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News for Members

Weston Helidays 2009
HELiDAYS, this year, runs from Friday 24th until Sunday 26th July 2009. As usual Members are needed urgently to volunteer for duties on the gates and elsewhere on site. Most Members will know that all profits from the show are donated to charities which include The Helicopter Museum. Money raised is used to help pay for tools and equipment used for displays, restoration and conservation.
Members who would like to help at the event are asked to contact the organisers by telephoning 
01934-822524 or by emailing: westonsuper@helidays.freeserve.co.uk

Flight Simulator Convention 2009
with a 'Night at The Museum'.

It was a success. Members of many different clubs, "virtual airlines" and companies with trade stands brought their computers, software, instrument panels and controls to The Helicopter Museum on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May 2009 for the first annual Flight Simulator Convention. 

The event, ably organised by Museum Volunteer Simon Tolley, was open to the public who had a chance to see how an aircraft flies and handles, using the latest simulators. At 6pm, on the Saturday evening, simulators were switched into night flying mode as part of the Europe-wide "Museums at Night" weekend. Around 902 paying customers came though the doors over the weekend, to see at least 30 simulators. 		Night Flying at The Helicopter Museum
A much smaller Flight Simulator Show had been held at The Museum before, in April 2002. Attendances were poor at this first event, probably due to lack of sufficient suitable advance publicity, and traders were not willing to support a repeat. Seven years later a well-targeted and large scale campaign was launched, well in advance, aimed at enthusiastic simulator users and traders but not forgetting that the event had to be enjoyable and interesting for other visitors.
Flights round the bay, in a REAL Bell 206B JetRanger, were available on both days. Great Western Air Ambulance's Bo105DBS-4, G-NDAA (right) and Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance EC.135T2, G-DORS, visited on both days. G-WCAO the EC.135T2 from Avon & Gloucestershire Police arrived on Sunday as did Castle Air's Agusta A.109A, G-PBEK.

Visitors from around the globe, including Poland, Malaysia, South Africa, the USA, India and Latvia were reported by the organisers, who have been invited, by The Museum, to use the venue again next year. Most of the traders and exhibitors praised the smooth and efficient organisation and expressed a wish to return next time. Special praise went to Lee Mills, Museum General Manager, for his hard work in co-operation with the Show Organiser, Simon Tolley.

   Air Ambulance Bo105DBS-4, G-NDAA landing at The Museum
Flight simulator enthusiast Alex Jefferies who attended the event said  “I have been to lots of similar conventions in the UK but never to any on this scale. The Museum was a marvellous setting and the atmosphere here was electric, people could not believe that they could have a go and test fly all the different simulators for free."

All profits from the show will be donated to charities, including The Helicopter Museum and the local Air Ambulances. The organisers recognised the hard work done by the dozens of Volunteers, including Friends Members, who had worked tirelessly, during the Show and in the preceding weeks, to make everything happen according to plan. Special thanks went to staff in the Museum cafe, who served many more customers, each day, than ever before. Members of The Friends were especially glad to see John and Barbara Pearson, the Friends' new Secretary and Bulletin Editors, running the traditional Friends' fundraising book stall.

TV Crew have Explosive Time at The Museum
A film crew from TV’s ‘The Gadget Show’ took over the grounds of Weston-super-Mare’s Helicopter Museum, on 26th March 2009, to film an episode of the popular Channel Five programme.
     
 Filming at The Museum for "The Gadget Show"   Presenters Gail Porter and Jason Bradbury were put through their paces at The Museum performing experiments on two brand new digital cameras to test how they coped under extreme conditions. Among the props and equipment brought on site for the one day shoot was an industrial wind 
machine, water cannons, a pyrotechnic unit and a 26 tonne hydraulic crane. “The day’s shoot was split into three segments.” Museum Volunteer and the presenters' chaperone for the day, Simon Tolley explained “The first part was to test the cameras in extreme weather. The poor young model who had to demonstrate using the camera was blasted by the wind machine and simultaneously sprayed with torrents of water and foam by the special effects crew. She was absolutely soaked!”

For the second segment, presenter Gail Porter was raised on a hydraulic platform, up and above the vast Museum hangars, to test how the cameras would cope being dropped from a height of over sixty feet. “Surprisingly both the cameras survived the drop” Simon Tolley said, “but Gail was frozen up there as the wind was really quite strong.”

