London Helicopter Guide
BEA and the first scheduled helicopter services

History

BEA and the first scheduled helicopter services

BEA experimental unit, Birmingham-Heathrow-Gatwick Sycamores, later Airlink

Hero image: RuthAS, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

BEA experimental unit, Birmingham-Heathrow-Gatwick Sycamores, later Airlink.

Key facts

  • Sycamore G-AMWG on Birmingham-Heathrow-Gatwick service, April 1955
  • 1947 unit date and 1978 Airlink need Flight archive confirmation

In date order

  1. museumsPreserved types in London and Somerset collections
    RAF Museum London (Hoverfly, Sycamore, Wessex HCC4, Sea King HAR3) and The Helicopter Museum, Weston-super-Mare (Sycamore, Whirlwind) - image records only. rafmuseum.org.uk
    Confidence: image record only
  2. 1952 (28 July)First BEA S-51 trial landings on the South Bank site
    Photo caption (John Stroud) states Wg Cdr Reggie Brie landed BEA S-51 G-AJOR at the former Festival of Britain site in the first of a series of trials. airhistory.net
    Confidence: single secondary source
  3. 1955 (April)BEA Bristol 171 Sycamore on Birmingham-Heathrow-Gatwick service
    Commons photo descriptions: Sycamore G-AMWG "Sir Gawain" at Gatwick on the passenger service from Birmingham via Heathrow, April 1955. commons.wikimedia.org
    Confidence: single source (Commons descriptions); confirm in Flight
  4. 1955 (25 July) to 1956 (31 May)BEA Waterloo helicopter shuttle to London Airport
    ianVisits (citing Flight 1956 archive) says the shuttle used Sir Kay and Sir Ector (Westland-Sikorsky S-55, five passengers each) and carried 3,822 passengers before closing; a second source gives the same dates and total. The site was needed for the South Bank Centre. ianvisits.co.uk
    Confidence: two secondary sources agree; primary Flight page not retrieved

Pictures

BEA Bristol 171 Sycamore G-AMWG at London Gatwick, 1955
BEA Bristol 171 Sycamore G-AMWG at London Gatwick, 1955RuthAS, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
BEA Bristol 171 Sycamore G-AMWG "Sir Gawain" at Gatwick on the Birmingham-Heathrow-Gatwick service, 1955
BEA Bristol 171 Sycamore G-AMWG "Sir Gawain" at Gatwick on the Birmingham-Heathrow-Gatwick service, 1955RuthAS, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Helicopter view of Waterloo and the South Bank, London, 2006
Helicopter view of Waterloo and the South Bank, London, 2006Phil Hollman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Westland Wessex HCC4 (Queen's Flight type) at the RAF Museum, Hendon
Westland Wessex HCC4 (Queen's Flight type) at the RAF Museum, Hendon[[User:Ad Meskens|Ad Meskens You are free to use this picture for any purpose as long as you credit its author, Ad Meskens. Example: © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons If you use this work outside of the Wikimedia projects, a message or a copy is very much appreciated. This image is not in the public domain. A statement such as "From Wikimedia Commons" or similar is not by itself sufficient. If you do not provide clear attribution to the author you do not comply with the terms of the file's license and you may not use this file. If you are unable or unwilling to provide attribution you should contact Ad Meskens to negotiate a different license. ]], CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Westland Wessex of The Queen's Flight (preserved), 2016
Westland Wessex of The Queen's Flight (preserved), 2016David P Howard, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Check first

Historical details differ between sources. We give the source for each entry and say where it is secondary.

Sources and checks

Facts on this page come from these sources, last checked 2026-11-03. Where a source could not be reached or did not say, we left the fact out.

  1. commons.wikimedia.org commons.wikimedia.org
  2. rafmuseum.org.uk rafmuseum.org.uk
  3. airhistory.net airhistory.net
  4. ianvisits.co.uk ianvisits.co.uk