Leeds Heliport (1980s)?

[Desperately Sea King]

Hello, just recently qualified as CPL (H) and have been casting my mind back to where it all began. I was lucky enough to have a 206 pleasure flight in the mid-eighties (as a young lad, with my mates, on my birthday) out of, I believe, a place that called itself Leeds Heliport. I am pretty sure it was on the northeast side of Leeds, down a lane off the York Road (A64). I often drive past where I am sure it was and wonder how long it was there for, why it disappeared, who owned/ran it etc. Any info, just for curiosity and nostalgia's sake, would be welcome! Anybody on here work out of there July 86? Your steep turn back to the Heliport was talked about for years by me and my mates!

Cheers.

[Flaxton Flyer]

Used to be owned / run by a chap called Wally Holmes, I think the company was called Heli-Leeds. He was probably one of (if not the first) 206 operator(s) in Yorkshire. The "Leeds Heliport" sign was still standing there alongside the A64 long after the company folded, it also said something like "Saw Mill House".

I believe Wally died some years ago, but he was what is commonly called a "character" - I am sure there are plenty of people with stories about him, probably too scadalous to share..

[Desperately Sea King]

I know the Saw Mill House sign! Thought it might be it. Cheers. That sign - when it had heliport written on it - induced an excited feeling of disbelief (a bit like passing your CPL (H) skills test) in a car-ful of kids, way back when...

Thanks FF.

Any more info welcome and appreciated. Ta.

[L-Band]

Somebody once said to him, hello Wally, he turned around with a completely straight faced a said my name is Captain Holmes please remember that!
He also had a Jensen Interceptor and drove it down the motorway at 40 mph to save petrol. He did not like spending money. He was the first operator of the 206 in the north and setup quite a good charter and engineering place at Whinmoor.
L:ok:

[MPR]

Walter Holmes t/a Credit Default Register had the following aircraft...

G-AVVS Hughes 269-B - Feb 1973 - Jan 1988

G-AYMX Bell 206A - Aug 1973 - Aug 1988

G-AXMM Bell 206A - Sept 1974 - May 1976

G-BBFE Bell 206A - Jan 1975 - June 1983

Hope this helps.

MPR

[Agaricus bisporus]

I was actually warned off joining Heli Leeds at about that time by an ops inspector of a well known organization who didn't rate them highly at all...they seemed thoroughly iffy when I visited for interview - but I don't remember Wally Holmes, boss then was someone with a Yorkshire name and the sincerity and slimy aura of a dodgy second hand car salesman.

[Desperately Sea King]

Oh no my childhood memories are being torn to shreds! :) Funny what the reality can be...

Thanks still, everyone.

[ericferret]

Tight as a ducks ar*e.

We used to supply parts to Heli Leeds and everytime they ordered spares they would ask us to call them back. One day the pips went when they held on too long.
The person ordering was given change to use the hangar pay phone!!!!!!!!!!

After that company policy was never to phone them back.

One of our crop spraying pilots claimed to have found a microphone hidden behind the light fitting in the crew room when he went over to Leeds for a check ride on the Hughes 300.
Spotted a second cable wound round the light fitting cable on the ceiling!!!!!!!!!
Tore it out and left it on Wally's desk.

One of our ex engineers went pilot and worked for them (nice guy). One day when he flew in he parked on the far side of the airfield. He walked over rather than let us see who he was working for out of embarrasment..

[Helipolarbear]

Met a few desperado operations similiar over the years. Heli industry me a*se! Cowboy's & Clowns playing with big dices and even bigger risks!!!:}

[md 600 driver]

eric
are you sure that was heli leeds off the a64 they didnt run from a airfield it was just large farm buildings
steve

[bullshitproof]

Some said he was not a REAL CPTN ! !
As the saying goes "your a cptn t ya moder, yar a cpt t me,...but ta a cptn YA NO CPTN. private message me and I will send you a photo of him on my pad in the earlie 80s with a 206A Reg G-AYCM to be fair he was the first to opperate and AOC "oopt" north and probably gave quite a few of us our first tast of helis.

