Latest news with #Seafire
Muscat Daily
09-04-2025
- General
- Muscat Daily
Tim percy to relate tale of passion, precision, and perseverance
Tim Percy, an oil industry professional and pilot residing in the UAE, will be making a captivating presentation on April 16, about the restoration of a WWII Seafire aircraft, once piloted by his father Captain Terrence Percy, touching upon its history, rediscovery and the decade-long restoration process to bring it back to flying condition. 'This is a story for everyone… We will use the 462 to carry the memory of what an extraordinary aircraft it is and what rich history Britain has in naval aviation,' he tells Hubert Vaz in an exclusive chat. Excerpts : As a proud son of Captain Terrence Percy, a daring seaman who saw action with the British Pacific Fleet during the invasion of Okinawa and later ran the Royal Golf Club of Belgium, what was your key motive behind getting his Seafire XV restored and renovated? I grew up with my father as a senior officer, first as Naval Advisor to the British High Commission in New Zealand, and later when he was CO at Yeovilton in the UK. He actually opened the Yeovilton FAA museum under the auspices of the late Prince Phillip. Unlike many others who fought in the war, my father was always interested to discuss his experiences. But I was always surrounded with historical aircraft, the smell of Jet fuel, WWII exploits and his stories. The acquisition of the 462 was purely accidental. But once it was established that this was his aircraft, there seemed no reason not to pursue the task, and who would not want to own a Seafire! Having acquired rights over the aircraft in 2014, what was your immediate goal – restoration of the aircraft or nostalgic possession of a historic relic that stands testimony to your illustrious lineage? The idea initially was that the previous owner Wes Stricker (who had bought it from the Burmese Government at auction) would restore 462 as he had already completed PR-503. However, once it became apparent that he would not and the opportunity presented itself for me to take over the project, I evidently jumped at the chance. Thus 462 arrived in the UK in April 2014 to start the restoration as will be seen in the presentation. What is your background as a pilot? Did you want to make the Seafire flight worthy so as to get a feel of Capt 'Pablo' Percy's heyday in service? I only managed to find the time to learn to fly in 2000 and have accumulated around 500 hours mostly on Cessna/Robin type aircraft. However, I have now progressed considerably in PT-17 Stearman and T-6/SNJ/ Harvard classic combinations, the latter being the aircraft that will provide me with sufficient experience to manage the Seafire. But there is still a long way to go. The Seafire/Spitfire combination is every pilots dream to fly, but managing zero forward visibility, a delicate undercarriage, and 1900HP under the hood is no mean feat. Can you briefly share the various stages of the restoration process over the past decade? This will be dealt with in detail in the presentation. In short, Airframe Assemblies in the Isle of Wight rebuilt the fuselage framework, Kennet Aviation at Old Warden are managing most of the rest, and of course, Rolls Royce for the power plant. It's an extremely complex affair. What were the key hurdles faced by you in acquiring as well as getting the Seafire restored? The Rolls Royce Griffon VI being the first of the Griffon variants (after the Merlins) and being a short block Griffon manufactured in limited numbers, finding parts is next to impossible. Other difficult items include an original seat, the undercarriage selector, the auxiliary gearbox, and not the least, the spade grip handle on the stick itself. Currently is it ready or some final restoration is yet pending? We have about fifteen months to go, I believe. From the lay man's perspective, how interesting or educative will your presentation be? Are you going to share technical details or the emotions behind it that would spark some intrigue about a bygone era? This is a story for everyone. Yes, there is a technical aspect, but it is designed so that the layman can understand and appreciate the beauty of this aircraft and follow the extraordinary story that goes with it. This is done through film, slides, music, anecdotes, and more. Can you share brief details about some key missions of this Westland-built Seafire XV which is said to have also served with the Burmese Air Force, and recovered from Rangoon in 1998? The 462 was sold to the Burmese air force in 1952. There is no history available to us of its operations there. My father operated 462 as squadron Commander in 1946 aboard HMS Venerable. This was post war in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), Singapore, and Hong Kong, as per his pilots' log book. Did Capt Terence share any interesting stories about him in the cockpit of the Seafire with you? Were you inspired to follow suit? All we have is the picture of him exiting the cockpit from the 802 Squadron line book. There are many other interesting stories from this private pilots' diary, but not enough time to recount them all. My own career is not that of a pilot. I am in the oil drilling business. I started my career in 1980 on the rigs in the North Sea, then opened Woodhouse in Dubai in 1985. This month will be my 40th year in Dubai. What do you plan to do with the restored aircraft? Would it serve as a crucial relic of WWII to inspire/train/educate the new generation of Air Force pilots? I am an ambassador for the Navy Wings Heritage Trust that maintains vintage aircraft working to preserve Britain's great naval aviation heritage. We will use 462 to carry the memory on of what an extraordinary aircraft it is and what rich history Britain has in naval aviation. Would you like to attribute the credit of the restoration process to any particular individual/firm? There are many people, and these are listed in the presentation. Mainly, Tim Manna and the team at Kennet Aviation. How much did the entire restoration cost you? Do you expect any returns from this priceless witness of WWII in the long run? There is no price, and no expected returns, other than to witness one of the most beautiful aircraft ever to grace the skies to return to flight. That will be the best reward!
