They also have a helicopter simulator. Unfortunately, it was not available that day. I would have liked to take it for a ride.
BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, Mrs. D had one of her costuming events. This one took place in Bad Nenndorf, but I spend the weekend in Hannover, where I visited the aforementioned aviation museum. As luck would have it, at the aviation museum I also picked up a brochure about a helicopter museum in Bückeburg. Not too far from where I was staying and in fact very close to Bad Nenndorf. So I decided to go there and pick up Mrs. D afterwards.
If you are into helicopters, as it so happens I also visited a helicopter museum in the UK recently too.
This is what the museum looks like from the outside.
When I stepped inside and paid the entrance fee, I was a little disappointed as I thought the museum was pretty small. However, you make your way to another building and 95% of the collection is out there.
At the entrance you will find a decently well-stocked museum shop, there is the so-called “voliere”, more about that later and a lot of helicopter models on display.
Way too many models to photograph all, so I made a selection of peculiar and interesting ones.
This is, of course, a well-known chopper, but it was nice to see various variants.
One helicopter I have never seen for real and never will, as none exist anymore. The helicopter museum in the UK had a few parts on display. And that is considerably more than most museums have: The Fairly Rotodyne.
From Wikipedia
The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950s British compound gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation and intended for commercial and military uses. Development of the earlier Gyrodyne, which had established a world helicopter speed record, the Rotodyne featured a tip-jet-powered rotor that burned a mixture of fuel and compressed air bled from two wing-mounted Napier Eland turboprops. The rotor was driven for vertical takeoffs, landings and hovering, as well as low-speed translational flight, but autorotated during cruise flight with all engine power applied to two propellers.
One prototype was built. Although the Rotodyne was promising in concept and successful in trials, the programme was eventually cancelled. The termination has been attributed to the type failing to attract any commercial orders; this was in part due to concerns over the high levels of rotor tip jet noise generated in flight. Politics had also played a role in the lack of orders (the project was government funded) which ultimately doomed the project.
The famous Banana Helicopters!
I was always fascinated by this model that has two interlocking rotors! As luck would have it, they had the real deal in this museum too. Stay tuned!
Never really caught on.
Of course, helicopters big difference over fixed-wing aircraft is their ability to take off and land vertically. You can accomplish the same in different ways as these models demonstrate.
They also have a helicopter simulator. Unfortunately, it was not available that day. I would have liked to take it for a ride. I have flown on quite a few helicopters, always as passenger, but usually in the left-hand seat next to the pilot. And many moons ago I had some helicopter flying lessons too. Very different from fixed-wing flying!
I left this part of the museum to make my way to the main exhibition. It starts with a nice overview of the very early helicopters. Although interesting I skipped through it to make my way to what I call some real helicopters!
Lots of helicopters as you will see.
This is the Bell Huey-10. Many people will associate this chopper with the Vietnam War. And various Vietnam War movies of course. I have actually flown in one of these. Somewhere off the coast near Mogadishu, Somalia, we were relieved from our ocean-going tug, via an oil rig and brought ashore on a Huey.
This is a pretty big helicopter and we have seen them in action all over Europe in various roles. The Aecospatiale SA 330 Puma. It was used in both civilian and military applications and was built under license in Romania as well.
This was an interesting contraption. It will never ever fly, but it is/was used to demonstrate how you fly and control a helicopter.
As you would expect at a helicopter museum, lots of helicopter parts that you can study up close. I must admit, the rotor assembly of a helicopter never ceases to amaze me!
Keyword: My experience of visiting a Helicopter Museum in Buckeburg, Germany