 11Oct62; soc and scr at No.389 MU Seletar, Sing...
Bristol Aeroplane Company XG476: FF at Oldmixon; 16th and final production build.

    No longer with this org.




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