Telegraph
23-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The former Spitfire factory building Britain's drone army
Britain's longest-running aircraft factory has built it all – from Spitfires and Seafire planes to the Sea King, Lynx and Merlin helicopters. But now a crack team of engineers at the Leonardo facility in Yeovil, Somerset, are working on the next big revolution: a helicopter that flies itself. The Proteus demonstrator drone – believed to be a world-first – is being developed by the company on behalf of the Royal Navy, with test flights expected to take place later this year. It is roughly the size of a transit van but has no cabin. Nor will it be remotely piloted, like other drones used by the military. Instead, Proteus will use a combination of clever computer software with an array of cameras and sensors to autonomously take off, land and carry out its missions. To begin with, this will mean assisting with tracking Russian submarine activity in the North Sea. But the drone's Thunderbird 2-style 'modular mission bay' means it could eventually be used for a wide variety of tasks, both military and civilian, from intelligence-gathering and cargo transportation to even tackling forest fires. 'Proteus will do what we call the 'dull and dangerous' stuff that you don't want to use people for if you can help it,' explains Nigel Colman, managing director of Leonardo Helicopters UK. 'You won't have to put people's lives at risk. You won't have to be limited by food rations or, quite frankly, the size of your bladder. 'It provides mass, reduced cost of ownership and reduced workforce requirements, so it's tackling all those challenges that the Navy faces with crewed aircraft.' Colman was a navigator for the RAF for 30 years, serving in the cockpits of Merlins, Wildcats and Pumas during deployments to the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Northern Ireland. He is keen to stress that Proteus isn't meant to replace crewed platforms completely, but rather free them up for the most critical jobs. 'Operators could go make a cup of coffee' For example, the first task it has been designed for is anti-submarine warfare in conjunction with Navy ships and helicopters out in the North Sea. This would see o ne or more Proteus drones equipped with 'sonobuoys' – highly sensitive sonar devices that listen for propeller and engine sounds underwater – drop the devices into the water to triangulate an enemy's position. The drones, potentially working with a crewed Merlin, would be capable of processing the data themselves and transmitting it back to a nearby Navy vessel. Onboard software allows them to avoid no-fly zones and oil rigs, identify commercial vessels or fishing boats, and recognise their Navy 'mothership'. They will be able to fly continuously for about 10 hours, according to Leonardo. Rather than remotely controlling them with a joystick, however, forces personnel will instead give the drones instructions – potentially using just a tablet computer – with the machine then plotting its own course and carrying out the tasks independently. This can be tricky work in harsh weather. Among other things, the robot will need to master tasks such as landing on a vessel that is pitching and heaving on the waves. The idea is to reduce the number of hours sailors spend on monotonous, time-consuming tasks. Normally, flying a Merlin helicopter from an aircraft carrier or frigate to drop sonobuoys in a nearby section of ocean can take a human crew several hours – much of which is spent uneventfully cruising over water. In future, it means someone could give Proteus a task and then leave to make themselves a cup of coffee without having to worry about constantly supervising the machine. 'We're designing it to be as autonomous as possible, so the operator really only has to intervene when they really need to,' says Phil Bartlett, head of future programmes at Leonardo UK, a subsidiary of the Italian defence giant. Bartlett's team is the company's equivalent of Q-branch, set up in 2022 to lead the Proteus programme and investigate emerging rotary wing technologies. Their demonstrator is being put together in record time under a new type of government contract designed to speed up innovation. Designs were only finalised in 2023, with the demonstrator drone now almost complete and flight tests due to commence within months. Faster development This is practically warp speed when compared to conventional military programmes. 