In the last couple of weeks, Airbus Helicopters has delivered the three H145 helicopters from the factory in Germany for Wales Air Ambulance (WAA). Painted in red overall, they have been delivered to Babcock MCS Onshore, who will both carry out the interior medical completion and then operate them for WAA. They will replace three EC135s, while the fourth EC135 will be retained for the time being.

Arriving on German test flight registrations, the trio have now been added to the UK CAA register, with the registrations clearly chosen with some intention. Here they are, followed by the translation of the Welsh word to English.

G-OLWG   golwg = look

G-WENU   gwenu = smile

G-WOBR   gwobr = reward

Once Babcock completes the interiors, we expect to start seeing the first of these three helicopters in operation from approximately April 2017.

Wales has long been proud of its heritage and approximately 20% of the country’s 3.1 million population speak Welsh as their first language. The UK is also devolving some powers to the Welsh Assembly, including housing, highways, agriculture and education.

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