XX510 DARK BLUE

 

First Flight: 5 March 1973. Seventh to fly.

Purpose: Eighth prototype. Deck landing trials and initial SHOL (Ship Helicopter Operational Limit) clearance. Initial radar trials. Conducted the first at-sea deck landing aboard RFA Engadine on 29th June 1973. First with HAS-2 nose and Sea Spray radar.

Fate: Unsure of when it left the test programme but found its way to Foulness range by June 1989. It went to Lee-on-Solent as a gate guard by Oct 1989 and then moved to its current home at Culdrose in 1999. In 2006 it had a HMA 8 nose fitted to it and a production type tail boom. Operated by the School of Flight Deck Operations.