A good article at Naval Technology from Berenice Baker covering the Merlin marinisation programme
[browser-shot width=”600″ url=”http://www.naval-technology.com/features/featurere-role-with-it-upgrading-raf-merlin-helicopters-for-the-royal-navy-4265921/”]Click the image to read more
No mention of the 3a’s RDR-1600 weather radar…
Commonality would demand those 6 airframes loose it, we kept it for utility in the SF role.
I hope it keeps it, the Fortuna glacier incident in ’82 could have been far worse without the lead rescue helicopter having such equipment.
Why only 25? There are 22 HC3’s and 6 HC3a ‘s that makes 28!
What is happening to the other 3?
ZJ138 was written off a few years ago – its bits are currently in Boscombe. I would expect the other two frames are outside the “affordable” package / official requirement of 25 cabs. They’ll probably sit in Shawbury like the “spare” grey cabs.
NaB – how many spare grey cabs are there at Shawbury. By my counting there’s six not going through the Mk2 conversion but I wasn’t sure if they’re currently keeping up the numbers in the operational fleet or in storage. And if they’re in storage, what condition are they in? I suspect stripped of anything vaguely useful and therefore virtual right-offs.
This site is usually there or thereabouts..
http://www.demobbed.org.uk/aircraft.php
@RichardIC
I believe you are correct there, any spare cabs outside of the planned 30 HM2’s and 25 HC3/4’s have almost certainly been stripped of anything vaguely useful. They haven’t been keeping them at Shawbury with any intention (as i once hoped) of potentially using them as front line machines if the money could ever be squeezed out of the budget, if that were the case then they wouldn’t have been cannibalising them ever since they were withdrawn.
“No mention of the 3a’s RDR-1600 weather radar…”
Would rather see the other 19 fitted with them. Would be bloody handy!
There are a few pics on Flickr of a trio of naval Merlins at Shawbury. These are from the end of 2012 so the game of helicopter strip poker they seem to be playing may have progressed since then…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-7c/8569365555/
Click ‘right’ on the photostream for shots of the individual airframes.