Air International 1987-12
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??? - Europe's EH101 Emerges
9 октября 1987г.: первый полет в Йовиле, Великобритания, выполнил первый прототип вертолета EH Industries EH 101 - PP1. Прототип построен "Westland Вертолеты". Вертолет предназначен для замены Sea King в вооруженных силах.
Following its roll-out last April and completion of a 25-hr programme of ground running, the first prototype of the EH 101, PP1, made its first flight at Yeovil on 9 October 1987, in the hands of Trevor Egginton and Colin Hague, Westland’s chief and deputy chief test pilots.
The "Iron Bird" development and qualification test rig at Cascina Costa, in Italy, is a representative EH 101 airframe with standard systems and an iron cage for crew protection. It first ran in October 1986.
The EH 101 production line at Yeovil is based on a modular assembly method,facilitating the assembly of aircraft to several different customer standards at the same time.
The first of the EH 101 development airframes, PP1, was rolled out at Yeovil on 7 April 1987 with due ceremony, and is in basic configuration.
The civil variant (right) will be externally similar to PP1 but the so-called utility version (left) has a redesigned rear fuselage with loading ramp.
EH Industries EH 101 (Basic Naval Version)
The Blue Kestrel radar for the EH 101, and some other avionic items, are being test flown in a specially-procured MoD PE Sea King Mk 5, ZB506 (left) and one of the original Sikorsky SH-3D airframes supplied to Westland as pattern aircraft, XV372 (right).