The Gazelle

The Aerospatiale / Westland Gazelle is one of the longest serving and most successful reconnaissance and light attack helicopters. The Gazelle soon made an impression with its high speed, smooth looks, and design innovations such as the fenestron ducted tail rotor and composite main rotor blades. In this readable book, aviation expert David Oliver tells the full story of the development of the Gazelle as well as its various air force, military, and naval roles and deployments. Once Westland had joined the French helicopter project, the Gazelle was soon adopted as a trainer by the RAF, as a battlefield reconnaissance and attack helicopter by the Army Air Corps and Royal Marines and as a training helicopter by the Royal Navy. It carried out similar roles in the French armed forces and those of other nations. As this book shows, armed variants of the Gazelle have taken part in conflicts in the Falklands, Northern Ireland, Lebanon, the Gulf War, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Mali. It was also adapted for civilian roles. As a testament to its success, Gazelle helicopters will continue in service with the British armed forces beyond 2020. Illustrated with lavish color photographs, this book is an essential guide to one of the world’s most successful military and civilian helicopters.