Vertipedia - Type 171 Sycamore

The Bristol Type 171 Sycamore was the first British-designed helicopter to go into production, the first to be certified for civil use and the first to fly and serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF)

Type Description

The Bristol Type 171 Sycamore was the first British-designed helicopter to go into production, the first to be certified for civil use and the first to fly and serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF)

Raoul Hafner was the Chief Engineer for the Bristol Aircraft Company Helicopter Division and he used his previous design expertise in the design of the 171 and subsequent helicopters emanating from the company. The type included a 3-armed spider type of pitch control, first used on the Hafner AR-III gyroplane. This type of control was subseqently on all Westland Lynx type aircraft. The first prototypes flew with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines as no suitable British alternative was available. The Mk.2 prototype was the first of the type to fly with a British engine, an Alvis Leonides.

Sycamore was the generic name associated with all armed service variants of the Type. Versions of the Type went into serice with various UK and European Armed Forces as well as civil operators.

An excellent summary of the Type and its variants can be found in the source below,

Source: ”Bristol 171 Sycamore”, BAe Systems Heritage Team, BAe Systems Heritage Web site, Last accessed 11 Jul 2018 (with kind permission from BAe)