For the last test of the day, a pyrotechnic crew was brought in to perform a series of staged explosions on the Museum's helipad and both cameras were blown up in a final experiment to test how indestructible they really were.
Volunteer Simon added “With all the flames and smoke, the final shoot was really impressive and the explosions should look quite dramatic on TV.” No stranger to gadgets himself, Simon was the organiser of the Flight Simulator Event that took place at the Helicopter Museum on 16th and 17th May. 
Above picture, and most of the text, are from a Museum press release dated 27th March 2009
‘The Gadget Show’ episode, which includes sequences filmed at The Museum, was first broadcast by Channel 5 on 11th May 2009. 

Helicopter Hospitality
The RAFA Concert Band perform at The Helicopter Museum Members of The Friends will know that, for many years, The Helicopter Museum has offered extra hospitality in the form of birthday parties, special meals with guided tours for groups and private evening visits.  Film and television programme makers have always been encouraged to take advantage of the unique facilities and expertise which The Museum can offer.
Peter Skellon conducts the RAFA Concert Band at The Helicopter Museum on Friday 12th September 2008
Airbus Marquee
Three years ago, in 2005, The Museum provided facilities for an Airbus Staff Awards function when, although Airbus brought along much of their own catering, furnishing, staffing and a large marquee (right), the true potential of The Museum, as an attractive venue for corporate hospitality, was realised. Guests were shown around the Museum exhibits, before the function, by the many THM Volunteers and Friends, who helped to make the event a big success. 
In September 2006 the Morris Minor Owners Club held their Annual Rally at the Museum Heliport with 60 Morris Minor cars attending.
In April 2007 the South-West section of the UK Mercedes Club held their Annual Rally at The Museum where their members were given a special tour and coffee reception while other visitors saw a display of Mercedes cars. Later in 2007, The Museum hosted its first Wedding Reception.
Recent corporate hospitality enterprises, organised by Museum General Manager Lee Mills, have been an Anniversary Reception for 150 Royal Air Force Association members, war veterans and local dignitaries, which took place on Friday 12th September 2008, with performances by the RAFA Concert Band, followed, on Thursday 18th September, by a ticket-only launch party for Alpha Courses, with a talk by Bristol City's goalkeeper, Adriano Basso. 
Lee Mills thanked all the Volunteers and Members who contributed so much to the success of both events
Similar events at The Museum included hosting of the 2008 RAFA Annual Seminar on Thursday 20th November 2008, with The Museum catering staff providing a buffet for 70 or more guests, and a Christmas Party for the local Beavers in December 2008.
Lyrica sing carols beside the Mi-24, 'Hind'. On December 14th 2008 The Museum hosted West Country Fairs' 'Crafts for Christmas' event. This attracted nearly 500 visitors who enjoyed the many activities and seasonal stalls which had been organised. Especially popular were the two concert performances by the 'Lyrica' ensemble of professional female singers and the delicious lunches in the Museum café, which had its busiest day ever. 

We thank Lee Mills for the photo (left) showing Lyrica singing carols beside the Mi-24, 'Hind'.

Museum Founder Honoured
Elfan (left) receives the AHS Historical Achievement Award from Boeing Vice President Phil Dunford (right) The American Helicopter Society (AHS) has presented Elfan ap Rees, founder of The Museum and Chairman of its Trustees, with their prestigious John J. Schneider Historical Achievement Award for 2008. 
This Annual Award, presented (left) this year in Montreal, by AHS Chairman and Boeing Vice President Phil Dunford, recognises distinguished achievement of an individual in encouraging appreciation of, and enhancing access to, the history and legacy of vertical flight aircraft.
The Award, established in 2003 in memory of vertical flight historian John J. Schneider, is a replica of Leonardo da Vinci's 1483 helicopter design. After the presentation, on 30th April 2008, Capt. ap Rees said that, while personally flattered to have been honoured, he hoped that the Award would benefit The Helicopter Museum by raising its profile and ensuring its recognition as a unique and significant collection.

Visitor Reunited with his Project
Friends Member Ray Caple (seen below with the Watkinson Cyclogyroplane), is combining his activities as a restoration volunteer with frequent duties as a tour guide for the Museum.

In September 2007 he noticed a visitor looking at the Museum's bust of Jacob Shapiro who, as Chief Technical Officer of the Cierva Autogiro Company, took a leading part in the development of a number of early helicopter prototypes in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.		 Peter Barton with Jacob Shapiro's Cierva Grasshopper
It emerged that the visitor, Peter Barton from Lutterworth, had worked with Shapiro on the design of the coaxial rotor system for the 1969 experimental 5-seat Cierva/Rotorcraft Grasshopper helicopter, the final prototype of which is on display at the Museum. Peter Barton seen, above right, beside the Grasshopper III, had previously been unaware of the machine's preservation.

