Into The Wasp's Nest!

By the end of the Second World War, the advances in technologies in the sky, on the ground, and at sea meant that the conventional methods of battle were being overshadowed by warning systems, longer range weapons, and advances in engine technology which allowed for the rapid progress in military equipment and warfare that was being seen at that time. Along with the dawn of the jet age, came the dawn of mass-produced rotary flight as well – dabbled upon during the Second World War, the concept of a hovering, deployable and multipurpose aircraft was becoming an attractive prospect to deal with a widening variety of threats in this Post-War world. One of these threats was coming from below the sea, with faster Submarines, coupled with the long-range weapons which they carried caused concern for the Royal Navy – and a requirement for a “Manned Torpedo-Carrying Helicopter” was needed. 

An adaption from the earlier piston-powered Saunders-Roe Skeeter, the Wasp came from the same prototype design as the Westland Scout (which was designed for the British Army at the time), with the prototype P.531 first flying in the hands of the Royal Navy in July 1958, before undergoing trials and evaluation, and later being chosen by both armed forces In their varying forms. Initially to be named the “Sea Scout”, by the time the Royal Navy placed an order for the helicopter, it had been renamed as the Wasp 

The main differences between the sibling helicopters were its design details, whilst the Scout carried a more conventional skid landing gear configuration, the Wasp needed to be able to land on small frigate and destroyer flight decks that could be moving erratically in bad sea states - this led to its unique four-wheel “trolley” style undercarriage which meant the crew could land safely on the pitching and leaning flight deck. Furthermore the Wasp utilised a superfine pitch effect of its rotor blades to keep the aircraft firmly grounded when touching down on the deck, whilst it was secured. 

As well as its extensive use with the Royal Navy, the Wasp went on to be used with the Royal New Zealand Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal Malaysian Navy, as well as small numbers with the Brazilian Navy, South African Navy, and the Indonesian Navy. The most infamous moment of the Wasp’s career came during the Falklands War, when three Wasps delivered their anti-ship missiles to ARA Santa Fe, leading to its eventual sinking and capture.  

Today, only a handful of Westland Wasps remain on display around the World, with a small number of those still airworthy – and of those, most are in private hands in the United Kingdom. One aircraft in particular though is often seen at Airshows around the country, flown in the hands of Dr Terry Martin (former RAF doctor and pilot), and wears the South Atlantic camouflage scheme of the Wasps which launched to strike the critical blow to ARA Santa Fe. Now back in its original tail number, XT787 is a former Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy machine. 

Air Displays UK were lucky enough to get a fascinating insight from Terry into some of the technicalities of flying XT787, displaying at Airshows and the growing historic helicopter scene in the UK. I began by asking about the acquisition of XT787, and what led to display flying around the UK?

“I purchased XT787 from Kennet Aviation boss Tim Manna in Nov 2012, and I’ve been displaying her ever since. However, Xray Tango, as she is popularly known, was not my first Wasp. I originally had a half share of XT435 (G-RIMM), bought in 2000, also from Kennet, and then, later, had a share in a consortium which allowed me to fly XT420 (G-CBUI), XT793 (G-ZBPP) and SAAF ’92’(G-BYCX). There’s so much interest in aviation in the UK that my ownership of a Wasp was no secret. In the early 2000s, I was flying XT435 all around the midlands, south and south east, so she was widely seen. XT435 was temporarily based at Kidlington (Oxford) at that time so she was well known in the area. So, unsurprisingly, an invitation arrived in 2003 to attend our first public event - it was Neil Porter and his Abingdon combined air and country show. 

At that stage, I didn’t have a display authorisation, so all my early airshow appearances were fly ins with static displays. However, that first appearance was great for me, like coming home. Abingdon was where I had first learned to fly with the RAF’s University of London Air Squadron. 

By 2012 I knew I wanted to have my own Wasp and the opportunity came up to buy the best in the market at that time, XT787 (G-KAXT). 

It was only after I bought XT787 that I decided to start full flying displays. By then I had gained almost a thousand hours on Wasps and Scouts and, owning my own Wasp, I no longer needed to make decisions by committee. I had the freedom to fly my own machine to any place and in any manner I wanted. In terms of satisfying an examiner so that I could join the ‘elite’ band of UK display pilots, I was helped significantly by my great friend and flying legend, John Beattie. Incidentally, it was John who influenced me heavily at that time. He had been displaying another Wasp on the airshow circuit but was looking to concentrate in favour of his fixed wing displays (including the Seafire and Harvard), so I became his successor but, I should quickly add, nowhere near his equal!”

Was it always an ambition, and why the Wasp? 

