The Sikorsky S-55 helicopter from 1949 was one of the first commercially viable helicopters and was manufactured under licence in the UK by Westland, who named it the "Whirlwind". Fanciful memoranda from the British Department of Transport in the 1950s suggested that helicopters might one day render railways obsolete, and Percy's race with Harold may have been in part to rebuff this. The chopper got into many air forces around the world including the RAF and USAF, but this example was in the civil colours of the now-defunct British European Airways (BEA). It is an unmistakeable design, with the pilot's cabin on an upper deck with passenger space underneath in the solid, bulbous body and nose. The principal variation on Harold was the addition of floats to the wheels.
Correspondent Dave Moulton found this example on the US Coastguard webpages of an S-55 with floats - Hello there Harold!
Harold appeared in "Percy the Small Engine" (1956).
Secondhand model feature:
Airfix, maker of mostly 1/72 scale polystyrene aircraft kits, once made one of the Westland Whirlwind. Add floats, red stripe and a face... |
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Collector's Corner:
New  take-along model of Harold |
Classic  model of Harold |
Bachmann  model of Harold (42441) |
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