 

Friends Member restores 'Cyclogyroplane'
Watkinson CG-4 Cyclogyroplane In 1959 Henry Kremer offered a prize of £50,000 for the first human powered aircraft to fly a 1 mile, figure-of-eight course. Three machines were built by Herbert Watkinson, of Bexhill, England, in attempts to win the prize. The third machine, the CG-4, was not complete when Mr. Watkinson died in 1977. The pedal-powered CG-4 was donated to The Museum in 1979 with documentation and photographs.

In 2006, restoration volunteer and Friends Member, Ray Caple, repaired, restored and repainted the machine.
The first Cyclogyroplane, the CG-3/1, was built in 1961 and flew free in 1962. An improved version, the CG-3/3, flew 175 yards at RAF Tangmere in 1963 but could not be manoeuvered sufficiently. It was donated to the Shuttleworth Collection in 1970 but was subsequently damaged and scrapped. Watkinson began work on the CG-4 in 1976 and was near completion when, in April 1977, his wife died suddenly following an accident. Although he attempted to continue work on the CG-4, Herbert Watkinson died six months later. The first Kremer Prize was won by Paul MacCready's 'Gossamer Condor', piloted by Bryan Allen, in August 1977.

The CG-4 'Cyclogyroplane' went back on display, at The Museum, in September 2006.

New for 2008 !  A Fully-Illustrated Museum Guide & Year Book
Museum Guide & Year Book for 2008/09 Three years ago Geoff Russell, a Trustee of The Museum and a Member of the Friends, played a major role in the production of a new guide book for The Museum, which later went on sale in a second, revised edition.

With 16 pages and many photographs, including some from other Friends, the guide listed 77 aircraft from the Museum's collection, most of which remain on public display.

A brief history of The Museum was provided and this was followed by detailed descriptions of the contents of each Display Hall and Hangar.

Other pages covered flying at The Museum, "Record Breakers" and "The Queen's Flight" helicopters of which The Museum holds two of the remaining three.
Geoff included details of 39 of the 70 engines held in The Museum's collection, many of which are installed in the display aircraft.

In May 2008 the guide book was superseded by a new, enlarged, 29 page Museum Guide & Year Book which retains many of the original features with an updated, illustrated, Fleet List, but now includes an extensive magazine section with many rarely-seen photographs.

For those unable to get to The Museum, the new Guide & Year Book for 2008/09 is obtainable by post for £3.50 plus a £1.00 charge for post and packing. Telephone 01934-635227 or write to :- The Museum Manager, The Heliport, Locking Moor Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS24 8EL, United Kingdom. Most credit/debit cards are accepted.

Roger's Research

The Helicopter Museum is sited on the southeast corner of the original Weston Airport, which was opened by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Cardiff on 25 June 1936, more than 70 years ago. The airport became a hub for regular services to Cardiff, Exeter and Birmingham. It was soon, unbelievably, the busiest civil airfield in the UK, for a few months and remained in use, for a wide variety of civil and military aircraft, into the 1990s. The 1930s terminal buildings were demolished some time ago, though fragments remain.
Old Airport Buildings near The Museum Still standing (left), close to The Museum, are the 1940s dispersal rooms and the 1937 flying control tower, topped by a 1920s cab drivers shelter. These buildings have been used by the Museum, more recently, as storage areas. The Museum decided to celebrate this 70th anniversary with a special Exhibition and made contact with many local residents, former Western Airways employees and ex-servicemen, who had memories and, very often, old photographs of the airfield.
A Museum restoration volunteer, aviation historian and Friends Member, Roger Dudley, contributed much of his own research material to The Weston Airfield Exhibition at The Museum. He also met many residents in the area, to record their memories and to make copies of their old photographs.

The Exhibition was officially opened by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Kate Lloyd, on Sunday 25th June 2006, exactly seventy years after her predecessor opened Weston Airfield. It continued until 17th September 2006, having been extended by two weeks because of public interest.
Deputy Lord Mayor of Cardiff with Elfan ap Rees Lee Mills (left) with Roger Dudley
The Deputy Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Kathryn Lloyd, (centre, with Elfan ap Rees) opened The Museum's Weston Airfield Exhibition on Sunday 25th June 2006. Lee Mills (left), Museum Operations Manager, and Roger Dudley face the press cameras after spending many weeks assembling words, pictures and artefacts for the displays.

