Wessex Series 60, G-AVNE

Westland Wessex Series 60, G-AVNE, Con.No. WA/561, a 16 passenger civil transport with twin 1350 shp Rolls-Royce Gnome H1200 turboshaft engines, was delivered in 1967 as the first long-range Series 60 and served with Bristow Helicopters in Sunderland, N.E. England, from March 1968, in the North Sea offshore oil rig support role.

Westland Wessex Series 60, G-AVNE

In 1970 G-AVNE was flown out to Singapore and transferred to Bristow's Far East operations, serving successively in Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia, each time with appropriate re-registration.

In 1974 it went to the Warri base in Nigeria, again to support offshore oil rigs, and re-registered as 5N-AJL until 1981 when it was withdrawn from service and returned, via Redhill, to Westland in Weston-super-Mare.

In 1987, following three years in storage at Hurn, G-AVNE was purchased by The Helicopter Museum for static display in Weston-super-Mare. It remained on display, initially in the open air but under cover from 2001, until January 2008 when it was moved into the new Engineering and Conservation Hangar for major preservation and refurbishment works.