<p>c/n 13475.
Built 1957.
Original West German Air Force serial 78+17.
This is something I thought I'd never see, a Bristol Sycamore in the air!! What an amazing sight and sound it is.
This beautiful machine is operated by 'The Flying Bulls' based at Salzburg in Austria and she is the only airworthy example of her type.
Although she has no British military history she has been accurately painted to represent 'XG545', an HR.14 which was delivered in 1956 but crashed in the sea off Happisburgh, Norfolk during winching practice in July 1957.
She is seen displaying at the 2018 Cosford Airshow.
RAF Cosford, Shropshire, UK.
10th June 2018
</p><p>The following info is from The Flying Bulls website:-
</p><p>"The Flying Bulls’ specimen built in 1957 served as a military helicopter in the German armed forces and was withdrawn from service in 1969. By various roundabout routes, the machine ended up in Switzerland in the hands of collector and helicopter enthusiast Peter Schmidt. It was also Peter, a vineyard owner, who worked flat out and even managed to obtain special permission from no less a person than the Queen of England herself for the Sycamore to be allowed to bear its original colours of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and its British national emblems. Permission was granted under the strict condition that this Sycamore would only ever be a source of pride and honour to the RAF. No wonder then that the machine is virtually a national relic among tradition-conscious Englishmen who are into flying.
</p>
Its former owner’s most fervent wish was that his Sycamore should retain its airworthiness. There were not many connoisseurs in the world that were qualified to make sure that remained the case. The helicopter was handed over to the Flying Bulls with confidence along with a massive stock of spare parts which the previous owner had painstakingly collected over the years."
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/65001151@N03">Alan Wilson</a> from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajw1970/42714094742/">Bristol Sycamore HR.52 'XG545' (OE-XSY)</a>