Did Gulf Air operate a Handley Page Herald?

[draglift]

In the late 1970's before the causeway opened I sometimes flew from Bahrain to Dhahran on Gulf Air. The aircraft used was a 737 with a flight time of only a few minutes which must have been one of the shortest ever scheduled 737 services.

On one occasion I flew this route in a twin turbo prop ressemblng an F27 but on walking away from it at the end of the flight I realised it wasn't. I suspect this was a Handley Page Herald, presumably on a wet lease. Can anyone confirm the type and which operator supplied it as it seems an odd choice and a very archaic aircraft for Gulf Air to have used at the time.

[Hanslope]

I can confirm that GF did operate a Herald on the Dhahran Airbridge around that time. It was owned by British Air Ferries and flown on a wet lease. I can't remember why but it may have been something to do with the company F27s being re-located to a new Light Aircraft division in Muscat.

A few years ago I visited the Herald on display at the Bournemouth Museum and was amazed to find that it was the actual aircraft that I had seen all those years ago in Bahrain. Is it still there?

[Compass Call]

Unfortunately, when the museum was forced to move it went the way of the scrapmans axe:{

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I was closely involved in moving the GF Propeller fleet to Seeb, there to operate as the Propeller and Light Aircraft Division with its own AOC and maintenance contracted to Oman Aviation Services. This later morphed into Oman Air, of course. The move followed severe regulatory threats after it was found that the L1011 and B737 operations and maintenance were as much as the Bahrain HQ could manage safely. "Lose the props", they said, "or we'll shut you down". Quite right, too, it was chaos.

For the historians, we took with us;

4 F27-200 (or was it 400?)
1 F27-600 (later leased dry to Malaysian Airlines. Crashed?)
5 SC7 Skyvan (some based in AUH)
2 BN2A (AUH)
1 B80, replaced by a B100
1 Partenavia (leased in)
1 Navajo Chieftain (leased wet from the Mulligans, can't recall their company's name.)

The Dhahran airbridge was operated by 1 F27 from PLAD based in BAH (actually there were 2, 1 as back up, and they rotated to even the hours). It was maximum punishment flying, very short flights at low altitude in humid air laden with dust. I've seen Dart compressor blades reduced to 25% when removed on scheduled overhaul.

If an HP Herald stood in at any time I don't recall it, but that's age for you. I was not based in Bahrain. I'm sure the evidence above is overwhelming. All I know, from involvement a few years later with 4 Heralds from the operator named, trying to run domestic services in Algeria, is that that sorry abortion of an aeroplane must have struggled to get off the ground with anything like a full load on the Airbridge, even when fuelled to get to Dhahran and back (diversion), on a hot day.

[treadigraph]

leased wet from the Mulligans, can't recall their company's name

Presumably Fairflight Charters.

(Bet I wasn't the only one looked at the thread title and thought "must have been an F-27"!)

[WHBM]

Handley Page Heralds leased by BAF, Southend, to Gulf Air :

G-ASVO c/n 185 leased May 77 - Oct 77
G-BEYF c/n 175 leased Oct 77 - Jan 78

Both built 1964 so 13 years old. Not so archaic after all.

BAF did a huge amount of leasing of their large Herald fleet to North African/Middle East airlines and oil exploration companies around this time, they must have had a dedicated salesforce to line up so many contracts. Most tended to be months, as here, rather than long term. I would guess they changed the Gulf aircraft over mid-contract when ASVO was due for a major check. Here it is shortly after the lease, back home at Southend

Photos: Handley Page HPR-7 Herald 214 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/photo/British-Air-Ferries/Handley-Page-HPR-7/1814993/&sid=1bdec8ccaaa4d3bc037ab8321ea040b0)

There was a fascinating article many years ago in Propliner magazine by a BAF Herald FO describing a contract they got at this time as support aircraft for the Paris-Dakar rally across the Sahara, where they had many adventures along the way (Propliner 27, Summer 1986).

Oman Aviation Services mentioned here as well. They leased a BAF Herald for some months in 1982.

[Fokkerwokker]

I certainly remember the Herald being there. It would have operated on a teaspoonful of gas, for the short distance, so performance wouldn't have been sparkling but acceptable.

I am a few thousand miles away from my old logbook but I recollect our F27s were G-AVDN, G-AWFU and G-AZFD (I think!). Think the engines were RR Dart 532s.

Miserable experience operating in the summer heat, on the ground, as the aircon didn't kick in til airborne. Remember the salt stains on our uniform trousers very well even after 35 years!

Moresalaami

FW

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Well, I would never have guessed that they were salt stains!?

[draglift]

Thanks very much for the replies gents and all the details. I'm glad I'm not losing my marbles and it really was a Herald.

The description of the GF propellor fleet move to Muscat explains my puzzlement of why the GF F27 was replaced by the Herald which was an inferior type. GF were taking advantage of someone else's AOC.

I often wondered when I taxied out at LGW if I might have passengered in the Herald that used to be atop the Terminal and is now by the fire practice area. Thanks to replies I know that the GF lease ones were G-ASVO and G-BEYF I had a look on Google and as described G-BEYF went to Bournemouth and was scrapped in 2008. G-ASVO taxied into a floodlight at Bournemouth in 1997 damaging the wing beyond repair and it was up for sale on Ebay in 2005!

