Farewell, Gazelle
The so ugly it’s pretty Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter, made domestically by Westland, began its British military career on 6 July 1974, and after nearly 50 years of service that spanned all branches of the Forces, the beloved 5-seat whirlybird was retired on Halloween. It is the only helicopter to have been produced for and served with all of the British services.
In total, Westland produced nearly 300 Gazelle helicopters, with 282 of them being delivered to the British armed forces:
- Westland SA.341B Gazelle AH.1, for the Army Air Corps and Royal Marines (Commandos)
- Westland SA.341C Gazelle HT.2, for the Royal Navy
- Westland SA.341D Gazelle HT.3, for the Royal Air Force
- Westland SA.341E Gazelle HCC.4, for the Royal Air Force
Famously, a handful of RM and AAC “Gazzys” (11 of 3 Commando Brigade Air Sqn, 6 of 656 Sqn Army Air Corps) performed vital reconnaissance, liaison, medivac, resupply, and ersatz gunship roles in the Falklands, where British air power ashore was almost non-existent. For reference, the only other rotary-winged aircraft available to the Marines and Tommys were three squadrons of overworked and aged Fleet Air Arm Wessex HU.5s (CH-34s) that also had to crossdeck troops and supplies across the fleet, 9 tiny Wessex Scouts, and a single magical Chinook.
THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT, APRIL – JUNE 1982 (FKD 313) The Battle for Tumbledown. A casualty of the Scots Guards is rushed by stretcher to a Gazelle helicopter for evacuation on Goat Ridge, below Mount Harriet. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205189227
RM SA341B in the Falkland Islands in 1982. Note the dark green-black scheme which really didn’t do any favors in the mossy sub-polar region, and the unguided 68mm SNEB rocket pods mounted, borrowed from RAF Harriers.
This is in addition to hard service in Northern Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, Canada, Kenya, Belize, Cyprus, Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan.
To mark this historic end, the last British operator, 5 Regiment Army Air Corps, flew a formation of three Gazelle helicopters from Aldergrove Flying Station to their final resting place at Vector Aerospace International Ltd in Gosport. The flypast included HQ 38 (Irish) Bde in Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, and various historic locations in GB.
The Gazelle replaced the H-13 Sioux and in turn, is being phased out in favor of the Airbus H135 (MBB EC135). They continue to fly overseas with something like 20 different operators including the French (along with a dozen French allies across Africa) and the Egyptians.
Fast, nimble, and agile, it was the “sports car of the air” explains Army Air Corps pilot David Caldwell, who flew Gazelles from 1976 to 2009: