L-R Raoul Hefner,Cyril Unwins,Sox Hosegood and Keith Turner taken after 1st flight Jan 1952
During the war Charles “Sox” Hosegood served in the Fleet Air Arm,being appointed to the first armed merchant cruiser to be fitted with a catapult. He was among the first British helicopter pilots during the latter stages of World War 2 to be sent for helicopter training in the USA.On his return to the UK in mid-1944, he served with various experimental units and on loan to the RAF at Beaulieu,where the Experimental Unit originated.
He joined the Bristol Aeroplane Co in 1948,to assist in helicopter test and development. “Sox” became the Chief Helicopter Test Pilot soon after the start of the development of the Sycamore.
After perfecting the Sycamore as the first British certified helicopter,he flew many hours in the company’s Mk.3 demonstrator (popularly known by its last two registration letters “SX” before going on to test the tandem-rotor Type 173 (the first British twin-engine helicopter) and the Type 192 Belvedere.
The Belvedere, a forerunner of the modern Chinook tandem rotor helicopter, was designed after the BAC Helicopter Division relocated to Weston-super-Mare and was first flown at the local airfield in 1957 by ’ Sox’ . He displayed XG447 at the Farnborough show in 1958.