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The Eurocopter Bo.105 is a five-seat lightweight, twin-engined, general-purpose
helicopter. Development of the Bo.105 started back in 1959 when Bölkow
designed the Bo.103 helicopter. The Bo.103 single-seat flew first on 14
September 1961. The two-seat Bo.104 followed this study-project. Due to
marketing reasons this project was stopped in favour of the five-seat
Bo.105. Design work for the Bo.105 began in July 1962. Construction of
the first of three prototypes began in 1964. The first Bo.105 prototype
D-HAKO s/n V-1 was destroyed in ground tests and written off in October
1966. The second machine, D-HECA s/n V-2, was powered by two 317shp
Allison 250C18 turboshafts and on 16 February 1967, the BO105 took off
for its maiden flight in Ottobrunn (near Munich), Germany. On 14 May 1969
Messerschmitt, Bölkow and Blohm GmbH (MBB) was formed and development of the Bo.105 continued
with the first production BO-105A, D-HABV s/n S-1, flying on 11 April 1970.
The breakthrough came in 1974 when the German Army ordered the BO
105 as a connection and observation helicopter. In January 1992 the MBB
Bo 105 became part of the large helicopters types row of Eurocopter when
the helicopter divisions of MBB from Germany and Aerospatiale from
France merged to form the Eurocopter Group. In 1993 the BO 105 CBS with
a 25cm fuselage stretch and extra window was certificated. Over the years,
license agreements for the BO105 CB/CBS versions with the Philippines,
Indonesia and Spain were concluded, and for the BO105 LS, a cooperation
agreement with Canada. Until production ended in 2001, as the BO105 was superseded by
Eurocopter’s EC135, a total of 1,406 BO105s had been delivered to 55
customer nations. |
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The 1979-built MBB Bo.105CBS s/n S-425 flew first with the registration D-HDMX. In May
1979 it was registered as D-HARU and operated with the Polizei Hamburg
as ‘Libelle 1’. After the Polizei Hamburg withdrew the helicopter from
use in 2004, it was sold to the Netherlands Police force [KLPD] the Netherlands.
The MBB BO.105CBS-4 was registered PH-RPX with the Politie Luchtvaart Dienst on 7 February 2004.
The Dutch Police MBB BO.105CBS-4 PH-RPX was photographed at Rotterdam Airport, the Netherlands, on 21 March 2007. |
Luchtvaart déjà vu
