The Wasp was the first helicopter in the World specifically designed to operate from destroyers and frigates. This is a story that extensively uses the words of those who worked with or flew the outstanding Wasp helicopter great text with excellent illustration. – Most Highly Recommended
NAME: The Royal Navy Wasp, an Operational & Retirement History FILE: R2828 AUTHOR: Larry Jeram-Croft, Terry Martin PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 264 PRICE: £25.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: naval aviation, shipboard helicopter, turbine-powered helicopter, small ship helicopter, anti-submarine helicopter, SAR helicopter, nuclear depth bombs, torpedo, rockets
ISBN: 1-52672-114-7
IMAGE: B2828.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y4xae74a LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The Wasp was the first helicopter in the World specifically designed to operate from destroyers and frigates. This is a story that extensively uses the words of those who worked with or flew the outstanding Wasp helicopter great text with excellent illustration. - Most Highly Recommended The Saunders Roe was a pioneering British helicopter company that had its roots in the pre-WWII Cierva Company. The authors have done so much more than write a very welcome and definitive history of the Wasp helicopter, but they have prefaced this account with a profile of British efforts in rotary flight from the joint venture between A V Roe and Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva. Cierva tragically lost his life in a DC2 crash and is perhaps best known for his work from 1922 on the development of autogyro rotary wing aircraft. He was however also a pioneer of helicopter flight and had he not been killed in 1936, the joint venture Cierva Company may well have produced viable helicopters by the start of WWII for military service with the British Armed Services. With Cierva's untimely death, the assets of the Cierva Company passed to Saunders Roe. This was not the only British company pioneering helicopter development, with Fairy producing some very interesting concepts, an ultralight and a compound rotary wing aircraft, where the rotor was powered by tip mounted jets. It was however Saunders Roe who led and the Westland Aircraft Company that eventually absorbed all British rotary wing development under politically driven amalgamations. Saunders Roe produced the very promising Skeeter, using parts from the Cierva W9 in the construction of the prototype. This piston engine helicopter served successfully with the British Army and was the starting point for the turbine engine WASP. Britain had conducted extensive trials of Sikorski Hoverfly helicopters before the end of WWII, but the limiting factor for shipboard operation with the smaller warships was the difficulty in finding unobstructed space to land and take off and the equally important requirement of weather protected accommodation for use during a full commission of a warship that might operate in any of the oceans for perhaps two yeas before return to home port. The authors have presented a nicely judged review of the operational roles for a shipboard helicopter, including the carriage of nuclear depth bombs. This makes their continuation into the history of the Wasp all the more readable and useful to those developing an interest in helicopter development and specifically naval aviation. The text reads well and is comprehensive for the subject. The standard of illustration is first rate, and largely in full colour, with images reproduced through the text. The Wasp enjoyed a long and successful service life although the single engine did present problems from time to time. At the end of operational service, the Wasp is still operated in flying condition and as static display in aviation museums, this retirement life is also well detailed.