Bristol Belvedere

The Bristol Belvedere, formally the Bristol Type 192 Belvedere, was a British twin-engine, tandem rotor military helicopter and the only tandem rotor helicopter that Britain put into production. Designed in the late 1950s as a derivative of the abandoned Bristol Type 173, it kept an unusually tall forward undercarriage that came from earlier work for the Royal Navy, which left the main cabin door about four feet above the ground. Its two rotors were synchronised by a shaft, so it could keep flying on a single engine. The first prototype flew on 5 July 1958, the Royal Air Force was the only customer, and 26 were built. It entered service in 1961 as the Belvedere HC Mark 1, carrying troops, supplies and casualties in Europe, Africa, Southern Arabia and Singapore, including during the Aden Emergency and in Borneo. It was withdrawn in 1969 and effectively replaced by the Westland Wessex. Westland Helicopters, formed in 1961 when the helicopter divisions of Bristol, Fairey and Saunders-Roe were merged with Westland, lists the type among its products.