Westland WS70 Blackhawk

A long time ago Britain was marketing its own variant of the H-60 Blackhawk helicopter. Then, the project quietly disappeared.

The proposition that Westland should produce the Blackhawk helped to make the Sikorsky investment seem more logical – particularly if Westland could sell in a range of markets that Sikorsky could not, or would not, seek to enter, (Westland had successfully tailored the Sea King to individual customer requirements and extensively developed the aircraft over time).

At the time, Blackhawk was a candidate for an RAF medium support helicopter requirement against AST404 ( and strangely enough, is being offered  again to replace the Puma ). It seems likely that the proposed deal with Sikorsky would have protected any Westland work, should Blackhawk be selected for AST404, which was seen to be the Operator’s preferred option at that time.

Two aircraft were flown in the UK: ZG468 / G-17-70 was assembled by Westland from a kit manufactured by Sikorsky; and G-RRTM / N3124B, which was converted to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines. The fitting of RTM322 engines would probably have been beneficial in a hot, or hot and high, environment, but not otherwise (due to gearbox limits). (Certification of this change would also have increased cost).

The Westland demonstrator ended up in Bahrain as RBAF961. G-RRTM returned to the United States and was subsequently converted to S70C Firehawk N70C.

The FGUK version represents a Rolls-Royce powered variant which would have been the likely choice at the time to be accepted into service.

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RELEASE NOTES.

V1.01HDR

Small update for HDR compatibility.

V1.0

Initial release of the WS70.

Dedicated FDM for the WS70 which represents the increased power of the Rolls-Royce powered Blackhawk.

Integrated Autopilot.

Internal and external Compositor lighting ( requires a Compositor enabled version of FlightGear. All lighting, internal and external  is controlled  by the overhead panels.

Multiplayer passenger mode.

Detailed cockpit.

8 Liveries included.  Some represent squadrons that it may have entered UK service with.

6 Configuration options based upon  what we could see on a Westland test video.