[ericferret]

That was the one. MD 600

Did anything positive come out of Heli Leeds?

I would say yes.
A number of guys who went on to be first class commercial pilots got their chance at Leeds.
Industry feeling at the time was that they had sold their souls, but given the dearth of jobs what alternative did they have?

Wally also obtained a qualification as a licensed engineer. One of the most respected UK engineers sent his licence back to the CAA as a protest.

The CAA response was that as he had passed the exams fair and square that was it and there was nothing they could do.

I believe that Heli Leeds started when Wally bought a number of aircraft from the official receiver of Twyford Moors Helicopters.

[Up & Away]

He asked me to come for interview... and, as agreed, he wrote out a cheque for expenses in front of me, across a desk. He wrote the correct amounts in words but put the decimal in the wrong pace in the numbers!! he then placed cheque in sealed envelope and passed it to me only as he dropped me off at rail station. well done Wally, Bank would not cash it and I gave up after a month of phone calls.


He was very lucky to have such loyalty from a great engineer and many good pilots who worked for him!! :oh:

[ericferret]

I heard a version of the same Up and away.

Eric

Nice story, but a little too close to libelous if inaccurate ;)

Edited to keep PPRuNe out of trouble

Splot

[MPR]

Quite correct Ericferret....

W.R. Finance Ltd. t/a Heli-Leeds bought the following from the official receiver (Credits [South Western] Ltd.) of Twyford Moors Helicopters Ltd. in March 1975....

All Hughes 269's - G-BBIT, G-BBIU, G-BBIV, G-BBIW.

Over the years W.R. Finance Ltd. also had the following... H269's G-BAKG, G-ASBD, Bell\AB 206's G-AVTE, G-AYCM, G-BARX, G-BEKH & AB47 G-APTH.

All between 1975 & 1989.

[ericferret]

First time I've ever had a post pulled, probably for the best.

So I suppose you definitely wouldn't want my post on the G-BBIT saga!!!!

Or any of my tales about what happened to the 206's in the end.

I thought I was staying away from some of the more contentious stories!!!!!

Just in case the above two are after the aircraft left Heli Leeds ownership.

My stories are never inaccurate, but they might be fourth hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Senior Pilot]

So I suppose you definitely wouldn't want my post on the G-BBIT saga!!!!

Or any of my tales about what happened to the 206's in the end.

Only if they are within the bounds of commonsense and reason: and not libelous :p

No names is a good start :ok:

[ericferret]

I remember G-BBIT's end as reported in the local paper.

"Bizarre sight in xxxxxx helicopter ablaze on back of lorry!!!!!!"

Is the whole story within the bounds of common sense and reason? I don't know.

What I do know is I was there and to use that well known phrase "you couldn't make it up".

I will have to save it for my memoirs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[md 600 driver]

eric
go on spill the beans [rumours]

do i know you?

steve

[ericferret]

Not in the biblical sense!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry but the moderator has put the fear of god (actually the legal profession) into me.

Maybe I could do a Richard Bach and write a few aviation fables.

[Holmsey1]

Hey- well this is crazy!! Wally Holmes did run Leeds Heilport and he is also my Grandfather, he has now passed away but he was an amazing man, a character and often a very difficult guy however, he was well before his time with introducing Leeds Heliport and as well as running his companies he also became a qualified engineer. He also gave many people their first chance and oppurtunity to become a pilot at Leeds and was a Capt. despite what some may say!!

The place is now Saw Wood House which is still owned by my family and i have recently begun my PPL for my 21st i am up to 10hours and loving it sadly my Granddad is not around to see and help me,

Anyway hope that helps some people! :)

[Jeff Anderson]

Remember that long hot summer when it never rained for months? I was lucky enough to be working for Heli-Leeds loading people into G-BBFE (the lightest fastest 206A ever - quote Dick Meston) and G-AYMX (the heaviest slowest 206A ever - quote Dick Meston) for their £2.50 pleasure flights.

