January 2023
Westland Whirlwind HAR.3
Sikorsky Whirlwind HAR.21
Westland WS-
HMS ARK Royal Ship’s SAR Flight, 1956.
Airfix 1/72 with Model Alliance decals.
© www.gengriz.co.uk
The Westland Whirlwind continued Westland's successful alliance with US firm Sikorsky, partly funded by the US Govt's MDAP programme to assist NATO allies.
The first Whirlwind HAR.21 and HAS.22 variants were US built airframes and saw active
service as troop carriers in Malaya and at Suez (HAR.21), as well as forming up the
RN’s first dedicated anti-
Twenty five HAR.3s were built, replacing the Westland Dragonfly in the SAR role ashore
and afloat. Despite the uprated engine, they were still badly underpowered with
a limited load capacity in all but very cold weather and were replaced by more powerful
torpedo armed HAS.7 aircraft from 1957 onward, with the last HAR.3s leaving front-
The aircraft depicted by this model is XG572 / 971, a HAR.3 used as HMS ARK ROYAL's Plane Guard / SAR aircraft. Delivered in 1955, it was written off after an accident in 1961 near RNAS Culdrose, when the tail struck the ground and became detached.
Building the Airfix Whirlwind Kit:
The Airfix Westland Whirlwind kit was first released in 1956, in markings for a civil
passenger aircraft from British European Airways. In 1966, the kit was re-
It has now re-
And after 66 years, a Classic Kit it certainly is and still a favourite of mine.
Even in its latest guise, the mouldings still look sharp, with moulded fuselage detail
(stand-
However, be in no doubt that this is an old kit, with some definite build challenges! The kit is not complex, but it is not that easy to build well either. Several elements of accuracy are questionable e.g. the nose gear and underside of the engine compartment are very simplified and in the case of the front wheels, are in the wrong place. Transparent parts are very thick, and the distinctive sliding window rails are missing, as are the 4 cabin roof windows. Fit is generally OK though, but comparison with the Italeri kit suggests it may be a little under scale. The windscreen was not a good fit and needed some filling (with Krystal Klear) around the top and bottom.
This was intended as a simple quick build (to unwind from building the old Airfix Vulcan last month). As well as modifying the nose area to add detail and move the wheels, I have opened one cockpit window and fitted a single pilot to fill the space. Since the front wheels are very plain (in the HAR.1 kit they are covered by floats), I have added a centre spigot from polystyrene rod. Window rails have been added from plastic strip. To better reflect the engine undersides, I have sanded the area flat, added some sprue "lumps" and a few hoses.
The rotor head is also very basic, so some simple details were added, based ion my
reference pictures and on the Italeri kit. The blade fold follows the approach I
used for my Italeri HAR.1 -
Decals for a Plane Guard HAR.3 came from the old Model Alliance HMS ARK ROYAL Air
Wing set. Unfortunately these have several issues -
The Airfix Whirlwind kit was one of my first ever model builds, in the late 1960s or early 1970s, inspired by the fact that my dad did his National Service on SAR aircraft, and because we saw quite a lot flying around near our house (albeit horrible RAF yellow ones!). My first 2 builds have long gone (although parts still emerge from the spares box from time to time). My 3rd remains in the collection in VIP green colours. This one makes a good addition and a happy walk down memory lane! It is definitely a kit from another era, but I hope you will agree that it has scrubbed up well :)
nb. I have also built the Italeri Sikorsky UH-
The Real Thing! This photograph shows another aircraft from HMS ARK ROYAL
© IWM A 33920
A HAR.1 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton
Link to many more early helicopter kit builds on my Helos pages
Part 1
A HAS.7 at the Helicopter Museum, Weston Super Mare
Rotor Head Detail
Another HAR.1, this time at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum (ex-