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The 'Bo 105' is a light, twin-engine, multi-purpose utility helicopter developed by Bölkow of Stuttgart, Germany. Production began under Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), which became a part of Eurocopter in 1991. Eurocopter continued to produce the Bo 105 until 1997. It was replaced in the product line by the EC 135.

Contents

Development

Design

Operational history

Variants

Operators

Military

Civilian

Specifications (Bo 105)

References

External links

Related content

Development

The Bo 105A made its maiden flight on the 16th February 1967 at Ottobrunn in Germany with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm's test pilot, Wilfried von Engelhardt, at the controls. The German Civil Aviation Authority certified the helicopter on 13th October 1970 and production for German civil and law enforcement organizations began shortly afterwards. Further safety certification by the FAA was granted in April 1972 with United States export orders following.
The Bo 105C was developed in 1972 and the German Ministry of Defence selected this model for its light observation helicopter program, purchasing 100 helicopters in 1977. A specialist anti-tank version armed with Euromissile HOT missiles and designated as the Bo 105PAH-1 was procured by the German Army around the same time, with a total of 212 eventually being delivered.
In 1976, the Bo 105CB was developed with more powerful Allison 250-C20B engines. This was further developed as the Bo 105CBS with the enlargement of the fuselage by 10 inches to meet American market demands for emergency medical service operations, with this version becoming known as the Bo 105 Twin Jet in the United States.
In 1984, the Bo 105LS was developed with the enlarged fuselage of the Bo 105CBS combined with more powerful Allison 250-C28C engines to increase the maximum take-off weight.
Production ended in 2001, due to the Bo 105 being superseded by the more modern Eurocopter EC 135, after 1,406 machines had been built. ^[2]

Design

The four-blade hingeless main rotor with composite blades ensures high maneuverability. All main systems (hydraulics, electric, fuel, lubrication) were designed to be fully redundant.

Operational history

Being the first light twin-engined helicopter in commercial service, it gained widespread use over rural areas (police and EMS / medevac) as well as offshore.

Variants

The variants used by the German Army are the Bo 105P and Bo 105M.

★ 'Bo 105A' was the first production model primarily for civil use and equipped with two Allison 250-C18 turbine engines.

★ 'Bo 105C' developed in 1972 and equipped with two Allison 250-C20 turbines engines.

★ 'Bo 105CB' developed in 1976 and equipped with two Allison 250-C20B turbine engines.

★ 'Bo 105CBS' with the fuselage stretched by 10 inches for emergency medical service duties.

★ 'Bo 105LS A1' developed in 1984 with stretched fuselage and two Allison 250-C28C turbine engines.

★ 'Bo 105LS A3' developed in 1986 with maximum take-off weight increased to 2,600kg.

★ 'Bo 105LS A3 "Superlifter"' developed in 1995 with maximum mission weight increased to 2,850kg.

★ 'Bo 105P' with its army designation "PAH-1" and "PAH-1A1" for the upgraded version (PAH='P'anzer'a'bwehr'h'ubschrauber; 'Tank-defence helicopter'), is an anti-tank helicopter armed with wire-guided HOT ATGMs (HOT2 for the upgraded A1 version). Most of them are being replaced with the new UH Tiger multirole attack helicopter, some will still stay in service till the end of their life span. The outphased PAH's are going to be disarmed and downgraded to the VBH version.

★ 'Bo 105M' with its army designation "VBH" ('V'er'b'indungs'h'ubschrauber; 'connection chopper'), is a light transport and surveillance helicopter. They were outphased and replaced by disarmed and modified PAH1.

★ 'NBO-105': Manufactured by IPTN under licence from MBB (now Eurocopter) since 1976; only rotors and transmission now supplied by Germany; originally 'NBO-105 CB', but stretched 'NBO-105 CBS' available from 101st aircraft onwards.

★ 'BO 105 Executaire': Boeing Vertol and Carson Helicopters manufactured a 24.5 cm stretched version of the Bo 105 under license as the ''Executaire'' in an attempt to break into the U.S. light helicopter market, but sales were dismal.^[3][4]

Operators

Military

Military variants include light transport, reconnaissance and antitank versions and were (and/or still are) used by:
;NATO:

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;Non-NATO:

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Civilian

★ : Coast Guard

★ : Greek Police

★ :

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★ Indonesian Police

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★ Indonesian Forestry Dept

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★ Pelita Air Service

★ : Jordanian Police

★ :

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★ Integrated National Police

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★ Philippine Coast Guard

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★ Philippine National Police

★ : Police Service

★ : Buenos Aires State Police

★ : Federal Police

★ : Goverment of Buenos Aires

Specifications (Bo 105)

{{aircraft specifications
|plane or copter?=copter
|jet or prop?=prop
|ref={name of first source}
|crew= 1 or 2 pilots
|capacity= 4
|length main= 11.86 m
|length alt= 38 ft 11.2 in
|span main= 9.84 m
|span alt= 32 ft 3.3 in
|height main= 3.00 m
|height alt= 9 ft 10 in
|area main=
|area alt=
|airfoil=
|empty weight main= 1,301 kg
|empty weight alt= 2,868 lb
|loaded weight main=
|loaded weight alt=
|useful load main= 1,199 kg)
|useful load alt= 2,643.34 kg
|max takeoff weight main= 2,500 kg
|max takeoff weight alt= 5,511.55 lb
|more general=
|engine (prop)= Allison 250-C20B
|type of prop= turboshaft engines
|number of props= 2
|power main= 298 kW
|power alt= 400 shp
|power original=
|max speed main= 242 km/h
|max speed alt= 131 knots
|cruise speed main=
|cruise speed alt=
|stall speed main=
|stall speed alt=
|never exceed speed main=
|never exceed speed alt=
|range main= 564 km
|range alt= 304 nm
|ceiling main=
|ceiling alt=
|climb rate main=
|climb rate alt=
|loading main=
|loading alt=
|thrust/weight=
|power/mass main=
|power/mass alt=
|more performance=
|armament=
|avionics=
}}

References

Uncited references are listed below as: ^[5]
1. Bölkow Bo 105
2. Eurocopter Press Release - Eurocopter celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Maiden Flight of the BO105
3. Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm Bo-105
4. MBB (Eurocopter) Bo105 translated from German by Google translate
5. The illustrated encyclopedia of helicopters, , Giorgio, Apostolo, Bonanza Books, 1984, ISBN 0517439352

External links

★ Eurocopter history on Bo 105

★ Airliners.net info on Bo 105

★ Bo 105 info from Federation of American Scientists

★ Bo 105 Photos and Walk Arounds on Prime Portal

★ Video of a Bo 105 doing aerobatics including rolls and loops

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