'If you think about where we've come from, to go from a design to build in not even two years – that's a massive change to how we normally do things,' says Rob Girling, the experimental operations manager. 'These 20-year development programmes, you just can't have them any more. By the time you've finished things are already obsolete. So we've got to move quicker.' Their team is adding to a rich seam of history in Yeovil. The factory – previously known as Westland Helicopters – opened in 1915 under the Petters family and went on to make Sopwith 1½ Strutters and de Havilland 4 and 9 bombers in the First World War. During the Second World War, it was one of several factories to produce Spitfire and Seafire fighters. But since then, Yeovil has emerged as 'the home of British helicopters' producing syndicated designs such as the Dragonfly, the Sea King and the Apache as well as collaborations such as the Puma, Gazelle and Lynx. In the near future, Colman hopes the site – which employs some 3,000 workers – will make Proteus drones along with crewed AW149 battlefield helicopters. Leonardo has put forward the AW149 for the Ministry of Defence's new medium helicopter contract and is now the last bidder standing after Airbus and Sikorsky withdrew. In comparison, Proteus is for now confined to a four-year, £60m demonstrator contract awarded to Leonardo in 2022. But if successful, the aircraft could become part of a new generation of 'attritable' – low-cost and reusable – drones that the Ministry of Defence wants to rush into service, providing desperately needed ballast to Britain's armed forces at a time when Europe is rushing to re-arm. 'You're going to have more exquisite, expensive platforms that you need to protect,' explains Andy Bennett, programme manager at Leonardo. 'Then you'll have attritable platforms, which may be equipped with expensive sensor suites, and at the bottom you'll have your 'disposable' stuff. That's the model the armed forces are shifting towards. 'Proteus will sit somewhere in the attritable space, maybe towards the higher end depending on the payload it's carrying.' As has been shown by the Ukraine conflict, the lack of human occupants in drones is likely to change the way war is waged in future, Bennett says. 'You can take more risks if you're happy to sacrifice the platform, potentially in a high-risk combat environment.' Humanitarian as well as military application Leonardo is aiming to produce Proteus for a 'fraction of the cost' of a manned helicopter. But it also aims to broaden demand for the aircraft by expanding into markets beyond the military, thanks to the ability of the modular mission bay to carry all kinds of payloads. 'On the military side, there's anti-submarine warfare, sonobuoy dispensing, sonobuoy dunking, reconnaissance,' says Girling. 'But you could also expand into different markets, so carrying water to tackle forest fires, for example, or famine relief, deliveries for postal companies; it could be lots of different things.' It is still early days, however. Proteus has only carried out missions for the Royal Navy in a virtual world so far. Upstairs from Bennett's workshop, a team of software engineers run simulations using a 'digital twin' of the aircraft to test its ability to plan missions and carry them out – at least theoretically. On computer screens, they watch an imaginary Proteus drone take off from a virtual Type 23 frigate to drop sonobuoys in the ocean. The simulation is set off the coast of Norway and uses real shipping movements to make the exercise as realistic as possible. Even the bobbing of boats on the water is recreated, along with imaginary winds. If it works, Proteus should mean human crew members will be put at risk far less often. Yet despite the machine's sophistication, Colman believes human pilots will be around for a long time yet. 'I spent my life in the RAF with the pilot and myself sitting in the cockpit, flying around with dozens of troops in the back, in and out of benign and dangerous situations,' he explains. 'When I started, the autopilot was nowhere near as good as it is now, and today we could probably fly airliners without pilots but we choose not to. 'I can't imagine flying troops around without having pilots in the cockpit either. I certainly can't see a moment where we would put 25 people in the back of the aircraft and say, 'I'm going to sit this one out', you know?' It is a question that may seem abstract for now. But as Proteus shows, an army of British drones may be closer than we think.
