Westland Lynx recreated record flight over Somerset Levels
A record-breaking Westland Lynx helicopter recreated its original flight over the Somerset Levels 40 years on, marking the anniversary of the aircraft's achievement.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Forty years after a Westland Lynx helicopter set a world speed record over the Somerset Levels, the same type of aircraft has recreated that historic flight. The original record was set on 11 August 1986, when the Lynx reached 249.1 miles per hour, a mark that remains unbeaten for a production helicopter. Today, a privately owned Lynx, built at the Leonardo plant in Yeovil, returned to its birthplace to take part in a commemorative flight along the original route.
The recreation was covered by BBC Points West, whose reporter Ross Pollard was at Leonardo, the home of British helicopters, to watch the aircraft depart. Pollard spoke to Derek, a crew member from the original record attempt, who recalled the flight with a mix of excitement and humour. Derek described a moment of drama when the windscreen on his side cracked as the aircraft approached its limiting speed. He said: "As we got up towards the limiting speed, yes, the windscreen on my side actually shattered at one point. It cracked right across, yeah." Despite the scare, he described breaking the record as "really, really something" and said that achieving it in Yeovil was "the icing on the cake."
The original record flight was also covered by Points West at the time, and the broadcaster was given a sneak peek inside the aircraft. The interior showed signs of the project's playful spirit, including a speed control marked with humorous labels such as "Air Wolf Mark 2" and ranges from "fast" through "extra fast" to "super boost warp factor one, warp factor two and hang on to your hats."
Two aircraft took off to recreate the flight over the Somerset Levels, with the exact route and conditions from 1986 in mind. The anniversary event celebrated not just the engineering achievement but also the local pride in the Lynx, which was designed and built in Yeovil. The record remains unbroken four decades on, and today's flight served as a living tribute to the aircraft and the team that made history.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC One |
|---|---|
| A privately owned Lynx returned to its place of manufacture in Yeovil for a commemorative flight. | |
| The Westland Lynx set a world helicopter speed record of 249.1 miles per hour on 11 August 1986, a record that remains unbroken after four decades. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The coverage focused on the nostalgic and human elements of the anniversary, mixing personal memories from a crew member with quirky details about the aircraft. The tone was warm and celebratory, emphasising the local connection to Yeovil and the unbroken record. It also highlighted the BBC's own historical involvement in covering the original flight.
- “Behind me, a Lynx helicopter. This one's come back home. It's privately owned now but it's come back to where it was built to take part in this commemoration flight marking 40 years since the Lynx helicopter broke the world speed record back in 1986.”
- “As we got up towards the limiting speed, yes, the windscreen on my side actually shattered at one point. It cracked right across, yeah.”
- “Breaking the record was really, really something, yes. And the fact that we'd actually done it here was really the icing on the cake, yeah.”
Broadcast Timeline
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