Helicopter chase, southwest London in the 70s

[SpringHeeledJack]

I'm not sure if this would be better posted in A&N, but as it has something to do with whirlybirds i thought that here might be the best starting place.

My father seems to remember back in the 70s an evening, possibly summer, where there was a succession of fast flying helicopters over southwest London, almost as though there was a chase going on. He thinks that he remembers reading in the papers that one had been stolen and the others were giving chase, but as it's a while back, his memory is vague. If only aircraft were racehorses, then it would all be razor sharp in his brain :}

Perhaps some of you might remember this event and/or know the participants that could shed some light on this mystery memory. I would imagine that it involved Bell JetRangers, as these were the cool steeds of the time.


Regards


SHJ

[stacey_s]

In the early seventies the Met Police helicopters were supplied by Twyford Moors Helicopters of Southampton, using Hughes 269B's or 300's and normally only one at a time, based at Battersea, later on they were replaced by thye first civil registered Aerospat Gazelle, but sorry don't remember 'the chase'.

S

[SpringHeeledJack]

Thanks for the reply stacey_s.

Further interrogation of my father has uncovered the possibility of it being either a stolen helicopter or a jailbreak ???? He looked at the photos of the Hughes 300 and Bell JetRanger and said that the aircraft that he saw were all more like the Bell and not with a bubble canopy....

Apparently the helicopters seemed to come from Battersea Heliport direction (my guess) and heading south (of London) at much greater speed than normal, much lower than normal, perhaps up to 5 in number....:confused: Any help to alleviate a father/son argument appreciated.


Regards


SHJ

[slip and turn]

I vaguely recall some incident where I think an errant low flying Gazelle or two were chased down by military Lynx but that was probably early 90s, and not being a rotors type I would have to look up the max cruise speeds of each to see if it added up!

PS My book says it doesn't add up ... but not everything is in the book of course ;)

[md 600 driver]

that would have been G BAGL being chased by customs using a puma and a lynx if memory served me correct i will check

[slip and turn]

Ah yes, that'd add up in my book, the Puma to chase and the Lynx to cut him of at the pass :ok:, but as I said, that'd be early 90s, that one, and something in the deepest reaches of my suspect memory tells me there might have been two Gazelles ?

[DennisK]

The 'customs' chase was poor pilot 'JP' who was probably the fall guy for the adjacent big drugs run.

He got five years.

DRK

[Gaseous]

The Met used these (amongst others) in the 70s. Cant see it being a particularly fast chase.http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/avenuedentistry/1976G-BDKD1.jpg

[ppheli]

that would have been G BAGL being chased by customs using a puma and a lynx if memory served me correct i will check

Actually the Gazelle was G-RALE and the Puma had been lying in wait with some prior knowledge in the mix. The incident was a drop-off of drugs in a forest near Andover (Savernake Forest rings a bell) and then a chase to Hurn where the Gazelle pilot gave himself up as he knew by then he was being well tracked. The Gazelle was then parked up on the main apron at Hurn for some weeks, later hangared for some years while the case was sorted.

[tezzer]

My my PPhelli, you seem to know as mush about this as I do (did). I was involved in that job, during my time working for HMC.

Lots of good memories from that one.

[md 600 driver]

tezzer
was it grale or gbagl? i still think i was bagl

[slip and turn]

Was DK indicating there was one that got away? Ooops! :oh:

[SpringHeeledJack]

When did this customs chase take place ?

By the sounds of it though, geographically it wasn't the one that me old man was wondering about, as that was in the 70s. I have found little or nothing using google, the only vague mention (undated) was of a woman who flew a helicopter into a prison (Brixton,Wandsworth,Wormwoodscrubbs ???) and 'sprung' her man, but of a stolen whirlybird, nada.... Maybe it was one of our lady whirlybirds :}

The flightpath took the gaggle of aircraft over Wimbledon towards the south if that helps at all :confused:


Regards


SHJ


Btw, can someone fill me in on the 'customs chase' event please, sounds interesting.

[tezzer]

The Gazzelle / Puma job was late 80's as I joined in the late 80's. Mostly centred around the near Continent and kent, with frequent forrays into the weedosphere. My memories are of tales of hot refuels at Manston, when the Bowser driver came up on the wrong side of the A/c, and the PIC said "leave it there", and lifted over to the other side, to make it quicker and easier than moving the boswer round.

[sox6]

So this was a regular tasking?

[ShyTorque]

I think ppheli has the most correct facts; they fit in with the story I was told by one of the crew members; at a slightly later time he and I flew together quite often.

According to him, the Gazelle pilot was so desperate to avoid capture, at one stage he tried to mid-air with the Puma.

Knowing the Puma pilot as I do, the errant Gazelle pilot was lucky they locked him up as he might otherwise have been sorted personally with a baseball bat. :E

[tezzer]

He had no chance of escape, that's for sure !

[Thud_and_Blunder]

The blue-and-white Gazelle most certainly did not make it to Hurn. It was inspected by I** D in the field within a very few hours of the occurrence, assessed as fit for one trip and flown back to a secret airbase in East Hants where it remained for some time. Eventually disposed of as scrap I believe; completely unfit for further aviation use.

[md 600 driver]

tezzer /blud and thunder
do any of you know the registration of the gaz for definate if it was grale it didnt end up scrap it been flying some years now as g gaza

[BLEED-AIR]

If my memory serves correct the Gazelle in question was registered G-RALE previously owned by Malcom Wilson (Malcom Wilson Motor Sport) based initially at Carlisle Airport. This machine was one of the rebuilt aircraft imported from the States by John and Lyne Davies of Specialist Flying Training. The original G-RALY was a Robinson R22 also owned by Malcom Wilson this aircraft was written off on the field second solo by Malcom. I remember two guys arriving one friday to purchase the aircraft which subsequently was involved in the drug run. The pilot was more concerned about his type rating than the condition of the aircraft. Paid for the helicopter in cash.:ok:

[SpringHeeledJack]

Just bringing this thread back up to the top to see if anyone else might remember the 'chase' that was said to have occurred in my initial post.

The other chase sounded pretty interesting, though was in a different decade.

Perhaps the answer might come from one of the old lags who might well be retired by now.

Thanks


SHJ

[MPR]

G-RALE it was.

The drop off point was Harewood Forest near Andover, I think the Puma sat in wait for it & popped up from tree cover when the chase started.

It was sat at Thruxton for period of time when being used for the sortie's. I even took a photo of it there on 26-08-1988, the incident occured a little time after that. I was in turn photographed taking the photo by a man a long way away!

Aircraft still in UK, now registered G-GAZA as of 1992. There was a gap when it was at HM Customs pleasure from 1988-1992. It was never registered to cash buyer - cancelled in Sept 1988 from Malcolm Wilson (Motororsport) Ltd.

Answers to obvious questions.... I wasn't involved, I used to live next to Harewood Forest, and regularly visited Thruxton at the time.

MPR