Recognize this helicopter? If the answer is “no,” you’re not alone! I had never seen it until 4 months before I ended up in the left seat. THREAD (with pics by @lloydhphoto)

It’s @redbull’s Bristol Sycamore, the last airworthy example of its kind in the world, based at the fabulous Hangar-7 in Salzburg. Here you can see its Alvis Leonides radial engine.

With the exception of a brass plate, the rotor blades are made entirely from wood (which caused some problems during the model’s first deployment to what was then British Malaya).

There’s no hydraulic boost for the flight controls. Instead of a cyclic trim button, the Sycamore uses two airplane-style trim wheels. And there’s just a single collective mounted between the front seats for both pilots.

I get to check out a lot of cool helicopters, but flying the Sycamore with Red Bull’s chief rotary-wing pilot Siegfried “Blacky” Schwarz was truly special.

Read more about this quirky helicopter in the new issue of Vertical: http://bit.ly/BristolSycamore . Thanks to the Red Bull team for a fantastic experience, and for keeping this piece of history in the air!