I worked out of Saw Wood House (Whinmoor) and almost everything I have read in this thread was true. We really did have to use a pay-phone to ring anywhere, Wally was as tight as they come, but then again most millionaires are.... The whole operation was kept running by a brilliant engineer (Brian someone)

Best memories are doing Church Fenton Airshow with three Rangies and flying back in formation at low-level 'attacking' targets on the way. Dick Meston was the main pilot, I was with him when we flew back from Kirmington and got reported for flying UNDER the Humber Bridge. We used to practice crop spraying on the way back from assignments, torque turns - you cannot beat-em! The other pilots were Manjit Singh an ex-Indian AirForce pilot and Bob Jones (I think he worked for the YEB)

Busiest day was the traction engine rally at Masham - 148 pleasure flights. By the end of the day Dick was doing the longest skids-on landings ever seen to relieve the boredom. We had to fill up with 5-star at an A1 garage on the way back.

Remember the Barratt Housing ads with Patrick Allen? He was terrified of flying and had a pair of 'lucky' shoes that he wore for filming. I used to stick the Oak Tree and Bar ratt signs on with wallpaper paste.... As a 16 year old it was great fun opening housing estates with two bikini clad women either side of me in the back.

Survived an engine out on the beach at Cleethorpes (Compressor blade broke off) and forced landing in a G-BBIU in central Leeds on Jubilee Day when a spark plug blew out.

Wally realised that newly qualified CPL-s needed hours on their licence so he used to hire them for peanuts. The same happened when there was the strike at Alan Mann, even experienced pilots needed to keep current.

The whole helicopter operation was an ego trip for Captain (Royal British Legion) Wally Holmes, his main income was from debt-collection (he used liquidate Avon Ladies - clients used to be given a big bag of Avon goodies, little did they realise they were reject stock from ladies who had gone bust).

Characters like him no longer exist, is that a good or bad thing?

[Brilliant Stuff]

Cracking insight Jeff. Cheers.

You are not talking about the Bob Jones who now runs the CAA rotorwing side??

[L-Band]

Hi Jeff
Brian Sharp is the name you have been looking for, I worked for many years with him at Leeds Heliport and Northair, but sadly died from heart problems a great loss. Sadly Dick was killed in a helicopter crash.I used to come across from Leeds to fix the radio problems.
Great to hear about the old place again.
See you
L:ok:

[Jeff Anderson]

Don't know, if it was him he must be in his late 60s now... Used to have a full beard. When he worked at YEB they took delivery of a new 206B when they still had problems with 'max' everything. I remember him landing at a show we were doing and Dick giving it the once over. There were all sorts of warning labels stuck on the dials with temporary restrictions on them. Bob let Dick take it up to give it the once over, sitting in the back I do remember Dick pulling more power, higher temps etc than the restrictions allowed, then saying it was not as fast as G-BBFE.

It was interesting flying in two totally different spec 206A's. G-AYMX was ex Christian Sylvasen and had full VIP pack, leather seats, heater, fancy intercom, electric drain valve, rotor brake, flares, particle separator, ashtrays etc etc. G-BBFE had no extras, crap seats, basic instrumentation, not even demisters, but it went like the clappers.

Other Dick memories was him doing pleasure flights with one of the fuel pumps switched off so that the amber warning light was on. It always used to get a question from a nervous flyer.... How he used to tap that fuel gauge. I was under instructions to load any 'busty' women in the front (or middle seat in the 269s) or he used to give me the thumbsdown on takeoff. Just for a laugh on some weekends he would wear his ex-Army bonedome with darkened visor - 25 years before The Stig!! ;)

Incidentally Wally used to spy on his own pilots, he never realised that we had cottoned on to him putting a fuse in parallel with the circuit breaker for the hours meter. I could get my hand round the back and take the fuse out so we could stop the meter running for a little pleasure flying of our own.

