HdH and The Military Connection

HdH’s military contracts mean that they have to display the ability to ensure security at their facility, with all kinds of aircraft, some with quite sensitive military hardware and software passing through the service/support centre. The company is nowadays extremely cost efficient with general overhaul and maintenance services and this has kept military contracts rolling in.

At the present time, the company is gearing up for the Black Hawk helicopter programme and is heavily involved with the RAAF and General Electric on the F404 engine for the F-18 Hornet. HdH’s military connection began when the company commenced operations, as de Havilland Aircraft Company, back in 1927. The first contract was to supply 20 wing sets for Avro 504K aircraft. Since that time, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, or perhaps more aptly, air over the wings.

Current military service, repair, overhaul and modification work is undertaken at Bankstown, Salisbury and Perth. But Bankstown remains the military ‘hub’ of the operations. Further examination of HdH’s military contractual involvements reveal that they are currently overhauling the Bell 206 Allison and Squirrel helicopter engines, the GAF Nomad and the Pilatus Porter fixed wing aircraft. Both the Bell 206 and the Nomad utilise the same powerplant, the Allison 250, while the Pilatus Porter has the Pratt & Whitney PT-6. The RAN also has long standing contracts with HdH for helicopter engine and transmission overhauls, with Wessex’s and Sea Kings, utilising Rolls Royce Gazelle and Gnome engines.

Servicing and maintenance currently account for 60% of overall HdH financial turnover, with manufacturing at 40%. Some years ago, the company’s management attitudes were ‘adapted’ to a new formula, which has definitely spelt success. As a result of this, the company is now extremely competitive, the advantage being that HdH are now able to offer the armed services and commercial customers the very latest in high technology processes, one example being salvage and repair of precision components. Individual parts for military helicopters or fixed wing aircraft can be very expensive to replace. HdH’s salvage programme has saved our fighting forces considerable money over the last decade. Without the Hawker technology, expensive new parts would have had to be acquired. But when Hawker’s ‘reworks’ the worn parts, the salvage sometimes incredibly leaves the part stronger structurally than it was when it was originally manufactured.

Extensive ‘reworking’ of component parts has been carried out on RAAF Iroquois and Chinook helicopters with their Lycoming T-53 and T-55 powerplants and the fixed wing Caribou with its Pratt & Whitney R-2000 piston engines. In fact, it seems that most days of the week, you can monitor an ‘Enfield’ callsign either on finals for Bankstown’s active runway or calling the tower ready for takeoff.

To see how the rework facility worked we watched the progress of a RAAF Pratt & Whitney TF-30 turbine stator as it went through various stages in the facility. The top-flanged ring was removed, and replaced by an electronic beam welding process and the weld was stress-relieved. It was then partially machined and later the component was placed on a gap bed lathe prior to being finished turned. Following that, the ‘flange’ was final machined on a Ceruti universal borer and the component turned out for inspection and when all was found to be okay, it was delivered for further RAAF service. HdH has developed a number of in-house schemes to upgrade their programme of high cost component reclamation. The company is constantly designing and developing new methods to assist the military and other customers to reclaim expired high cost components.

Processes that can be used in the reclamation procedure include electron beam welding, electro-discharge machining, flame and plasma spraying, plasma needle arc welding, controlled shot peening, electro-plating, vacuum brazing and hydrogen furnace cleaning.

HdH also offers life-of-type support to the military who use a wide range of electronics and instrumentation hardware. The Avionics workshop routinely deals with HF, VHF and UHF radios, radio navigation equipment, autopilots, dopplers, radio altimeters, digital weaponry systems and gyroscopes. The RAN also have their depth sounders overhauled in the avionics facility, along with electrical systems overhauls.

The company also uses the very latest technology for the testing processes and have been using microcomputers with software and interface hardware. A fair percentage of this equipment has been designed by HdH’s own engineers.

The military/commercial nature of HdH’s operation serves to ensure that their skilled workforce is continually practising its craft and due to the very cost-effective nature of the programmes the company has devised, it is winning impressive defence contracts not just from Australia, but from all around the world.