Robinson R22HP G-OTED / G-BMYR / ZS-HLG, c/n 0209, flew from Denham,
Buckinghamshire, into retirement at the Museum on the morning of 28th February 2002.
It was handed over to the chairman of Museum trustees, Elfan ap Rees, as an addition to the
permanent collection. Built in 1981, G-OTED is the Museum's first representative of the
Robinson family of inexpensive, manoeuvrable and stylish light helicopters whose first
prototype flew in August 1975 with a market launch four years later in 1979. More than
4000 R22s have been built in total and production continued into 2007 at a rate of around
160 per year. In contrast, 644 of Robinson's top-selling,
four-seat, R44 were
built in 2007.
The two-seat Model R22 has held every world record in its
weight class including speed, distance and altitude. Launched in 1981 the R22HP version
was fitted with a more powerful 160hp Lycoming O-320-B2C air-cooled 4-cylinder engine
giving an improved altitude performance. Only 151 of this HP model were built.
Frank Robinson, who designed and developed the R22
series, provided the financial support and sponsorship which made acquisition by the
Museum possible. He said, in 2002, "The UK has been an exceptionally strong market for our
products from the beginning and, just last year, it was our largest export
destination". In August 2010 Frank Robinson retired as President
and Chairman of the Board of
his company and was succeeded by his son, Kurt, who had started work with
the company in 1987. |