Westland Sea King HAS.2

The Westland Sea King entered service with the Royal Navy in 1969 to replace the Westland Wessex anti-submarine (HAS) helicopter. Over the past 40 years, the Sea King has operated in all the major military conflicts including: the Falklands War, the Gulf War, the Balkans conflict, the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War. 

My interest in building a scale model of the HAS.2 Sea King was inspired by a very good friend of mine, Mark, who was a technician with 824 NAS, working to keep the 2 helicopters of 'A' Flight in the air during the 1982 Falklands War. These helicopters were '50' (XV660) and '55' (XV649) and it is '55' that I selected for my build. I just hope I have done it justice.

Formed in April 1933, 824 squadron received their first helicopters in 1958 in the form of the Westland Whirlwind. In February 1970, 824 squadron became the first operational Sea King unit at Culdrose and in April 1982 they were called on to participate in Operation Corporate, the code name given to the British operations to retake the Falkland Islands and its territories, following the invasion by Argentine military forces. 

Sea King 55 HAS.2 XV649 of 'A' Flight 824 Squadron RNAS - "Where's Mark?!"

It was on 5 April 1982, that Mark, with fellow maintainers, aircrew, support personnel and the two Sea Kings of 'A' Flight, '50' & '55', sailed from Devonport to join up with the the Carrier Battle Group en route to Ascension Island, aboard RFA Olmeda, an Ol-class fast fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Three further Sea Kings accompanied 'C' Flight on RFA Fort Grange just over a month later. In all, around 35 HAS Sea Kings from 4 NAS Squadrons (820, 824, 825 and 826) served during the Falklands War. While some performed their intended role on anti-submarine patrols, others were stripped of their anti-submarine equipment and fitted with seats for the moving of troops and supplies between ships and out to the Islands. This latter role became even more critical to the success of the campaign after the loss of the MS Atlantic Conveyor, together with three of the four Chinooks it was carrying, rendered British forces with only one serviceable heavy lift helicopter.

In its anti-submarine role, 'A' Flight's Sea Kings were armed with torpedos, depth charges and machine guns. Once, like so many others, it was stripped of all non essential anti-submarine fixtures and fittings, it moved into load lifting, troop carrying and a multitude of other missions. During the landing of British Troops on East Falkland, the two helicopters, aircrew and maintainers were detached to San Carlos in support of ground operations. Following the surrender of all Argentine forces on the 15th June 1982, RFA Olmeda and 'A' Flight sailed to South Georgia with one helicopter '55', to embark 'M' Company of 42 Commando Royal Marines for transit to Thule Island, which was still under Argentine occupation. Operation Keyhole consisted of a small task group of RFA Olmeda, 824 'A' Flight', HMS Yarmouth, HMS Endurance, and MS Salvageman. After arriving off the shore of Thule Island on Sunday 20th June, Sea King '55' landed the Commandos and returned to RFA Olmeda with Argentine prisoners following their surrender without a shot being fired.

Squadron artwork hidden on the reverse of the crew's open door - "Where's Mark?!"

As for the scale model, in Part 1 of my Sea King story, you'll have learned that I selected the Airfix 1:72 scale Westland Sea King HAR.3 kit. I had read somewhere that a couple of Air Sea Rescue (HAR) helicopters had been converted to the Anti Submarine version at the time of the Falklands and so felt they would be a close enough match. They certainly had the wheel floats/sponsons and radar dome, but I had missed the erroneous inclusion of rear observation windows which, had I realised earlier, I'd have blanked out. Having decided to leave them in place, then required me to dip into my extensive spare decals collection to make up a smaller set of numbers for the '55', which would fit between the observation windows and the door! On a more positive note, and talking decals, I was very pleased to lay my hands on a very rare set of Modeldecal's 1979 produced 824 Squadron emblems. These were key for the build as they were the ones applied to the helicopter's nose during Operation Corporate. Ironically, I then went and hid the decals on the port side behind the crew's open door, but trust me, they are there!

Tail and main rotor blades folded back. Headphone cable makes for a good rope!

All the helicopters I've built so far have been completed in the 'ready for flight' mode, wheel down and rotor blades extended. So when I saw that this kit allowed me to build the Sea King in the 'ready for maintenance' or similar state, I don't know the official term, I just had to give it a go. This was of particular interest to me as I had it in mind to present the finished model in the same state that Mark may have seen when he worked on it, i.e.with tail and main rotor blades folded back. In photos, I've seen the rotor blades secured individually with cables to the body. On this occasion, I just had a go at securing the outside blades, with the others yet to be secured. I may return to these later.

Another use for iPhone headphones

Other modifications I made were to add a hand rail to the steps using wire from those ties you find supplied with plastic freezer bags, and, for the yellow exhaust covers, I cut up an old set of iPhone headphones. I found that a section from below the earbuds fitted the exhaust openings perfectly and the cable made for a good length of rope to secure the rotor blades! I also needed to change the box dust filter which came with the kit with the cover you see sitting above the cockpit, in front of the engines. Having no squadron transfers for this, I painted this on freehand, with the 'A' Flight letter added from my spare decals box.

A few modifications include: hand rail, rotor blade ties, plus exhaust and engine covers.

The figures added to the model were mostly taken from Italeri's NATO Pilots & Ground-crew and PJ Production's Air Sea Rescue sets. There is a pilot sitting in the right hand seat, and behind the left rear window there's a crew member sitting at a desk; although the effort in preparing and fixing them here now seems to have been somewhat wasted, as they are hardly visible. Some I had to alter slightly to fit the scenes, e.g. the pilot on the steps was originally resting his foot on a box and the shirtless figure, modelled on Mark, had his wrench swapped for an instrument panel. This panel was a not insignificant piece of the model's interior which I should have fixed to the cockpit ceiling, but only came across it, still sitting on my desk, after I had glued everything else together! I suppose, however, it makes for an amusing final photo caption!

"Ah! Mark ... I think you'll find that instrument panel is still needed!"

Images of the real Sea Kings

To assist me in my build, Mark shared some great photos of 'A' Flight's helicopters, which I have tried here to recreate. I hope you at least see some likeness. 

824 Squadron

RGA Olmeda onboard which 'A' Flight's Sea Kings sailed

Sea Kings '50' & '55' en route to the Falklands, notice the squadron emblems

'55's' sister Sea King, '50' coming into land, notice the emblem on the engine cover

Another of Sea King '50' .. I didn't realise I did not have a good shot of '55'

'A' Flight in action

'A' Flight detached to San Carlos in support of ground operations

Interesting observation in this last picture, is that for action on the Islands, the Sea Kings have changed the colour of their numbers from white to black and the squadron markings have also been painted out ... I feel the need for another build!  

A brief history of the real Sea King XV649

Sea King XV649, which I have attempted to recreate here as Sea King '55' 824 Squadron, was built in 1969 as an HAS.1 and was upgraded to an HAS.2 in 1978. This added a 6th rear rotor blade, a more powerful engine and improved navigation and communications equipment. It was in this configuration that it embarked on Operation Corporate. 

On its return from the Falkland Islands it underwent a further conversion to an Airborne Early Warning helicopter, the AEW.2A. A painful lesson learned during the conflict was Britain's lack of Airborne Early Warning aircraft and the Sea King took on the challenge to fill that gap. 

Finally, in 2002 XV649 underwent its final upgraded to an Airborne Surveillance and Control ASaC7 helicopter. In this new role of interception/attack control in the detection of low-flying attack aircraft, it went on to complete its military service in Afghanistan. Today, it has reportedly been demobbed and is stored at RNAS Gosport, Hampshire.