I cannot help but admire British Air Ferries for the logistical exercise and adventure it must have been when the F-27 was fairly common outside the UK and the Herald was evidently not. They sent a lone Herald from Southend to Bahrain, with pilots, qualified ground engineers and spares, to operate in a hostile, hot, dusty environment to fly 26 nautical mile sectors for 6 months. The price must have been good otherwise I would have thought GF would have leased an F27 from a nearer operator.

Thanks for the heads up on the Propliners edition 27 Summer 86. It sounds interesting. I'll see if I can get a copy.

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

I was a first officer for the entire first GF wet lease, late April 1977 to early August. The aircraft involved were G-ASVO to 17th July, replaced by G-BAVX on the 19th of July. 'VX was notable as it was the only Herald in the fleet which had a functioning 'bootstrap' air conditioning turbine, the airscoop for which was at the base of the fin. Unfortunately, it wasn't useable on the ground, so it was still a very hot and sweaty business!

Bahrain - Dhahran - Bahrain, four times, was the main daily duty, airborne time just over ten minutes. Doha also came into the pattern occasionally. I also went to Abu Dhabi and Kuwait once each, 1 hr 30 min airborne, due to disruption in the One-Eleven fleet. All takeoffs were flapless, with water meth injection, the performance was nothing startling, but not nail biting, and I don't recollect being that tight for fuel. The only place we drew a line at was the day GF Ops asked us if we could do Das Island. That was just a bit too short, although the F27 could hack it.

The reason we were wet-leased was that at least one of the F27s had to go to Norwich for corrosion rectification. Our BAF hosties did look the business in their GF uniforms! Other memories were of the plainly audible howls of anguish from an American oil worker when he learned, on demanding a beer ex DHA, that only orange juice was served on the sector! On shut-down at BAH, we watched him gallop upstairs to the bar for a quick fix.

At the end of the detachment, I was the first officer on 'VX's flight home to Southend, via Baghdad, Larnaca, Athens, Rome Ciampino, Lyon Satolas, and Jersey. This peculiar routing was because we were on a Gulf Air callsign, carrying some cargo for Jersey. The passenger seats were left behind in Bahrain.

These seats were duly picked up by the ex RMAF -401 G-BEYD, on the 14th of October, on its ferry flight from Kuala Lumpur to Southend. (Sungei Besi - old KL International - Bangkok - Calcutta - Karachi - Bahrain - Larnaca - Belgrade - Nurnberg - Southend.) Giant strides for the HPR7, I hear some say in disbelief, but this was the one with the 330 IG pylon tanks, which upped the still-air range by 600 nautical miles. The longest sector was Calcutta - Karachi, 6 hr 45 min. We had two enforced nights in Nurnberg, awaiting clearance to overfly Germany without a transponder. The fuel tanks started to weep, and we were summoned by the airport commandant, to view the growing patch of sand around the aircraft and hear him voice his displeasure!

For those who have read Handley Page Herald by G.Cowell, this was the one where the python fell out of a starboard underwing inspection panel when our travelling engineer undid it. I was standing looking up at the fin at the time (can't remember why) and you've never seen such a fuss about a tiddly little snake in all your life. Mind you, I wasn't going to go near it either when it reared up to reveal a complete set of tiny razor sharp fangs! They're non-poisonous, but if they bite, they can't let go.

Great days, and great experience.

:ok:

[CharlieOneSix]

Over on the Rotorheads forum there is a report on operations out of Salisbury, Rhodesia during the Mugabe elections in February/March 1980 - mainly helicopter oriented, but there is a photo of a BAF Herald taxying out (G-BAVX). What was that doing out there?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Mearns/baf-herald.jpg

[Schroedinger]

In the early '90s, If you did a repat on Gulf Air, they threw in the DHA-BAH "hopper" leg on the 737. I can remember one such, timed as 6 min and 15 sec from wheels off to wheels on. Must be one of, if not the shortest, international flight. Any others of similar duration?

[bean]

GALHI. I was trying to think what a BAF Herald would be doing flying cargo from BAH to JER under a GF callsign. Then I remembred that Baylee Air Charter in Jersey bought some Queen Airs from GF. So I guess the cargo must have been Queen Air spares

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

bean: absolutely correct, and well remembered!

I think it was quite astute of somebody in BAF to realise that they could oblige GF by taking the spares, and divert one of the RMAF -401 ferry flights via BAH to pick the seats up. Little did I know I was going to be part of the exercise, and back so soon!

Our arrival in Jersey, using the Gulf Air callsign, did bring about some puzzlement from ATC:
"Er, Gulf Air ---- , confirm your aircraft type?"
Us: "Handley Page Dart Herald."
ATC: "And your destination is Jersey, confirm?"
Us: "Affirmative."
ATC: "Oh well, if you say so ..."

Something like that, anyway!

:)

[Fokkerwokker]

Baylee Air Charter in Jersey bought some Queen Airs from GF

G-AVDR/S

Howled my way up and down the Gulf for an hour or two in those old ladies!

FW
:}

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And, as I recall, Mr Baylee came to fly with Gulf Air when the Jersey charter operation didn't pan out quite as hoped....