Falklands Wessex HAR.3 question

[Pappy]

G'day again,

I am in the process of building the 1/72 Italeri HAR.3 Wessex kit.

I plan to finish the kit as "Humphrey", a Wessex HAR.3 that served with distinction in the Falklands War. Whilst searching for information I came across pictures of "Humphrey" at his current home in the FAA Museum at Yeovil. I noticed that "Humphrey" has two different styles of pylon in the FAA Museum pictures. The left side has a deeper pylon, with two forward vertical bracing struts, whilst the right side has a shallower pylon that only has one vertical brace.

I want to load two Mk.11 depth charges as used on the attack on the 'Santa Fe' submarine.

I am a little confused, is this the 'normal' fit or is this a mixture of the two styles of pylon? The 4+ book drawings show the two diiferent pylon types as 'alt 1' and 'alt.2'

cheers,

Pappy

[gengriz]

Here are some piccies I took at Yeovilton a few years back that show the strut in question. Sadly, because of the way it is parked I couldnt get a decent one of the Stbd side. Note that the Stbd one also has a spigot extending fwd (for the GPMG I think).

Piccies of armed Wessies are somewhat rare. However I have found one in an old Scale Aircraft Modelling that shows a Wessex 3 with a single strut on its port side as well. There is also another similar piccy on Airliners.net showing a single Depth Charge but with only one strut. However, I also have pictures of the same solid looking curved "carrier" bracket without any steadying struts at all (usually carrying a fuel tank instead of a weapon - note that this tank is only carried on the port side and probably why that one is deeper).

Could it have been a Mod to steady the strut, or perhaps an add-on specific to the weapon being carried at the time e.g. it is possible to double up two depth charges to make one big (and very heavy) one?

In any event, if you are doing a Humphrey, the double strut to port seems to be the thing.

FredT

[spike7451]

I think you'll find it's a strenghtening strut.Whenever a weapon is fitted the weight of the weapon causes some 'drooping' of the pylon.When the weapon is released the sudden relief of the weight can cause the pylon to spiring upwards in reaction.They had this problem when the Harrier 2 was developed.The Harrier's composite wings were flexing so much when they dropped bombs they were cracking &,I have heard,that the bombs were actually colliding when dropped.