“I was a 13 years old aviation geek when I saw my first Westland Wasp - it was displayed in the static line up at ‘HMS Daedalus Air Day’ in 1967. (She was XT789. I could never have imagined that I would one day be the proud owner of her sister, XT787.) However, I didn’t take much interest in this little helicopter at the time, and I didn’t want to join the Navy. I did want to fly though, but I was destined for the RAF. Actually, I couldn’t decide whether to follow a career in medicine or in flying, so I elected to do both. My ambition to fly rotary wing came about when I was stationed at RAF Shawbury, the home of RAF rotary wing, where I learned to fly the Gazelle. You could say this was a life changing event. Jumping forward to 1999, and suddenly there are Scouts and Wasps for sale on the civilian market, and at an affordable price! This was too tempting to resist.

As the RNZAF/RNZN phased out their fleet of former Royal Navy Wasps, they were sold back to Westlands and then bought by Tim Manna’s historic aircraft collection at Kennet Aviation where they were refurbished and adapted for civilian use. I‘d always had an interest in history and a passion for all things aviation, so the opportunity to purchase and fly a warbird was never likely to have passed me by.”

I was keen to learn more about the technical side of flying a machine such as the Wasp, with its unique attributes and design. The helicopter has its characteristic undercarriage design, and powerful Nimbus 103 turbine engine to haul it across the skies – so from a pilot’s perspective; what is it like to fly? 

“My conversion from Gazelle to Wasp took place in the striped ‘stinger’ tailed Wasp, XT435. In contrast to the graceful, light, and fast Gazelle, I soon learned to fly a real beast of a helicopter. It may have only one engine, but that Nimbus 103 has a lot of power, and the agility of this cumbersome looking machine surprised me immensely. With excellent tuition from former Wasp and Scout pilots, I soon learned to respect these machines with their small rotor disc, rapid rate of descent in auto-rotation, and their propensity to run out of tail rotor authority.

Respect is the word I would use, but the process was practice and practice again. There’s no substitute for flying hours and countless training for the ‘what-ifs’. Endless autorotation after autorotation, manual throttle, hydraulics out, engine-off landings, practice tail rotor failures and every other conceivable emergency possible to practice. The challenge was fun and rewarding and, in time, flying the Wasp became second nature - she was, and still is, a delight to fly, and it is ‘real’ flying. No autopilot, no auto height hold, no stabilisation. None of the ‘add-ons’ that were there for the RN pilots. Just pure piloting skills.

I don’t want to make it sound too easy, complacency is the enemy of any pilot, but even more so with an almost 60-year-old vintage aircraft. The Wasp demands her pilot’s attention continuously, second by second, and rewards us with her agility, responsiveness and the excitement of flying a rugged jet-engined brute which turns heads and draws admirers wherever we go.”

So, Is the Wasp a particularly forgiving aircraft to fly?

“The Wasp is a sturdy machine which gives a marvellous sense of being surrounded by something substantial. Fantastic fun to fly, the Wasp is manoeuvrable, responsive, and more agile than she looks. However, there are a few manoeuvres that are very unforgiving if you get them wrong. The first is either loss of hydraulic pressure or intentional change to hydraulics-off flight mode. When hydraulic support is removed, the controls are extremely heavy, and the helicopter needs to be trimmed out drastically and quickly to minimise the workload. Worse than that, the pilot has to be prepared for a sudden and startling pitch up and roll to the left when the hydraulic loss occurs.

The second, and most dangerous time when the Wasp can catch you out is, of course, an engine failure. The small rotor disc means that when the donk stops, there immediately follows a rapid decay of rotor RPM, and leaving it too late to lower the collective lever will make the situation unrecoverable. Even when autorotation is entered correctly, all the weight of the heavy Wasp results in a remarkably high rate of descent and is almost vertically down. The recovery sequence starts at 150 feet AGL and the landing sequence must be done perfectly to avoid running out of rotor lift before touchdown. Visual appreciation of height is absolutely essential.

However, it has to be said that, after you get used to its foibles the Wasp is very robust, as I’ve already discovered a few times myself!” 

It has that unique landing gear configuration, does that present any unique challenges?

“On the contrary, the chunky and strong undercarriage is designed to absorb the shock of landing on the heaving deck of a frigate in any weather. It’s especially useful if a rising deck in heavy seas bounces the helicopter up after the collective pitch has been completely lowered. However, although the Wasp has wheels, they can only be either free-castoring or locked in fixed positions, and therefore only useful for pushing the helicopter in to the ship's hangar and will not work for ground taxiing. There are still a lot of air traffic controllers that will clear the Wasp for ground-taxi, unaware that hover taxi is the best I can do! On the other hand, with the wheels in ‘ship’ configuration – each one set a consecutive 45 degrees of a turn to form a ‘circle’ (45, 315, 225, 135 degrees), the Wasp can be turned 180 degrees around its central point - an especially useful trick in small spaces!”