Final memory - Dick used to live in Ripon and drive down the A1 to Whinmoor each day. One morning we had an aerial photography job and Dick was late (no mobile phones in those days!). We were looking out of the first floor ops room and saw this person walking across the frosty fields from the York Road. As he came into view we realised it was Dick, he had skidded off the road and hit a tree writing his Ford Cortina off. It didn't stop him doing the job though.

How tight was Wally? Well he used to turn off the exterior lights on the hangar if we hadn't got back to base by the original eta. No GPS, beacons or remote on/off lights in those days, I was pretty good at navigating along the Ring Road at night..... Those rolling maps were useless. :)

We did a show in Glasgow and stayed overnight in the Esso Erskine Hotel by the bridge. We landed on the lawn in front of the bar restaurant and some people came out to take photos, '50p per shot' was his request. The next day he paid the hotel bill for four of us in loose change that were the takings from the previous days pleasure flights.

He never cottoned on that I used to fill up my Mini Cooper with AVGAS. When we were doing local shows with a 269 I used to drive over in an Escort van with 10 Army jerrycans in the back, if it was a bad day I would bring most of it back, he never missed the odd few gallons.

Happy Days ;)

[Jeff Anderson]

Brian Sharp it was, he used to live in Tadcaster! He had a Bobby Charlton hair style and a sense of humour to match. When I signed up to do my A&C license he was my tutor, although I do remember him making me take my overalls off to get my arm into fluroescent fluid tank in the NDT machine to dredge out the muck in the bottom.

His proudest moment for me was when a 206 wouldn't start after an overnight stay at a show in East End Park in Hull. When Manjit pressed the tit it started to wind up, but then would cut out. I got out my screwdriver, undid the little panel on the collective and shorted out the contacts with the screwdriver. Problem solved and it saved Brian a trip to Hull - he used to drive REALLY slowly! From that day on he called me "Jeff the screw", he even engraved my tookit with the phrase.

The other engineer there was Colin someone, he was Wally's right hand man so we never really trusted him.

BTW, did you work for Leeming Electrical over at Horsforth? It was another of Wally's companys and I do remember one of the TV engineers coming over to mend radios etc.

[L-Band]

Jeff
I worked for Northair at LBA.
Brian took quite a lot of engineers under his arm and taught them about the job of repairing aircraft and was one of the nicest blokes you could ever meet.
Dick used to have people in tears with laughter with his stories about his flying and again a great helicopter pilot. I remember seeing MX lifting off then heading towards the trees to gain a bit of speed for the climb, only just made it!
Manjit used to fly the 269 a lot, and one day he dropped into Leeds with a complete radio failure, so got it fixed and Manjit says Captain Holmes has asked me to test fly it and you are coming a long, er no! but i ended up doing a circuit in it but was not happy.

What was Wally's daughter called, she ran the TV business.?

Great stuff Jeff
L:ok::ok::ok:

[Jeff Anderson]

His son was called Jeremy, but I cannot remember the daughters name (Judith maybe?), she was about the same age as me although a bit more 'plumper' ;)

I remember that Manjit could not pronounce Whinmoor, it always came out as 'Vinmoor'. The number of times he had to repeat it for certain ATC's.... I visited Northair a couple of times (X-licence was much more my kettle of fish) with radio sets. We used to swap 'pluggable' bits from BBIT, IU, IV all the time, it was only as a last resort that you guys were called in as you cost money. I even remember fashioning transponder aerials out of metal coat hangers...

Another great Dick Meston memory was one day we were doing a photo job, the photographer arrived and Dick was clearing tree stumps using a JCB. I ran over the field to get him. He was wearing his Army fatigues and a baseball cap on the wrong way round with the usual cigarette hanging out of his mouth. The photographer did not believe he was a pilot, to prove it Dick took off and proceeded to do a quick solo flying demonstration to prove he was!

