Restored Westland Lynx helicopter - First airshow display.

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5 ай бұрын

Up close with Project Lynx's newly restored Westland Lynx AH.7, ex British Army Air Corps battlefield helicopter, making its public airshow debut at Old Warden Airfield on 7 May 2023, for the Shuttleworth Collection's 'King & Country' Season Premiere Airshow.
Westland Lynx XZ179 made its first flight on 22 May 1978. It was the tenth Lynx AH1 built by Westland at its Yeovil plant, making its first flight in the hands of test pilot Roy Moxam. It was retained by manufacturer Westland and the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) for trials. It was later delivered to the Army Air Corps (AAC) on 24 February 1983, as a Lynx AH1. It was converted to AH.7 standard at Royal Naval Aircraft Yard (RNAY), Fleetlands during 1988 and flew with numbers 652, 654, 655, 659, 661, 667 and 672 Squadrons AAC, before ending its service with 671 Squadron AAC. Retired in 2013, it went into the Lynx/Wildcat donor programme at Middle Wallop on 19 November and was stripped for spares before disposal. It was later sold to a private owner from whom it was bought by its current owner during 2019, going onto the UK Civil Aviation Register, as G-NCKS, during October 2019. After being transferred by road on 10 September 2019 to Weald Aviation Ltd at North Weald Airfield, Essex, it was surveyed and its restoration started. The first post restoration flight was on 23 December 2021 (low hovers only) and on 14 February 2022 it made its first full post restoration flight.
First flying in 1971, the Westland Lynx to this day holds the international speed record for a helicopter at 249.09mph, new designs have gone faster but are not classed as a traditional helicopter. The landing skid equipped version of the Lynx entered service with the Army Air Corps in 1979 as the AH.1 and were regularly upgraded into the AH.7, which served as the Army's anti-tank helicopter for the latter half of the cold war and throughout the 1990s, seeing service in both Gulf Wars. The Lynx AH.7 was replaced in the anti-tank role in 2005 by the Apache and was eventually retired from support roles in August 2015. The Lynx helicopter was retired from British military service in early 2018, when the last two AH.9As, from 657 Squadron AAC, were delivered for disposal to AAC Middle Wallop on 26 January 2018.
projectlynx.co.uk
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