N7-220 Aircraft History:
- First Flight 09/05/63.
- 22 June 1978. Damaged when it landed on a steel post atop Pigeon House Mtn. Aircraft transported to NAS underneath a Chinook and repaired.
- 3 November 1985 Whilst conducting a winching demonstration at the annual Shoalhaven Spring Festival the aircraft suffered an engine failure and made a heavy forced landing into a paddock at Shoalhaven Heads 7nm from RANAS Nowra. Crew Lt(P) G Sydney RAN POACM Culley & LSATWL Fields. Fields injured in crash.
- Withdrawn 31 December 1989.
- Stored at Nowra and scrapped.
Above: Wessex 830 22Jun78. The aircraft was on a local area recce. and landed atop Pigeon House Mountain. Unfortunately the crew did not see a steel post had been cemented into the centre of the landing spot, and the aircraft impaled itself. Upon take off a massive fuel leak was detected and an emergency landing was made in a nearby clearing. The aircraft was returned to NAS Nowra as a Chinook underslung load and subsequently repaired. Cartoon: Marcus Peake.
Above: Not quite how the aircrew had planned the return trip! A Chinook lifts the stricken Wessex back to Nowra. (Photo: John Bartels)
Left: Waiting for the Chinook to arrive.
Below: Wessex 830 in a paddock about 7nm from Nowra after a forced landing, Nov 98. Damage was relatively light and aircraft was repaired. (RAN image)
Below: An image of 830’s panel: of no particular significance to the accident, but it gives a good impression of how spartan the Wessex instrumentation and controls were. The panel remained essentially remained the same for the entire 27 years of the aircraft’s service. (RAN image)
