Top right: British Army Twin Huey lands at the museum in November.

Centre right: The Museum receives its fair share of snow. Bottom right: The museum takes delivery of its re-furbished Palouste engine. Bottom left: The Museum hero, he laid down his life so that many a sand bag could be filled! Centre Left: volunteers Brendan and Steph await Santa in Christmas attire. Top Left: Martin hard at work in the archives; Martin gives us his views on the museum inside.

Thank You For 2012 Written by General Manager Lee Mills Firstly, the Management Team of the Museum would like to say a huge "THANK YOU!!!!" to all the volunteers and staff who worked so hard to make 2012 the success it was. Your hard work and enthusiasm (whether it be helping out at our events, making site repairs etc) is always greatly appreciated and the museum could simply not survive without you. Due to their success in 2012 all our regular events will take place again next year with a Hangar Dance in September, Heli-hobbies in August, Santa Fly-in in December and a World War Two Flight Sim Event in May. We are also introducing a new event in October to tie in with Halloween, hosting Open Cockpit Days Weekly in August for the first time and extending Stars of Time to a two day weekend event in July. As ever we are going to need your help and support to stage these events and raise the necessary funds to keep our museum open. If you can just lend a couple of hours of your time to help us decorate the hangar, move a helicopter, man an open cockpit or help car parking it really would make a difference. Lets make 2013 a year to remember!! Why is the Newsletter a month late? I am not a person who likes to make excuses but I feel I must answer your queries as to why this newsletter is coming out a month late. Apart from my legendary lack of organisation a number of elements have contrived against me and thwarted my attempts to get this issue out on time. Firstly a bad spate of the norovirus (which has affected many throughout the country and even the mighty All Blacks squad before their thrashing at Twickenham) hit me for six! However my experience of the norovirus pales in significance to the bad weather conditions experienced in December and January. For those who do not know, the archive office and store flooded before Christmas. Luckily little of the actual archive material was damaged in the flood, the main consequence being an entirely disorganised office! The archive team and I have been fully absorbed in trying to get the situation back to normal, hence the late arrival of this issue, APOLOGIES!

Keep an eye out! A message from Collections Officer John Clews As you are probably all well aware, the weather conditions over the past three months have been very undesirable. We have all had to deal with torrential downpours, arctic snow storms and slippery ice. One knock on effect this varying weather has on the Museum is that damage can be done to the Museum site and the collections we hold within. I really urge all volunteers and staff to keep a look out for ANY damage or suspected problem with any part of the Museum. It does not matter what role you perform at the museum, an extra pair of eyes is an extra pair of eyes. Just going for a walk around the museum when we experience a downpour to check for leaks, or having a nosey around parts of the museum that are often un-checked, could help us tackle any potential problems early on. If you do find anything worthy of note please contact any member of staff straight away. Many Thanks and here is to a great (and hopefully drier) 2013! Rolls Royce Palouste delivery Early January saw the return of our Palouste engine from Rolls Royce. Magnificently restored by the Bristol team, we look forward to working with them again in the future. Thank You for all your hard work.

Do you follow the museum blog? Keep up to date with the very latest news at the Museum. Follow restoration and conservation projects and be the first to hear about new events! To follow the museum blog click on the blog icon on the top right hand side of our home page at www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk This will take you to the collections blog where you can enter your email address to be automatically contacted when the blog is updated.

News Father Christmas trades in his sleigh: On the 9th of December yet another successful event was held at the museum. Father Christmas and his helpers popped in to the museum via helicopter (the reindeer being rested for Christmas Eve of course). Children and parents flocked from all around North Somerset to visit Santa in his grotto which was situated in the Mil-8. February: March:

Upcoming events

10th Open cockpit day

10th Open cockpit day + flights 31st Flights Interesting visitors:

Shipham First School 2381 Squadron Eurosigns

Many thanks to all volunteers and staff who helped make the day so special; you really got everyone in to the Christmas spirit. (Extra thanks go to our ambassador to the North Pole, Ken Crane, for arranging for Father Christmas to visit). Filming at the Museum: The Helicopter Museum came alive with the sounds of Action! and Cut! in early January as a small film crew recorded a number of scenes for their dbut feature. With the use of some clever lighting angles and a large Green Screen backdrop, the Museums 'Huey' helicopter literally took to the skies of Vietnam once more.

The Museum also received a visit from Grander Grooms and Graceful Gowns, a wedding outfitter, for a photograph shoot in our main hangar. The company were extremely happy with the results of their shoot in our hangar. It just goes to show what a great venue this place is for numerous and unusual events. Dear volunteers: I am sure you have all heard about Roger Cowies proposed trip to France. I would just like to say good on you Roger for showing some initiative and organising something for all the volunteers and staff. Rogers move to organise a trip got me thinking. As a group we do not often go on trips to other heritage/ aviation attractions. I think this is probably a missed opportunity for a number of reasons. Firstly, if a trip was organised to an aviation museum and we gave prior notice to the attraction we could probably secure somewhat of a behind the scenes look at restoration areas and ask technical questions. On an even more practical level, if we can fit five to a car, then the fuel costs can be split and cost kept to a minimum. Let me know what you think and where you think would be a good attraction to visit, I was thinking of starting somewhere local? New Volunteers Please make the following new volunteers welcome. Just remember you dont have to be mad to work here, it just helps! Roger Cowie Restoration Keith Harvey Restoration Jack Killmurray Conservation

The Movie, 'Shields Of Justice' is a feature length comedy shot on location in the South West of England, written and conceived by independent film-makers - Tom Hutchings and Ben Tallamy.