Weston International Helidays

Pictures of the 2008 event can be seen on the 2008 Helidays Gallery. The next International Helidays will be on Weston-super-Mare seafront on Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th July 2009.

Shopping with Intent

In early 2005 the Friends Committee authorised the purchase of a small marquee, with money from its reserve funds, for The Museum and The Friends to use at public events in the local area. 
Tent for Museum Shop One of the first outings, in July 2005, was to the Woodspring Wings Airshow, not far from Weston-super-Mare. This very popular and well-organised annual event features flying model aircraft of all types and includes several displays by full-sized aircraft.
The Museum shop then used the marquee at Weston Helidays at the end of July 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, plus appearances at Woodspring Wings, to sell some of its large range of souvenirs and model helicopter kits. Members of the Friends help erect and dismantle the marquee in addition to serving in the shop and dispensing information to customers and visitors. 

Canadian Co-operation

Back in 2004 Peter Pigott (below left), a Canadian aviation author with twelve books to his credit, contacted The Friends to tell us that he was researching all the cars, aircraft, trains and ships that the British Royal Family has used at home and abroad. His intention was to write a book about Royal Transport, for publication before Christmas 2005. He had seen this Friends website and asked us to allow him the use of any suitable photographs of the ex-Queen's Flight Whirlwind and Wessex (below right) which are on display in The Helicopter Museum. 
Pigott Flying (left)

Wessex XV733 Cabin Seating
 The Friends supplied Peter with more than fifty photos, suggested reference material and put him in touch with several past crew members of the Queen's Flight. We have recently received, from Peter, a copy of his excellent book, which generously acknowledges the help given by The Museum and individual Friends. The book has generated some valuable publicity for The Museum and The Friends. We were glad to welcome Peter to The Museum on 30th June 2005 and to provide him with a Friends membership application form. The book, "Royal Transport", was published by Dundurn Press, in Canada, in October 2005 and went on sale in the UK, on 6th March 2006. 

Friends' Membership Administration


Most Members will know that Jerry Smith operates the "New Members" administration and that "Membership Renewals" are dealt with by Geoff Symes. Contact addresses for Jerry and Geoff are shown below. Committee contact details are listed in each Bulletin.
Geoff Symes  (Membership Renewals)
2 Convent Close
KENILWORTH
Warwickshire
CV8 2FQ
United Kingdom		 Jerry Smith  (New Members)
52 Southlands Drive
Timsbury
BATH
BA2 0HB
United Kingdom
Helicopter Museum News

New Appointments at The Museum

On 20th August 2008 The Museum announced that the Trustees have appointed Kathryn Sherrington BA(Hons) to a new post which is designed to develop the archive and library. Additionally she has taken on the management of the team of Volunteers who work on aircraft restoration.
Rod Wakelam M.Ed., formerly Head Teacher at a school in Hampshire, joins The Museum as Education Officer, an existing post which is aimed at developing liaison with schools and colleges in the West of England and at organising presentations and outreach visits to other groups. (more)

Heritage Lottery Fund Grant for The Museum

The Museum announced, on 28th March 2007, that it had been awarded a £290,500 grant, by the Heritage Lottery Fund, towards new education, skills training and conservation facilities.
Part of the grant is being used to provide a new technical library and housing for the archival collection. (more)

New Buildings for a Growing Collection

The Helicopter Museum announced, in November 2006, that work was under way to extend the existing Display Hangars in a westerly direction. Museum Volunteers had cleared the site of sundry aircraft and the Coles crane, allowing excavation for foundations to begin at the end of October 2006. 
The first phase followed the pattern of the existing hangars, providing a 670sq.m increase in floor area. The newly-created undercover space was used, initially, for storage of some of the helicopters which had been out in the open air and to house three additional helicopters, which were acquired in 2007. Additional conservation activity was also started, notably on the Wessex HAS.3, XM328 and, in 2008, the Wessex 60, G-AVNE.

It is hoped that, eventually, all skills training, most of the restoration work and some of the recently introduced regular maintenance and inspection, will be transferred to this new "west end" hangar bay.		 Exterior of Hangar Extension on 3rd March 2007
The cost of the basic new building has been met from The Museum's own funds, to which the Friends make a significant contribution. In March 2007 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded The Museum a substantial grant towards fitting out the interior for training and transferring many of the existing conservation and engineering facilities. 

