Arrival of the Bristol Sycamore

Today, the most recent addition to the Flying Bulls fleet arrived at Salzburg: a Bristol Type 171 Sycamore, MK52G with the serial number 13475, registration number HB-RXB, year of construction 1957. The helicopter will undergo a comprehensive overhaul at Hangar-8, our aircraft service and maintenance facility at Salzburg airport, under the supervision of our senior technician, Gerhard Moik. Once completed, the Bristol Sycamore will be the only airworthy model of its kind worldwide.

The special design features of this helicopter include, inter alia, a nine-cylinder radial engine fitted in a horizontal position, as well as main and tail rotor blades made from wood. Another interesting fact ? although probably not known to most of us ? is that the aircraft was designed by an engineer with Austrian origins: Raoul Hafner, born 1905 in Vienna.

Construction of the Bristol Sycamore commenced in the years following 1944, and the first flight was made in 1947.

We purchased the Bristol Sycamore from the aircraft enthusiast and collector Peter Schmid in Altenrhein, whose main occupation is that of a vineyard owner and winemaker. He had operated the helicopter for more than 22 years. The technical maintenance during that time was provided by Dieter Hasebrink. At the end of last year, Peter Schmid finally decided to place the Bristol Sycamore into the capable hands of the Flying Bulls.

A specially appointed project team headed by our helicopter technician, Roman Gitterle, brought the aircraft to Salzburg and will immediately start on the overhaul work.

16.06.2010