Restoration News Rotodyne update: Written by Richard Street and Chris May The prototype Fairey Rotodyne flew in 1957 and is the largest British helicopter up to now. It could carry 40 passengers between city centres such as London, Paris and Brussels. It flew for over four years before government funding was cancelled and the aircraft was broken up, but some components were recovered by the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield, and eventually came to the Helicopter Museum. The main pieces are a section of fuselage, the rotor pylon, a Napier Eland engine, a rotor blade used on a ground test-rig, two large bits of a broken flight rotor-blade, and various tipjets. The parts we have are over fifty years old but the engineering concept has still not been overtaken. From time to time the design is re-examined - quite recently by a British university research group assessing the economics of applying modern composite materials and the latest engines, with much more effective silencers. So it is important to keep this exhibit in good structural order, as a guide to what flew successfully in the past. This is why the Museum usually orders aircraft-standard materials, even though they may be more expensive. Such materials may not only be needed for a long-life safe flying structure; they may also be necessary, to withstand stresses during manufacturing processes. For example cheap light alloy sheet tends to split during forming to a required shape.

Restoration news continued gun and a variety of dollies to compress the rivet-tail in awkward locations. Pop rivets need only a special pair of pliers. The last inch of the trailing edge is a strip of 25swg material folded to an angle of 22 degrees. For the outermost ten boxes, centrifugal force approaches 350 times the force of gravity, and here Tufnol (an early composite material) was carved to the required shape. The internal frames are less corroded. Treatment is to brush and vacuum; apply 10% solution of Ardrox 1074, then thoroughly wash with clean water; finally dry and apply Waxoil by brush. Because of the noise of riveting we held off work on the blade during the summer months when there are more visitors.

Meanwhile in the Duke of Edinburgh hangar, we had a steel blade root spar, which was quite rusty. It was cleaned down to bare metal and now looks passable with a spray-on coat of ACF50 rust inhibiting oil, so it will be reassembled with its "lag-plane damper", without which, early landings had to be at only 1 foot per second maximum vertical speed to avoid ground resonance dynamic coupling between the rotor and the undercarriage, which can wreck a helicopter completely. The future A priority will be the two pieces of broken rotor-blade. We hope to assemble one of these to the root-spar we have, and with suitable support, fit it to the pylon. The other piece could perhaps be assembled to a silenced tipjet. More fancifully, if we mounted the pylon above the fuselage section, supported at undercarriage height, and a rotor-blade attached to the pylon, it could be held in place by timber and brackets to show visitors what an impressive aircraft it was. A problem remains though. We would need a new building with a roof rather higher than we have now. (HINT HINT HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND!!) Many thanks to Richard and Chris for taking the initiative and compiling this piece.

The photograph shows part of the trailing edge of the rotor blade after replacing the corroded light alloy skins on one side. The leading-edge half of the blade is stainless steel and not corroded. The new skins are aircraft standard 25swg light alloy and the rivets are 3/32-inch. Each new sheet, about a foot square, needs over 80 rivets - solid on one side of the blade, pop (or blind) rivets on the other. For the solid rivets we use a portable air compressor (quite noisy) a Desoutter rivet

Archive News Accreditation: At the end of October the Museum received the go ahead from The Arts Council England to renew its Museum accreditation. For those who do not know, the Accreditation Scheme sets nationally agreed standards for museums in the UK. We, as a part of the scheme, must demonstrate our commitment to managing collections effectively for the enjoyment and benefit of our users. As Collections Officer one of my main duties for the past months has been to complete our returns. This has meant that I have been going around asking staff members annoying, hard to answer questions. I would just like to say a big thanks to all who have helped me in this process, especially Lee who heroically counted how many volunteer hours we use in a year (over 14,000 in total), the returns are now complete and should be sent of later this month! New Items: The museum collection has been added to considerably in the past three months. Perhaps some of the most interesting pieces have been a number of Rotodyne models collected from Duxford (thanks for driving Rod) and are now on display at the museum.

Two minutes with... This time up we welcome Martin Handcock, an archive volunteer, to give us his views on the museum. Martin is a great laugh and a brilliant asset to the archive team; he also often helps out all around the museum doing various jobs and helping out at events. How long have you been at the museum? My first anniversary of working here was on the 19th of January What did you do before joining the museum? I have had a number of jobs from trainee supplier and MT Mechanic in the RAF to aircraft refueler , civil servant and receptionist. What has been your best experience at the museum? Having the opportunity to take photos and video films of aircraft as they touch and go or take off from the helipad. For example, recently I have managed to get great footage and photos on my phone of a Westland Lynx Mk 7 and a Robinson R22 which have visited the museum.

What would you like to see happen at the museum in the future? I would like to see a Chinook added to the Museum Collection! (You and me both Martin) Spotters section Spotter information about the aircraft that have landed at the museum in the last 3 months for all you spotters out there:

A number of less glamorous but just as important pieces have also been sent to the museum over the past three months. From training manuals to rotor blades we have had it all. We are extremely grateful for all of our donations and urge anyone who is, or knows of anyone, wishing to part with anything helicopter related to get in touch with the Museum.

November Date, Type, Registration, Flown From: 23rd, Bell 212, 2J969, Middle Wallop 26th, A109, G-EVIP, ??? 28th Bell 212, 2J969, Middle Wallop

December 7th, Bell 212, 2J969, Middle Wallop 8th, R22, G-GJEB, ??? 9th, Bell 206, MFMF, ??? 10th, Chinook, ZH 901, Odiham 12th, Merlin, ???, RAF Benson

Spotters section Continued January Date, Type, Registration, Flown From: 5th, R22, G-GJCD, Bristol 9th, Lynx Mk 7, X2642, Middle Wallop 13th, R22, G-GJCD, Bristol 16th, R44, G-CDWK, Gloucestershire 24th, Lynx, ???, Odiham 24th, Lynx, ???, Odiham Visitor Feedback Sarah from the Carers Centre I just wanted to thank you for Saturday. All of your staff were friendly and welcoming, the tour guide Chris was absolutely fantastic very knowledgeable! Our group really enjoyed the afternoon. Well definitely be back for another outing in the near future. Damian from Mill Autoquip The Helicopter Museum and the team are absolutely fantastic, a truly unique, exciting and flexible location for a corporate event. Mill Autoquip as a company has vast experience in organising trade shows and events and we are always looking to use venues with character, excitement, supportive staff and a can do attitude. Everything about the Helicopter Museum and the team exceeded our expectations, with exhibits such as the dramatic Russian gunship and the Queens Helicopter as a backdrop to our event, the Helicopter Museum really stands out as a top venue for us as a business. We would highly recommend the Helicopter Museum to anyone looking to host an event which creates a lasting memory.

Photograph competition With all the dramatic weather conditions at the Museum there have been some great photos sent my way recently. Congratulations to Lee Mills, after months of trying you have finally won the photo competition!

Mystery Volunteer... I was also approached by a very shady character around a month ago who had a brilliant idea for this section.

This photograph was taken in 1935, which restoration volunteer is this? Email me with your guesses and I will let you know if you are correct or wrong. Good luck!

Hire The Museum!

Do you have a Birthday or anniversary coming up? Have you thought about Hiring your village hall for a party? The Helicopter Museum is available for public hire and is not as expensive as you might think. We already have several private events booked in for 2012 with groups ranging from 50-500 people. If you are interested in aviation, the museum can provide a unique backdrop for your special day. Please contact Lee Mills or Sharon Webber for details.

Other Ways You Can Help?

There are many ways in which you can volunteer at The Helicopter Museum. Many of us have our own set duties in our own little section of the museum; but there are many times throughout the year when volunteers can branch out and get involved in a number of ways, raising funds being one of the main ones. If volunteers would like to play their part and help the museum raise funds and secure its future, please have a chat with either Lee or Sharon. The museum is always desperate for volunteers to help out at its events and you can play your part in many ways. When was the last time you took some museum leaflets to your local pub, club or school? Have you ever pinned up a museum event flyer on your local village notice board? Could you give up an hour or so to help prepare for an event? Have you given unwanted items to a charity shop recently, could they have been given to the museum to sell on their bric-a-brac stalls? Please don't just leave it for other people to do, play your part and support the museum you volunteer at.

Your Museum Needs You!

How to contact us?

Tel: 01934-635227, Email: helimuseum@btconnect.com Website: www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Whilst it is easy to forget, The Helicopter Museum is indeed a charity. Aircraft do not preserve themselves and a big part of what the museum does is conservation and restoration based. The acquisition, preservation and restoration of aircraft, some of which are the only existing examples left in the world, takes place on a daily basis at the museum so that our aircraft can be enjoyed for generations to come. If you would like to help us in our task by contributing to the restoration budget, then please fill in the form below and send it off to us.

Your Donation
I would like to support the Helicopter Museum in their efforts to conserve and restore aircraft and educate the public about vertical flight history and technology with a gift of: 10 Name: Phone Number: Email Address: Home Address: Postcode: I enclose a cheque made payable to The Helicopter Museum Help us further by using gift aid Thanks to the gift aid scheme we can reclaim money on your donation from the government. For every pound you give us, we can claim an extra 25p. For example, a donation of 15 becomes 18.75 with gift aid at no extra cost to you. I am a UK taxpayer and would like The Helicopter Museum to treat all future donations from today as gift aid donations. I understand that in the relevant tax year I must pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains tax at least equal to the tax that the charity reclaims on my donation. Signature: Please return this form in an envelope to: The Helicopter Museum, Locking Moor Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, BS24 8PP 20 30 50 100 Other