Although building started in October 2006, there was a short delay before steel was delivered and started to be erected after Christmas. Good weather then allowed work to proceed rapidly and the structure was completed in April 2007 (right).		 Hangar Extension Interior on 28th April 2007
On 20th July 2007 the new Engineering Hangar was officially opened by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, who was accompanied by Her Majesty the Queen. 

Two months later a small mezzanine floor was installed, at one end of the new hangar, to provide much-needed extra floor space for storage of spare parts and assemblies (right).

In January 2008 the first restoration work on Wessex 60 G-AVNE, started in the new hangar, alongside Wessex HAS.3, XM328, which had been transferred six months previously. 

 Mezzanine Floor in Engineering Hangar
Planning applications were approved by the local council, in June 2007, for two separate, single-storey extensions to the hangars, one of 200 sq.m (right), designed to house an archive, film theatre and classroom, a second of 35 sq.m, for toilets. Construction of these new facilities was funded from the Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The foundation work was finished in February, walls were up in March 2008 and most of the internal plastering, air-conditioning, and lighting, for the archive and education facilities, was installed by mid-May 2008. Single-storey Extension, to house Archive and Education Facilities, nears Completion
Shelving for Archive Film Theatre and Classroom

The newly-built education area (pictured above right) can be used as a film theatre, a classroom, or for private study. One of the first uses for the area was National Aviation Heritage Skills Initiative training for Restoration Volunteers in mid-June 2008.

In August 2008 the screen and projection facilities were installed and set up for trials of a flight simulator system, intended for use by visitors.

Agusta Westland have donated to The Museum, a number of interactive workstations, which will, using animated graphics, allow visitors to explore an aircraft, study aerodynamics and follow the history of helicopters. The first two workstations were installed in December 2008 and are now available to visitors.

In May 2008 the first storage units were installed in the new archive and library area (above left) and the new Collections Officer, Kathryn Sherrington, started work at The Museum on 3rd September 2008.

Planning for Expansion -- Recent History

In 2002 the Museum announced proposals for building a new £1 million Learning and Discovery Centre designed to replace the existing wooden huts and caravans which have housed the cafe, retail shop, offices, archives and some of the introductory exhibits, for many years. In addition a top floor would contain classrooms/conference space and a new dedicated archive, with a technical library and storage for films, tapes and other media, which would have been partially sponsored by Rolls-Royce. The new building was to be linked to the Main Display Hangars. Plans for the development reached an advanced stage in 2003.
The design and layout of a new introductory exhibition area were to have been sponsored by Agusta-Westland.
Announcing the original proposals, back in 2002, Chairman of the Museum Trustees Elfan Ap Rees said "It marks the third and probably final major development for The Museum and is intended to be a prestigious building to properly reflect The Museum's status as the keeper of a collection now regarded as being of national importance".
North Elevation East Elevation

North Elevation

East Elevation
The total costs of the proposed facilities were expected to be around £1 million and a funding application for part of these costs was submitted to the UK Heritage Lottery Fund in 2003, following receipt of planning approval from the local authority. However, the Lottery Fund application was rejected in January 2004 and the Museum Trustees are thought to have been advised that, to stand a better chance of grant funding, they should re-submit the Lottery Fund application in 2005/06, incorporating greater emphasis on education, improved facilities and resource access. In any event, additional expense would have been incurred for the fitting-out of a function room, offices, shop and cafe, with funding and means yet to be finalised.

Also, in 2003, The Museum received planning permission for a 670sq.m extension to its existing Display and Restoration Hangars. This was to allow a new and larger conservation workshop to be built to the west of the existing Display Hangars. The current restoration hangar (The Hafner Building) would then have become an additional, much needed, covered display area. The extension would have required a separate funding effort to complete although The Museum's share of the money raised at Helidays 2004 was allocated to the project.

In view of the inevitable delays ahead, work was undertaken, in March and April 2004, to make the existing Museum buildings a bit more secure and weatherproof for the next year or two. This work, largely completed in April 2004, included new exterior cladding (below) which gave a good colour and texture match with the recently completed display hangars while providing good protection for the underlying timber structures. A few weeks later all the windows and frames were replaced
Green cladding for original buildings

Another plan was to develop additional new displays charting the history of aviation at Weston-super-Mare since the first visiting aeroplane landed on the beach in August 1911. The existing Museum is situated on a corner of the old Weston Airport and some of the surviving Airport buildings, including the wooden control tower, are only a few metres away from the Display Hangars. 
It was possible that, if these historic buildings, with adjacent land, could be acquired and refurbished, they might be used to house the proposed new exhibition and could, additionally, have offered an alternative site for a new restoration and conservation workshop. This would, in turn, have freed the (then) existing restoration hangar for covered display or storage. Unfortunately, negotiations with the owner of the land appeared to be 'stalled' and remain so in 2008.

