S-76A G-BYDF

[Savoia]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--yBKdZN7NK8/Ulz3xgKS63I/AAAAAAAAOrs/KOm4JrEsntc/w958-h415-no/Brecqhou+Development+S76A+II+%252B+G-BYDF+Birm+7Aug13+%2528Mike+Hollick%2529.jpg
Brecqhou Development Ltd. S76A G-BYDF at Birmingham International Airport on 7th August 2013 (Photo: Mike Hollick)

This craft (G-BYDF) is described in the CAA docs as an S-76A (modified) and elsewhere as an S-76A Mk II Plus. I've never come across a MkII+ and was wondering what it might be?

As far as I know (engine wise) the 'A' models went something like this:

A Detroit Diesel Allison 250-C30
A+ Turbomeca Ariel 1S
A++ Turbomeca Ariel 1S-1
A MkII ??

Regarding the aircraft in the photo, Brecqhou Development Ltd. aka Barclay Bros., this used to be crewed and maintained (IIRC) by Bristows Redhill. Is this still the case?

[OvertHawk]

It's an "A++ modified".

It has the "A" airframe with the engines and drive train from a "C" (don't remember if they were called "modified 1S1" or "2S") and is, as far as i'm aware, unique.

It was maintained by Bristow at Redhill until the engineering facility closed (now Mann's at Fairoaks), but has always been crewed by pilots employed or contracted directly to the owner's company (although with a distinctly Bristow feel in the early days).

OH

[ShyTorque]

Some would unkindly describe it as a "B-". ;)

[OvertHawk]

I've heard it referred to as a "C-" on more than one occasion ;)

It's a good machine for that job - limited to the AUW of the A++ but has the single engine power available to the C, so good single engine performance and it doesn't burn as much fuel as the C which is good for their runs down to Channel Islands.

DF is a nice machine! :)

[nomorehelosforme]

Looks a great machine, can only assume VIP configuration, any internal pictures?

[wigglyamp]

It's not maintained by Manns at Fairoaks - Manns went bust in 2011. It's now maintained by Gama Engineering in the refurbished ex-Mann facility.

[Collective Bias]

Mk II was a series of modifications aimed to better the avialability record and ease maintenace on the early A model. I came as standard from around sn 210 ( I think) but most of the modifications could be done as a CSN on previous aircraft.


CB

[Savoia]

OvertHawk: Thanks. From what I've been able to glean, the 'A MkII' was fitted with upgraded Allison 250's (I'm guessing a variant of the C30?).

What do you suppose that sheet of metal is riveted to the boom - some sort of strengthening? Still, not as ungainly as the piece of 'angle-iron' Agusta 'welds' onto their 109's and 139's!

NMH: I don't have any cabin shots of this craft but someone else may have.

[Ian Corrigible]

Sav,

The MKII had the -C30S: still rated at 650 shp like the S-76A's original -C30, but with a 5% performance margin thanks to compressor tweeks.

I/C

[Fareastdriver]

What do you suppose that sheet of metal is riveted to the boom

IIRC it's a thermal shield. Also IIRC the C30 exhausted out of the top of the doghouse. The Arriel as fitted to the A+ and after exhausted at the rear.

[Dave B]

This brings back memories, I went in to work normally at Redhill a few years back, when Angus McCloud collared me, and said " can you go and look at an S76", I said of course, where is it, he said "Tokyo", I said" your kidding its only two weeks to Christmas", he said " no kidding, the Berkley brothers want a new aircraft".
I travelled to Tokyo BA club class, care of the Berkley's and surveyed the best S76 I had ever seen.
It was purchased, and freighted to Redhill, where it was modified for the UK, and had its first UK C of A. I was involved in the certification, between Sikorsky, and Bristows design office, and as someone has said, it was unique, in that it had -046 transmission, and uprated Arriels, mated to an "A" airframe.
The single engine full power could be used, but the twin Torque had to be restricted, this meant the modification of unique Torque indictors.
I believe my old mate Dave Pridmore was in charge of it, after I retired, before his tragic early passing.
I may still have some photos of the machine in Tokyo if I can find them.

[industry insider]

It's a good machine for that job - limited to the AUW of the A++ but has the single engine power available to the C, so good single engine performance and it doesn't burn as much fuel as the C which is good for their runs down to Channel Islands

Not correct, the single engine performance would be the same as the A++ as both the A++ and the "C" had the Ariel 1S1 engine

[Sir Korsky]

The heat shield is fiberglass and was considered superfluous by the time the C+ was being produced.

[OvertHawk]

II

If i recall correctly, the 1S1 in DF was in fact a "1S1 - modified" and the C MGB (as fitted to BYDF) was also different to the A. I'm pretty sure that you had more power available to you if you went single-engine in "DF" than you would have had in a standard A++, although it has been a while and i've not flown a standard A++ so i could be wrong about this.

Definitely remember the unique torque gauges Dave B refers to - Used to keep a spare one on the shelf as it would have taken weeks to get another one made if one went U/S.

