Helicopter Industry #103

HELICOPTER INDUSTRY I FAREWELL I
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n September 4th, in front of an audience of officers
and three machines with commemorative livery for the
occasion, the French Navy bid farewell to its last Lynx still
in operation. In addition to the helicopter, the entity also put
its prestigious unit, the 34F, to sleep for a few months. For
41 years, the pair will have criss-crossed the globe to ensure
mainly the mission of anti-submarine warfare.
« It’s a feeling shared between emotion and optimism to see the
departure of an aircraft on which I have flown throughout my
career. Nevertheless, this departure opens a new era and a new
chapter in the history of the Navy ». These few words spoken
by Commander François Chaput, the last commander of the
34F, symbolises the attachment of the Navy and its men to
this aircraft.
The Lynx is the result of a Franco-British commercial
cooperation between Aérospatiale and Westland in its
French version. The Lynx is above all an aircraft whose
design is based on Westland’s experience in on-board
helicopters, particularly the WASP model. Above all, it is a
machine designed by the British, for the British, just like the
car on the other side of the Channel. The feline will thus be
developed with innovative technical solutions to make it a
helicopter particularly suited to boarding. A stocky machine
with a very low center of gravity to give it great stability on
marine platforms, the Lynx is also the only machine to have
a main gearbox (MGB) in the shape of a «crushed pyramid».
This technical design makes it possible to lower the height
of the device. Correlated to the blades and a folding beam,
it will facilitate its storage on board frigates and make it a
helicopter fully in line with the requirements of naval forces.
In addition, it remains the only aircraft to have a pitch change
system whose axis runs through the MGB system at its
center. A mechanism that is totally different from the swash
plates usually found on rotating wings, but has undoubtedly
proven itself since the machine was put into service.
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