Was all this 30 years ago? Seems like yesterday :ok:

[L-Band]

Oh yes Jeff, all this happened 30 years ago, and it does bring back some really good memories of the way aviation should be today,as we all worked as a team and had the laugh's to go with it.
Wally was a people that if you told them some of the stories they would never believe it, which brings me to the time he drove his Jensen Interceptor from Leeds to London at 40 mph to save money on the petrol, but that was Wally.

Great to hear from someone who worked there and with Brian, I see you are in Dublin, please feel free to contact me at sometime as it is great to go over old times.

Good to hear from you.
L:ok:

[bullshitproof]

"ER" steady on their AGARICUS BISPORUS save that kind of talk for the Hedge Fund boys not car Dealers.

[check]

I worked at Twyford Moors Helicopters out of Sherbourn in Elmet just as Wally was starting with his Hughes 269, he also had a Bulldug I think. He may have been tight and a bit of a rogue and we had a few "discussions" etc, but he could surprise you.

My wife and I were having a meal in a retaurant in Tadcaster when a bottle of champagne appeared, on telling the waiter I hadn't ordered it he said "compliments of the gentleman over there", yep it was Wally!

He was the receiver when TMH went bust.

[Jeff Anderson]

... I still have a donkey jacket somewhere with TMH printed in red on the back. BTW the daughter was called Gillian, not Judith, as per my earlier post.

Re the 269's, for some reason the newly qualified CPL's pilots sometimes had great difficulty starting them from cold in the morning. The ultimate disgrace was when they had to walk over to the house and ask Wally to come over and start-up for them. He used to waddle over in his dressing gown and slippers and take delight in humiliating them in front of whoever was within earshot.

Such a nice bloke.....

[nigelh]

1982 and i had just come back from crop spraying in Egypt and took over the running of GSM Helicopters near Ripon . Dick was my chief pilot . I was only 22 and was living during the week in a caravan next to the hangar . Every friday night was barbecue with Dick and Mandy and some take off,s on sat morning were better than others !! He was the greatest friend and greater pilot . I often laugh to myself when people on this site say this or that cannot be done safely or at all ( there was a discussion here where many "emminent pilots " said an engine failure at low level, ie 20ft, would definitely not give you time to auto ......dick demo,d dozens to me including one at 10ft doing a 180 turn !!!!) I had a Bell G3B1 G-BHKW . We flew to my parents house in shropshire and arrived just as it was getting near dark . We landed in the tennis court. By the time we had got our gear out and tied down it was black...then we discovered the gate was locked and my parents were out !! Sadly there are few gentlemen pilots like Dick left . I think my old heli is now in Cyprus . Looking at the weather recently i should be there with her !!

[Dave Redmond]

Hi Jeff and all.

Worked at Heli Leeds 1976/7 as a 'loader' - basically putting punters in and out on pleasure flights. Many many stories and reading on here is unreal. Did you live in Roundhay Jeff? ... I think we may have lived near each other at the time. Names that come back to me are 'Wally' - ok - 'Capt Holmes' to me, Pilots: Dick, Manjit [I knew him as Majic], Ian, Mark [?]. I worked with a mechanic called Glen a lot and Jeremy [Wallys son]. Can just about remember Brian.

Who was the guy that used to service Wally's Jensen?

Spent a good few days up at a horse jumping show near Morpeth north of Newcastle, doing pleasure flights but trade was poor. Got up to a few 'tricks' including racing express trains across the site with the chopper! Tyne Tees TV complained about us flying too near to their cameramen on top of scaffolding towers. I was in a chopper that had a 'chip warning' forced landing at Cleethorpes.

I beleive 'Wally' became a changed man after he retired - I think he had heart problems. He started to help a lot of people and gave a lot of money away. Wasn't a bad bloke as it turned out.

