I knew Ritchie & his wife Vi very well.In Sydney I had applied to Ritchie's advert for a pilot for Woomera. Due to security I wasn't able to go to Woomera to check the place out & that same week Gulf Helicopters offered me a job which sounded more secure. I went in Aug 1974 & was amazed when Ritchie turned up a few months later. He said he was going to offer me the job but as the place closed down unexpectedly, I was better off in Doha. He looked so old & frail it was surprising if he could fly the 62 with hydraulics off. His left arm had been severely injured when a propeller had entered his cockpit & was very weak. When Gulf bought 2 Bell 205s, he wasn't allowed to fly them as his arm wouldn't have been able to lift the lever.
His war stories were quite amazing & much to our annoyance he would never say a helicopter was u/s. On one occasion a 62 had been grounded for tail rotor problems but he took it anyway, saying you should have seen the bombers I flew! We tried to tell him the war was over but as he believed he would never get another job, accepted anything.
I'm sorry to hear he died of cancer, wouldn't have been that old I guess. They were going to retire on the Gold Coast but obviously didn't. Is his wife still alive?
Cheers Nigel