Westland Lynx

[AS.12]

A few snippets from Flight about the Sikorsky Lynx submission for the LAMPS competition.

August 1970

Westland's Lamps Proposal Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Aircraft Corp and Westland Aircraft
jointly announced on July 22 that they were negotiating an agreement for a marketing programme
to present the Westland WG.13 in the United States as Sikorsky's candidate for the US Navy's proposed
light airborne multi-purpose system (Lamps).

Also:

The US Navy's Lamps requirement for an off-the-shelf utility helicopter is proving difficult to satisfy
because of the restricted hangar size (26ft) available on destroyers. The Bolkow 105 is too small to
satisfy the requirement, while two WG.13s cannot be accommodated without structure-folding.

January 1971

General Electric is negotiating with Rolls-Royce Small Engine Division for the licence to build the
RS.360 turboshaft engine. The application is the WG.13 helicopter, being submitted by Sikorsky
for the US Navy's Lamps competition.

[ Note: RS.360 is correct, that being the commercial designation for the BS.360-07 engine ]

June 1971

Sikorsky is very pleased with the performance of the Lynx and its BS.360 powerplants, although United
Aircraft is pushing very hard for two PT6s to be fitted for the Lamps competition.


[ There was then a long gap as the US Navy contracted Kaman to supply Interim LAMPS Seasprites ]

January 1977

Sikorsky and disappointed Uttas contender Boeing Vertol will square up again in the US Navy competition 
for a new anti-submarine warfare helicopter, the Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (Lamps) Mk 3. That
competition, to be decided by April, involves both Uttas entries and the Westland Lynx. The winner will
produce 204 helicopters.


September 1977

[ By this point Westland appears to have been running its own bid, though how production would be arranged is not specified ]

The losers in the competition are Westland Helicopters, whose offer of an off-the-shelf Lynx was earlier
turned down by the USN on the grounds that the helicopter was too small, and Avco Lycoming. The engine
manufacturer was included in the competition at a late stage to allow evaluation of a version of the engine
used in the XM-1 tank.

[AS.12]

Some clarification on the later Lynx LAMPS proposal from Aviation Week.  Seems that Westland and Sikorsky had parted ways even before the UTTAS decision.

September 1976

"Our main pitch in the United States is now the Lynx, which is still being considered in the LAMPS competition,
mostly because its competitors have just become too large and the U. S. Navy has a need for a smaller LAMPS,"
Blackwell explained.

"We are also getting some help in this direction by having Lynx as part of the British participation in the two-way
street of defense sales between Europe and the U. S., and as part of a joint memorandum of understanding between
the U. S. and Britain on procurement imbalances between our two countries."

Westland is after a portion of the Navy requirement for 200 LAMPS machines. and is acting on its own instead of
in partnership with Sikorsky. The pitch is that the U.S. Navy can get two Lynx machines for the price of one LAMPS
as now defined, and gains in flexibility of armament. The other option being pushed is that the U. S. Navy needs
an anti-submarine warfare helicopter of Lynx size for its small frigates.

[AS.12]

I haven't found any other references to this feature, mentioned in Aviation Week May 1971:


Another military feature which will be carried into a civil design is the Lynx skid landing gear
which has a self-leveling feature for landing on rough fields and uneven terrain.

[PR19_Kit]

Another military feature which will be carried into a civil design is the Lynx skid landing gear
which has a self-leveling feature for landing on rough fields and uneven terrain.

That's mentioned on one of the plaques describing the civil WG30 that's in the Helicopter Museum at Weston-Super-Mare, but there's no sign of the actual gear itself anywhere. Mind you, the museum have the entire world's collection of WG30s currently so maybe it's on one of the others.

[KiwiZac]

Gotta love the Lynx.

Back in the late 90s one of the trade/industry magazines said the Royal New Zealand Navy had chosen Lynx as the Wasp replacement, a role actually filled a couple of years later by the Seasprite: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/new-zealand-navy-chooses-lynx-11820/ Our defence force does love to hold on to and upgrade old kit so this could be a fun one for someone.

[PR19_Kit]

The FAA Lynxs went out of service just a week ago.

They held a celebration 'Last Flight' around the south of England last Friday, but sadly I was in N Ireland and couldn't see it.

[Thorvic]

The FAA Lynxs went out of service just a week ago.

They held a celebration 'Last Flight' around the south of England last Friday, but sadly I was in N Ireland and couldn't see it.

It formerly retired yesterday at Yeovilton with its final flights and the retirement of the type

http://forces.net/news/navy/royal-navy-bids-farewell-lynx-after-40-years-service

[DarrenP2]

do pakistan still fly them?

but would have been nice to see the lynx in a few nations colours. New Zealand being one both Land and Sea Versions. Ireland instead of the Dauphin and to replace the Aoulette III. Australian Army replacing the Kiowa. Australian Navy instead of Seasprite. Rhodesian Airforce replacing the Aoulette III. Canada instead of the Kiowa in Airforce in Europe.

[PR19_Kit]

LOADS of people still fly them even now, it's just the FAA ones that stopped this week.

According to Wikipedia (and who am I to imagine they're wrong.....  ) The British Army still fly them here, plus Algeria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Malaysia, Oman, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea and Thailand.

And Argentina  , The Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway and Pakistan used to fly them.

That's potentially a pretty hefty decal sheet for someone to put out. 

[Thorvic]

To be perfectly honest its just the Lynx HAS8 and HAS3 that's retired to be replaced by a new model Lynx now called the Wildcat

[PR19_Kit]

Indeed, but both the Navy and Westlands, or whatever they call themselves these days, are treating the Wildcat as if it's no relation to the Lynx, when it patently obviously is. 

[Thorvic]

Indeed, but both the Navy and Westlands, or whatever they call themselves these days, are treating the Wildcat as if it's no relation to the Lynx, when it patently obviously is. 

Well Augusta Westland started out calling it the Lynx Wildcat, The Forces adopted just the Wildcat name to as not to confuse with the legacy Lynx and Leonardo changed it too.

Now we just need a decent kit of the AW159 Wildcat 

[DarrenP2]

been nice to see some civilian versions to like Police helicopters  or air ambulances

[KiwiZac]

Would it be big enough to work as an ambulance? With the speed and agility of the type it'd be great for a Police chopper.....great, now I have to find an Army skidded Lynx kit.

Now we just need a decent kit of the AW159 Wildcat 

Amen. It's a neat-looking bit of kit.

[DarrenP2]

look at some of the helocopters used by air ambulances like the a109 or the ec135 you are usually carrying 1 patient