Rather rudely, I once referred in these pages to the adage, "if helicopters are so safe, how come there are no vintage ones?" Well, I'm delighted to now eat my words as the UK airshow season last year saw more heritage rotary-wing variety than ever before. There were gentle giants like Andrew Whitehouse's Westland Whirlwind HAR10 XJ729 and Wessex HU5 XT761, respectively carrying RAF and Royal Navy search and rescue liveries. There were Wasps, Scouts, Gazelles and Alouette IIs, both privately owned and operated by organisations such as the Historic Army Aircraft Flight. We had the spirit of Vietnam invoked by the rotor thump of incoming Bell UH-1 'Hueys' and the similarly evocative thrum of Bell 47s, one in particular recalling memories of the Korean conflict with the registration G-MASH.
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