Ex-SAS Helicopter arrives at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum

The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum are pleased to confirm the arrival of our newest exhibit - Agusta A.109a ZE413.

ZE413 after being unloaded at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.

Arriving at the museum this morning, ZE413 joins the museum collection having been previously used as a training aid at Air Service Training at Perth until they fell into administration in April 2025.

ZE413 within the former AST Hangar at Perth Airport.

ZE413 spent its entire military service flying with 8 Flight Army Air Corps based at Hereford providing dedicated helicopter support to the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment. As such, exact details of the aircraft’s history and movements will likely not be published publicly.

ZE413 joins as part of the museums Falklands War display ‘11 Weeks in 1982’ and will help to tell the story of the Argentinian A.109a’s flown during the conflict. At the end of the war, two Argentinian A.109a’s were captured by the British forces after the Argentine surrender and subsequently returned to the United Kingdom. Registered as ZE410 and ZE411, they were evaluated for use by the british military and accepted into service by the SAS. A subsequent order was placed for two additional aircraft, ZE412 and ZE413, providing the SAS with a dedicated wing of 4 A.109a’s to support their operations.

On the acquisition of ZE413, museum curator Naylan Moore said: “The arrival of ZE413 is a great acquisition for the museum, and fits in well with the Falklands Collection and shall help to tell another side to the conflict and how it helped to shape military operations for decades to come. As a more modern helicopter, it joins our displays from the very early days of rotary flight with the Skeeter up to the more modern military helicopters with our Lynx.’

Now safely arrived at the museum, ZE413 shall be placed on display while the final reassembly tasks are undertaken. Details of the aircraft’s move from Perth to Doncaster and the assembly work shall follow in a future update.

On the move - ZE413 leaving Perth Airport for the journey to Doncaster.

The museum would like to thank Chris Wright (Baildon) Ltd for their services transporting ZE413 from Perth to Doncaster, and Auctioneers Sweeney Kincaid and Perth Airport for their assistance.