A nice machine indeed! :)

[Savoia]

Thanks IC. From what I understand the S-76A came with the 'regular' 250-C30 (557shp) and the MkII with the 250-C30S, as you say, with 650shp.

As Collective Bias mentions, the MKII became 'standard fayre' (I think from 1982) offering a variety of improvements including this engine upgrade and an improved avionics fit.

Dave B: Bravo! :D

It would be great to see your photos (if you can find them) of your trip to inspect the 'Barclaycraft'. Evidently she previously flew as JA6615. Do you happen to know in what role she was employed while in Japan?

Anyone with any observations about the 'A' model, quirks, likes/dislikes, please do chip-in.

Grazie mille.

[Sanus]

I think this S-76A++ was originally owned by Honda in Japan and is unique in that it doesn't have a right side cabin door.

If it has an S-76C -09600 MGB it will have full unrestricted OEI performance from the 1S1 engine. Unlike the A++ with the normal -09500 MGB.

[ericferret]

Usually the type certificate gives answers to some of these questions but in the case of the S76 it doesn't help too much.

All variants from the A to the D are covered by the same type certificate.
The Arriel S76A variants only get a mention in the notes whereas the three different engine configurations for the S76C 1S1. 2S1, 2S2 are covered individually.

The S76A Arriel versions are covered by STC.

I think the designations +, ++ are Sikorsky marketing department devices as they do not seem to appear in FAA paperwork.

[OvertHawk]

You're correct - DF does not have a right side cabin door - jettisonable window only on the right. Don't think that makes it unique though - pretty sure i've seen that configuration on other S76 - The machines with "cocoons" have only one door don't they?

To be completely correct - it does have a RH cabin door, except it's filled, sealed and painted over so that it appears not to be there. Not sure when this took place - may have left the factory that way or been done when it was in Japan.

OH

[Dave B]

Its been a few years, but if my memory serves me correctly, there were 3 or 4 of these hybrid machines. I think they came about because they were the last of the A model airframes, build with Arriels, (not converted), but Sikorsky were no longer producing the 045 Gearboxes, so they were fitted with the 046 B and C gearboxes. Sikorsky only rated the engines at the 1S level, as the A airframe would not take the full 1500 shaft horse power of two 1S1s. In conjunction with Sikorsky we realised that this aircraft would benefit from the full 1S1 single engine power, as the airframe was lighter than the B or C, this would give it an enhanced single engine performance. We had to contract an instrument specialist to modify the Torque Indicators to reduce the twin rating. I am a bit rusty now, but I think the limit was set at 80%.

Helitalia had another of these machines, although not in VIP trim, we told them what we had done to improve the performance, but I don't know if they acted on the information.

[Dave B]

Savoia

It hardly flew in Japan, because of some legal wrangle, it sat in the hangar for a year or more. It was virtually a new aircraft, with very few hours on the clock.

[Savoia]

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5505/10308830626_46c5e19cee_c.jpg
S76A++ (or thereabouts) G-BYDF (aka the Barclaycraft) at Southampton's Eastleigh Airport as seen on 30th March 2003 (Photo: Courtesy of Colin K. Work)

Eric: I have to agree that the nomination of designations with some of the 76's is less than clear (hence the original post).

OvertHawk: I've experienced the cocoon arrangement on the AS365N (most impressive in terms of cabin noise reduction) but not seen it first hand on the 76. Was the cabin noticeably quieter? Given your description of the Barclaycraft's set-up (ie. 1S1 - modified" and the C MGB being different to the A) perhaps one could refer to is as an A++* with the asterisk being for your original description of A++ modified! ;)

Dave: Very interesting. We've not had many 76's in Italy. One of the first was Eliair's A model (I-EAIR) which came to a tragic end in 1993. :( Sanus mentioned that the craft was with Honda while in Japan, is this correct as far as you know, and .. was this a dedicated VIP craft from the factory?

I'm beginning to see why she has been referred to as a MkII+ .. for she seems to be a rare hybrid.

[OvertHawk]

Dave.

I think it was 86.6% TQ if i recall correctly ;)

OH

[Fareastdriver]

86% on both was 'Warranty Torque' on the A model. That was what you set in the cruise, effectively twin engine max continuous. RRpm in the first few year was 100% at all levels but it was found that as one climbed increasing the Rrpm to 107% @ 5,000 ft. increased the airspeed and reduced both vibration and SFC.
Later on in life it was found that beeping up to 107 in the hover and dragging it down to 100% just before you threw it over the side of a helideck gave you a better chance of survival should an engine fold on you.

[Plank Cap]

Having started on the Allison powered A model of the '76, and finished on the Turbomeca powered C model, one can certainly say what a fantastic revelation that particular re-engine programme turned out to be.

The dear old C30 was working so hard in the S76 that reliability was certainly an issue in the early days, particularly when the aircraft were airborne for 9+ hours a day flogging around at max continuous cruise power. When the Ariel motors arrived in the A+, life became somewhat more ..... dependable. That said, the further rearward positioning of these French engines in the airframe lead to an even more extreme C of G. In the hover 5-10 degrees nose up was quite common. Made slowing down quite fun when flying the old performance Category A and B landing profiles...... happy days!

