Bell 47G-5A SE-HPGPhotographed in the Aeroseum at Gothenburg on 17 November 2011, a couple of days after its arrival.
It came to Sweden, newly built by the Bell Helicopter Company, in 1972. It had been purchased by the Swedish National Police via the Bell agency in Sweden, Ostermans Aero AB. It was acquired to replace SE-HPC, a Bell 47 that had crashed.
It was mainly used for traffic surveillance, and in some cases transported dogs in cages outside the helicopter.
It was based in Stockholm towards the end of its service life, with summer stints on traffic surveillance around Kalmar. As it was the only light helicopter in the fleet, the others being Jet Rangers, it was always involved in the training of new police helicopter pilots. As the first new police EC-135 arrived in 2001, this helicopter made its last official flight with the Swedish National Police. It flew several times after retirement, including a trip from Tullinge to Patria Ostermans Aero at Stockholm Arlanda Airport where it had a thorough overhaul and annual inspection, after which it went to the Police Technical Museum at Sörentorp, Stockholm. However it was kept in airworthy condition, had its Airworthiness Certificate renewed in 2002 and participated in an air show at Karlstad. It is still airworthy and is currently in the Aeroseum.
Picture added on 18 November 2011 at 09:32
