The Westland Scout was developed from the Saunders-Roe Skeeter. The production Scout AH.1 used a 1,050 shp Rolls-Royce (RR having acquired Bristol Siddeley by then) Nimbus 101 engine. The Scout first flew in August 1960.
The Scout had a skid undercarriage. Behind the two front seats was a three-seat bench. It was used for general light work including observation, liaison, training, and search and rescue. When fitted as a light attack helicopter it carried two machine guns and 4 anti-tank guided missiles. In use for casualty evacuation, the Scout could carry two stretchers internally and two externally. About 150 Scouts were built, by 1968.
About The Model
I became fed up with people who saw my Huey helicopter close up, trying to open up its doors to look at turbine engine when I wasn’t not around. As they were quite fragile they would often end up breaking off the handle. So I started looking for a subject where the engine was on display – and the Westland Scout seemed the obvious choice.
I started work in 2004 but stopped after creating the plug for the model. In February 2006 I was asked to take part in the 2006 US Nationals championship but as I didn’t have a suitable model I decided to use the Scout plug and create a model from it.
Time was very tight and I was still working on the model on the day of the competition. It’s first flight was in round 1, but despite this I came first and won the competition. It was modified in 2007 which added more scale detail – again it was placed first in the US Nationals. In 2008 rockets were added and it again won first place in the US Nationals. It competed again in the 2009 US Nationals and in the 2009 UK Championships where it won. Unfortunately, following a failure in the tail rotor gearbox in September 2009, the model crashed and was completely destroyed.
