AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 253 / 265

Plate 253 of 265 · Cold War · Attack helicopter

Westland Apache

Apache AH Mk.1, ZJ224, painted as Westland-built WAH-64D Longbow Apache AH Mk.1 ZJ224, one of the 67 Apaches assembled at Yeovil for the Army Air Corps with Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines, as it is displayed at the Army Flying Museum, Middle Wallop, where it was unveiled by the King in May 2024: the two-seat attack helicopter with its stepped tandem cockpits under flat-plate glazing, the TADS/PNVS sensor turret on the nose, the M230 30 mm chain gun under the chin, the Longbow fire-control radar above the four-blade main rotor and a four-blade scissor tail rotor on the port side of the fin, sitting nose-up on its tailwheel undercarriage with its blades parked in an X; overall matt dark Army green with black ‘ZJ224’ on both sides of the fin, a low-visibility roundel and grey ‘ARMY’ on the tail boom, and 19-tube CRV7 rocket pods on the outboard stub-wing pylons (shape from a scaled AH-64D Longbow three-view, cross-checked against a second drawing and the published rotor diameters and lengths; paint and stores following photographs of ZJ224 in the museum and in service, with the port-side tail markings placed from a sister AH1).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as Westland-built WAH-64D Longbow Apache AH Mk.1 ZJ224, one of the 67 Apaches assembled at Yeovil for the Army Air Corps with Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines, as it is displayed at the Army Flying Museum, Middle Wallop, where it was unveiled by the King in May 2024: the two-seat attack helicopter with its stepped tandem cockpits under flat-plate glazing, the TADS/PNVS sensor turret on the nose, the M230 30 mm chain gun under the chin, the Longbow fire-control radar above the four-blade main rotor and a four-blade scissor tail rotor on the port side of the fin, sitting nose-up on its tailwheel undercarriage with its blades parked in an X; overall matt dark Army green with black ‘ZJ224’ on both sides of the fin, a low-visibility roundel and grey ‘ARMY’ on the tail boom, and 19-tube CRV7 rocket pods on the outboard stub-wing pylons (shape from a scaled AH-64D Longbow three-view, cross-checked against a second drawing and the published rotor diameters and lengths; paint and stores following photographs of ZJ224 in the museum and in service, with the port-side tail markings placed from a sister AH1). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (515 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (Apache AH.1, AH-1F Cobra); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Apache AH Mk.1, ZJ224 modelled here.

History

The Apache AH Mk.1

The Apache began as Hughes Helicopters’ answer to a US Army call for an advanced attack helicopter able to destroy tanks by day, by night and in bad weather. The YAH-64 prototype first flew on 30 September 1975 and beat Bell’s rival in 1976. It seated its two crew in stepped tandem cockpits, the gunner in front and the pilot behind and above, and carried a 30 mm chain gun under the chin, Hellfire anti-tank missiles and rockets on stub wings, and a nose turret holding the TADS targeting sight and PNVS night-vision sensor. McDonnell Douglas bought Hughes in 1984, the AH-64A entered US service in 1986, and the AH-64D Longbow followed in the 1990s with a fire-control radar in a drum above the rotor.

In 1995 Britain chose the Longbow Apache for the Army Air Corps, and Westland built 67 of them at Yeovil as the WAH-64, the first few assembled from Boeing kits. The British version, named the Apache AH Mk.1, had Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines in place of the American General Electric T700s, British defensive aids, and folding blades and other changes for flying from ships. Deliveries began in 2000, training was slow and expensive, and the Apache was declared operational with the Army in 2004.

From 2006 Apaches of 656 Squadron and the regiments that followed flew in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, escorting Chinooks, guarding ground troops and attacking the Taliban, until British forces withdrew in 2014; Captain Wales, Prince Harry, flew there as an Apache co-pilot gunner in 2012 and 2013. In 2011 Apaches flew from the assault ship HMS Ocean against Gaddafi’s forces in Libya. Most of the AH Mk.1 fleet was then traded in and remanufactured in the United States as AH-64E Guardians, and the last AH Mk.1s made a farewell flight across England to Wattisham on 25 March 2024.

This airframe

Apache AH Mk.1 ZJ224

ZJ224The airframe modelled

ZJ224 was built by Westland at Yeovil and served with 656 Squadron Army Air Corps. In Afghanistan on 15 January 2007 it was one of the two Apaches that flew volunteers into Jugroom Fort on their stub wings, under fire, to bring out a Royal Marine left behind after an assault. After the AH Mk.1 was retired in March 2024 the Ministry of Defence gave it to the Army Flying Museum at Middle Wallop, where King Charles III unveiled it on 13 May 2024; it is the only Apache on public display in Britain. The model shows it as displayed there, standing nose-up on its tailwheel undercarriage with its blades parked in an X: overall matt dark Army green with black ‘ZJ224’ on both sides of the fin, a low-visibility roundel and grey ‘ARMY’ on the tail boom, the Longbow radar above the rotor, the M230 gun stowed forward, and 19-tube CRV7 rocket pods on the outboard pylons. The shape follows a scaled AH-64D Longbow three-view, checked against a second drawing and the published rotor and length figures; the paint and stores follow photographs of ZJ224 in the museum and in service, and the port-side tail markings are placed from a sister aircraft.

See it at Army Flying Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Apache AH Mk.1 in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 265 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.