[L-Band]

Hi Dave
Do you mean Glen Burley, he went to Nunkeeling near Beverley for a few years and is now working on his own but maintaining helicopters at a place near Sherburn in Elmet.
Another is Paul Northgreaves, worked for Northair for a while and now working for Aero Maintenance at Walton Wood.

L:ok::ok:

[Jeff Anderson]

Dave,

The guy who serviced the Jensen was 'Brian 2' and he lived in Woodhouse Leeds. 'Brian 1' was Brian Sharp the engineer.

I was at the Morpeth show with you, that was the one where Dick dropped the parachutists out of G-BBFE, why do I remember? Because one of the main chutes didn't open and the guy landed heavily on his reserve.

Were you diabetic as I remember someone injecting insulin into their thigh in the caravan?

I was the third Heli-Leeds apprentice along with Glen (does he still have his Olivia Newton John fetish?) and Paul who used to do the photo finish at the long demolished Elland Road greyhound stadium.

At the end of the Summer of 77 I couldn't take any more of Wally and left for a career in telecoms/computing that took me all over the world. I still get up in helicopters hired out of Sherburn piloted by a mate.....

[Verticaleng]

I was there between 1980/81 to 1983, as a young school leaver I learned very quickly how to make coffee. The aircraft were always painted with cellulose by Glenn. It was cheaper and didn't weigh as much as polly. the hydraulic fluid and oil normally took the paint back off, but if that didn't the T'cut usually did;).
I remember a Pilot called Peter Warburton always went to the pub on the A64 smoking a huge cigar.

[theloudone]

Are there any guys out there remember 77-78 at Wally`s ?
Talk about interesting times, anyone remember John Bairstow ?

[Bravohotel]

L-Band were you at Northair 79/80 I was the Kiwi guy a mate of Andy B...and I remember Brian S...top guy as were a lot of the engineers during my Holiday at Northair.....

[johnbairstow]

Yes Loudone, I know of John Bairstow, I believe he was at Heli-Leeds 78/79 before running off with a crop spraying outfit, it's me :eek:. I remember having to install a tail rotor securing bolt 10 times by Brian because I could not get the split pin "just right", I remember servicing NiCad batteries, trying to make a good battery out of duff cells, I remember spraying that duff polish into the heater in the hangar and running for cover when the unit fired up, best of all I remember Wally. Having mellowed a bit with age he was a rogue, but there were some good points. Remember the fuse on the hour meter, what about the secret washers on the intercom in the office, that even if you pulled the plug out he could listen in from his kitchen. I remember the days on the shot blast machine trying to remove dust as we didn't have decent grit and going home glowing due to being soaked with mag flux dye using a machine that was pre industrial revolution, and everything was sprayed with waxoil, because he had a similar deal to the Avon one. Remember that old RAF trolly-ac, flat wheels and flat batteries. That 206A with 206B engine covers, problem was the transmission oil filler didn't line up with the flap in the cover, so best way to top up was with a milk bottle (clean of course), I was the one caught by the CAA inspector topping up with the milk bottle, back to team making I seem to remember.

There were some magic pleasure flight days, I remember flying with Nick back from Hull and going into the airway to see if the transponder I had "fixed" worked, we never found out as the radio gave up. Then there was Ptolemy I seem to remember ex Army type. Alex was the ex RN engineer, took over when Brian left, lots of tales I seem to remember of days on the Ark Royal.

I stayed in the aviation indstry till around 89, after going to uni and spending what seemed an age with Brit Aero, then found the underwater defence industry was more fun and the electronics more my line (even after getting a degree in aeronautical engineering). I have had the odd glider and a 150 aerobat over the years, I now find the boat is more my line, still the other week had to replace the throttle cable on the port motor, and guess what my split pin skills were called upon again, I hope Brian was watching, it was perfect first time.