Relocation of Simulator Building New Office Building
The office space in the 1940s "Achilles" building had become increasingly congested so, in early 2005, The Museum acquired a second-hand mobile home, to provide additional accommodation. In August 2005 the Simulator Building structure, used for miscellaneous storage, was cleared, detached from its concrete foundation, lifted, and swung over to the other side of the "Achilles" (above left). A few days later the mobile home arrived and was installed (above right) on the vacant concrete base. Installation of water, electricity and telephone services followed and the new offices were soon fully occupied.

In September 2005 a 20-strong group of volunteers, drawn from Lloyds TSB staff, renovated the exterior of the "Achilles" and "Simulator" buildings, as part of a team-building exercise.



Museum Helicopters at RIAT 2003

The Helicopter Museum loaned four aircraft to the Royal International Air Tattoo 2003 which took place at RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire UK, over the weekend of 19th-20th July 2003. In addition to the traditional flying displays the Tattoo celebrated 100 Years of Manned, Powered and Controlled Flight with an exhibition showing more than 100 of the world's most famous aircraft.

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The Bölkow Bö.105 G-PASB

The Friends undertook the renovation of this helicopter, intending to bring it up to a state in which it can be used as part of a mobile display unit. This unit could help publicise The Museum and the Friends at appropriate events around the South-West of England. Click for a report and pictures.

A Better (Electronic) Bulletin

Following an item in the January 2005 Friends Bulletin at least ten members expressed a wish to receive future Bulletins via the Internet rather than on paper. We had originally proposed that Bulletins would be available for downloading from this website but a majority of the interested members expressed a preference for receiving their Bulletins by email. In fact this method is a lot easier to implement because there should be no need for passwords and everything can be administered by the Bulletin's editor. It started, on a trial basis, with an advance copy of the July 2005 issue (Issue 18) which was emailed to a number of members on 2nd July 2005, for their comments. This was followed by a much improved version, a few days later. Feedback has been very favourable. Harold Spicer had a few more computer problems in early 2006 but hoped to despatch electronic bulletins, for Autumn 2006, in .pdf format. We thank Friends member Stephen Tutton for his advice and help in getting this enterprise back "on track". 

Harold Spicer retired from editing the Bulletin after the January 2007 issue. Another Museum Volunteer and Friends Member, Adrian Brimson, volunteered to take over. He said that he hoped to continue, and improve, the Electronic Bulletin but unfortunately he was unable to continue as editor.

The project could result in a significant saving, for The Friends, in the costs of printing and postage, which could ultimately benefit the Museum. We hope that, if a regular and dependable service can be established, at least another fifty members will "come aboard" and enjoy colour pictures, faster delivery and possible additional benefits.


What is this Website for ?

The Friends' site, launched in September 2001, is not intended to duplicate the Friends Bulletin, or the Museum's official website, except to a very limited extent. We aim to supply members with up-to-date news of Friends' activities as well as frequent looks at recent happenings, with an emphasis on helicopter restoration, at the Museum. The site is also intended to appeal to a wider audience who can keep in touch on a regular basis and who may then be ready to join the Friends.

Although intended, primarily, as a service to the Friends, most of the site will always be available to others with an interest in helicopters and to casual viewers. It will also, therefore, summarise some of the activities and objectives of the Museum itself and explain the advantages of Friends membership.

Feedback Please !

Whether you are a member or not we are still anxious to know whether you think this site is of value to you, to the Museum and to the Friends, whether you have any comments on its present form and content and whether you have any suggestions for its future development. Please contact us at:-- hmfriends@lineone.net --- if only to confirm that you can access the site satisfactorily, or to describe any problems. Its always good to know that you're there.

Keep up to date !

An excellent way to keep yourself up to date with the world of helicopters, is to make regular visits to Shephard's Rotorhub site which, in addition to world-wide news on all aspects of helicopters, carries regular news from The Helicopter Museum, provides links to the official Museum site and links to the Friends site. They have further helped the Friends by supplying us with historic photographs for use on this site.

Send an Email to The Friends of The Helicopter Museum

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