The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34. It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes from Sikorsky's H-34 was the replacement of the piston-engine powerplant with a turboshaft engine.

With its advanced ‘dunking sonar’ and ability to hover for lengthy periods, the Wessex gave the RAN a potent night-and-day anti-submarine capability, which when teamed with Melbourne’s fixed-wing Fairey Gannet aircraft (and later the S-2 Tracker), provided wide-area ASW coverage.

1986 with LEUT Reyne (P) RAN, aircraft made a forced landing 4 miles West of Moruya NSW after a loud bang was heard and vibration felt. Aircraft returned to NAS Nowra underslung on RAAF Chinook.

2024年1月15日 · I had a search on Britmodeller and found several builds of 1/72 & 1/48 kits as RAN HAS31's so that firmed up my decision to make the kit as a RAN HAS 31B. I took the photos below in the late 80's at Cooma Airport NSW when two Wessex were on exercise transporting soldiers from the airport to various spots in the local countryside.

The Westland Wessex was the gas turbine version of the piston engined Sikorsky S-58 Helicopter and was built by Westland under license and fitted with a1,100shp Napier Gazelle11 gas turbine engine. The first prototype flew in May 1957, and went into production for the Royal Navy (RN) as HAS (Helicopter Anti Submarine) Mk1. Delivery to the RN ...

This page provides a brief overview of each of the 27 Wessex Airframes acquired by the RAN. Click on the green “More Info’ box, where available, to drill down into more detailed information regarding the relevant airframe including photographs, more detailed history and narrative of events and accidents etc., where known.

2019年5月19日 · The Westland Wessex was a British development of the Sikorsky S-58, with a turboshaft engine replacing the original piston-engine radial. In 1956 Westland purchased a licence to develop and produce the type, which was then in production for the US Navy as the HSS-1, an anti-submarine helicopter.

Four photos clockwise: Above – the Classic Wessex Shot: 810 leads an 8-ship formation in line astern during CT operation training (RAN image); Wessex 810 in transit during an ASW sortie (RAN image); Awaiting the fire ground: 810 first in and one of the first out (Jeff Chartier collection); 810 beating a hasty retreat after dropping a depth ...

The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34, developed and produced under license by Westland Aircraft, later Westland Helicopters, between 1958 and 1970. A total of 382 were produced.

Initially, the Westland constructor's number was painted on all Wessex as an RAN serial number but the "WA" prefix was subsequently replaced by "N7" on surviving aircraft. Wessex WA217 was assigned the RAN Side Number 827.