Happy days

[Flaxton Flyer]

John - I don't suppose that by any chance you were a friend of Steve Greenwood? "When I were a lad" back in the 70s he had a mate called John who was a trainee spannerman at Wally's.

[theloudone]

Which John do you mean ? there was 2 John`s during the 70`s at Wallys.

[Flaxton Flyer]

loudone...

good question! He was a friend of a friend who I only met once. In the early seventies (71/72) he would have been about 16/17 years old and I seem to recall he had quite blonde hair. (But that may be my memory of course..) I think he went to Aberdeen.

FF

[theloudone]

I know who mean, PM me pls

[theloudone]

Who is left out there from the good ole days ?

[Anark]

Hi,
Been trying to dig out some info on Wally Holmes.

Does anybody have any information about when Flt Lt Holmes was in charge of 1224 (Ilkley/Wharfedale) Squadron Air Training Corps.

Thanks,
Sam

[Jeff Anderson]

So PPRUNE sends me a birthday greeting and I login for the first time in 3 years.... That hot summer of 1976 seems like yesterday. How many more stories can I type out?

Filming the Barratt Housing ads with Patrick Allen...
Opening housing estates with the bikini clad Barratt girls...
Getting a lift from Mr Allen in his RR Convertible to the bus stop on the Ring Road where I would catch the number 9 home....
Precautionary landings in G-AVTE with battery overtemps every 30 mins...
Manjit calling LBA on 123.75 saying 'Bell 206a departing Vinmoor' and being asked to repeat as he could never say his W's....
Sitting by the main runway at Church Fenton Airshow watching the Vulcan's flypast....
Flying back in formation from same show (3x206) with Dick Meston in the lead helicopter launching attacks on cars by going "Na na na na na boom" in the intercom...
Wiping the condensation off the inside of G-BBFE so we could read the road signs on the M1 in low-vis...
Flying UNDER the Humber Bridge before it was open...
Making it back to Saw Mill with the low fuel light on, then getting 63 gallons into it the next day....
Doing a record 136 pleasure flights at the Masham Traction Engine Rally then filling up with 5 Star at an A1 service station...
Circling Dick's house everytime we flew over Ripon by the racecourse...

Is flying in helicopters still as much fun??

[18 JAG]

Captain Wally Holmes, just google the name an well this popped up, I have a lot of experience with this man, I knew him from 1988 to the day he died, I to have done some hours on my ppl and also done many hours in aircraft curtacy of the RAF. For many years he was the tightest person you could ever meet, but he was a Yorkshire man, if you picked an argument you would lose. Yes he did have heart problems, but sometimes your couldn't ask to meet a nicer man, a character he sure was, al admit it myself he could be a bastard ha, His son was called Jeremy and his daughter Gillian
As for the heli port it remained empty for years with many of the parts still there, sawwood house/ Leeds heliport I have called my home since 2001 and had many helicopter land to tell story some good some bad, and to remember the captain,
Any info or questions just ask after all he was my grandfather

[SJW92]

Captain Wally Holmes, just google the name an well this popped up, I have a lot of experience with this man, I knew him from 1988 to the day he died, I to have done some hours on my ppl and also done many hours in aircraft curtacy of the RAF. For many years he was the tightest person you could ever meet, but he was a Yorkshire man, if you picked an argument you would lose. Yes he did have heart problems, but sometimes your couldn't ask to meet a nicer man, a character he sure was, al admit it myself he could be a bastard ha, His son was called Jeremy and his daughter Gillian
As for the heli port it remained empty for years with many of the parts still there, sawwood house/ Leeds heliport I have called my home since 2001 and had many helicopter land to tell story some good some bad, and to remember the captain,
Any info or questions just ask after all he was my grandfather

I was wondering if it is indeed the same Wally Holmes that was the Officer Commanding of 1224 Squadron Air Cadets, based in Ilkley, and if so if you had any information about him or the Sqn during this time?