| March
1955 - The month of Records
The
month of March 1955 saw two important events happening in the same place
between March 2 and 4.
On
March 2 Sepp Bauer (1918-2000), the famous Swiss pioneer in the helicopter’s
field, landed with the Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH -
in service with Air Import SA - on the Jungfraujoch (3510 m). That day
Bauer landed at first on the Kleine Scheidegg (2100 m) with a passenger.
He then contacted the operators of the Jungfrau Railway summit station
in order to obtain important information like wind conditions and
air temperature. After confirmation that everything was ok, Bauer told
the operators to fix a wind flag near the meteo station announcing his
intention to make a landing there.
Bauer
removed the auxiliary fuel tank to save as much weight as possible and
took-off at 14:32 from the Kleine Scheidegg; 20 minutes later he landed
without particular problems on the Jungfraujoch at 3520 m, a remarkable
event if we think that the helicopter was powered with a 200 hp Franklin
engine!
After
a short conversation with the two operators of the observatory, Bauer took-off
and returned to the Kleine Scheidegg where his passenger was anxiously
waiting for him. |
The
following day the French pilot Jean Dabos flying the third prototype of
the SNCASO SO. 1221 Djinn F-WGVY (who had arrived in Switzerland with a
group of technicians to make high-altitude test flights) made several took-offs
and landings from the Kleine Scheidegg.
Alone
on board Dabos made an hovering flight above the Mönch (4105 m). That
day it was however impossible to make a safe landing, so the pilot decided
to make just a touch and go. The day after the small two-place helicopter
continued the demonstration program and landed with one passenger on the
Jungfraujoch. Later Dabos flew to the top of the Mönch where a French
flag was fixed in the snow to confirm the success of the flight. Among
the eye-witnesses was the famous Swiss Colonel Willy Frei.
To
show the great performances of his jet-powered helicopter Dabos made a
short hovering 2-3 meters above the snow surface on the Jungfraujoch with
a passenger on each ski.
During
the tests the Djinn showed excellent mountain flying characteristics. That
is why that same year Air Import SA buy an SO. 1221 PS Djinn which was
registered as HB-XAN followed in 1956 by another
one, the SO. 1221 S Djinn HB-XAS. The Swiss Army
bought a total of four Djinns. One of them (the V-23) is now displayed
in the “Fliegermuseum” in Dübendorf.
Heli-Archive
Bazzani
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