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| Date: | Thursday 4 May 1950 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Westland WS-51 Dragonfly |
| Owner/operator: | Pest Control Ltd |
| Registration: | G-ALEI |
| MSN: | WA/H/4 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Aproz Valais -
 Switzerland
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
"Aerial spraying activity in Valais
By the end of April 1950 the British company Pest Control, which was specialized in aerial spraying operations, was charged to take care of an invasion of cockchafers in the Canton Valais. Along with the conventional methods Pest Control also used helicopters and airplanes.
For these purposes the company sent to Switzerland the Westland-Sikorsky S-51 G-ALEI (s/n WA/H/4, build year 1949) fitted with a spray equipment.
On the 1st of May the helicopter was unfortunately damaged during a landing. It was necessary to change its tail boom. The damaged helicopter received from England a "new" tail boom which belonged to another helicopter (G-ALEG) and thanks to that, it could fly once again almost immediately. On the 4th of May 1950, the helicopter resumed its flights.
At its controls there were the pilots Jimmy Harper, Lincoln Lord and Peter Moore. Unfortunately the latter hit a telephone cable and crashed near Aproz in the early afternoon. In the accident, the first that ever happened to a helicopter in Switzerland, he was seriously injured while the WS-51 was damaged beyond repair."
Sources:
1. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT 218/24: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10870254
2. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ALEI.pdf
3. https://www.heli-archive.ch/en/helicopters/in-depth-articles/sikorsky-s-51/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Dec-2019 19:10 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 13-Dec-2019 19:12 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Total occupants, ] |
| 19-Jul-2025 15:43 | TB | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
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