Planko.

[Savoia]

Ciao Planko!

As you say .. Sikorsky got there in the end (engine wise). Not that they 'perfected' it however for even the C++ has been accused of being short on power in certain scenarios.

Made slowing down quite fun ..

Noses High

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-W1lMeWoFBBw/Ul-vngzEh1I/AAAAAAAAOt0/Zf4uHI3vekw/w640-h425-no/C-GHUG.jpg

A trait shared with the 139 ..

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FzDXfde3oOg/Ul-v0o-DgAI/AAAAAAAAOuU/-L_nE7_EjGg/w640-h369-no/AW139+I-AWTE+Fairoaks+12+Feb+13+%2528David+Reeves%2529.jpg

Note the 139's main gear hasn't even left the ground .. while it's nosewheel is 2-3ft in the air!

[Dave B]

Just to correct one thing, without wishing to be pedantic, the original tail boom heat shield, as designed by CTGM the French company who must have made a fortune by fitting the first arriels as a private venture, was metal bolted over a thermal heat blanket, which was bonded to the tail boom.
Sikorsky mandated that this be removed at set hours for a tail boom inspection, this of course would have destroyed the bonded blanket. All the operators said,"you must be joking", so Sikorsky bowed to pressure and removed this requirement.

[RVDT]

Er reason for the high nose attitude in the hover is for flat attitude in the cruise and to offload mast/head forces or have I missed something?:confused:

[Fareastdriver]

When the S76A started the procedure was to start both engines with the rotor brake on and then release it. This causes two things. A peculiar low frequency vibration caused by two C30s running together and then a GODalmighty whizz up by the rotors. This was especially interesting if the tarmac was either very wet or frosty. The S76 fitted with C30s had two bifilars; a 4R for the airframe and a 5R for the engines. When CTBM fitted the Arriels they found that the 5R bifilar wasn't necessary so we went down to the single bifilar of the present.

We flew it offshore single pilot so we would shut down one engine and stop the rotors during the crew change. The deck crew did everything as the pilot stayed in his seat. We sometimes, if only a small fuel lift was required, put it all in the starboard tank and use the crossfeed to balance the fuel when airborne. However, someone, somewhere had an engine stop doing that so we had to take fuel in both tanks.

Initial the blade spindles had one slight larger (yellow) to counteract the weight of the rotating scissors. After Jerry Hardy's blade separation they replaced three with a yellow spec. spindle and an even bigger one for the yellow blade. One of the causes was believed to be the spindle bearings migrating out of the sleeve so they were retained with tie wraps. Two of them would, apparently, keep the bearings in.

In the winter of 1981 the snow clearing in Bristow's dispersal was practically non existent and the were ridges of snow all over the apron. The 76' nosewheel doors kept colliding with these so we removed the doors and flew without them. The C30 also developed a habit of lobbing turbine blades around so in order to stop them interfering with the other engine there were armoured wraps around the engines. This was good practice for the Arriel because they weighed a ton and we now had to have two pilots to keep the C of G within limits.

I never did like flying the S76 offshore. Its performance in icing conditions was appalling. The best flights were the British Grand Prix circuses and going down to Redhill and flying the old man to various mansions and chateaus for lunch.

[Savoia]

RV: It is the degree of nose-high attitude that is being commented on - not the fact that it exists! :ok:

FED: I remember witnessing Pat McHaffey and the late Colin Bates starting-up G-OHTL in just the way you mention. 'Twas always interesting to watch!

Sounds like just a little too much excitement what with the C30 breaking apart and the resultant safety measures! :sad:

G-BGXY was a sorry tale indeed, preceded by an even sadder one some months earlier in Brasil. I hope we begin to see an end to pilots and pax having to pay with their lives for developmental work which should have been performed by the manufacturer.

Dave: You mentioned helping-out with a Helitalia ship and which I am guessing must have been the one below .. for her serial number is close to that of DF's:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Y63Lfofiepw/Ul-vvN6OxQI/AAAAAAAAOuE/9k7RlMYL-O8/w898-h554-no/Helitalia+S76A%252B%252B+Ancona+Falconara+%2528Raffaello+San zio%2529+22+May+98+%2528Oscar+Bernardi%2529.jpg
Helitalia S76A++ I-HBAS at the Aeroporto di Ancona Falconara 'Raffaello Sanzio' near Ancona on 22nd May 1998 (Photo: Courtesy of Oscar Bernardi)

HBAS became G-BZAN at some point after Bristows bought into Helitalia.

Some more Bristow/Helitalia reflections:



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae157/skyweaver100/The%20S76%20collection/brindisis76.jpg




The photo of that S76 was taken in Brindisi shortly after the aircraft was converted to an A+. I was engineer on the flight with Bob Winter. Was a nice job, around an hour a day at worst. After I left, Kev Smith took over and completed the detachment.

We did several detachments with Helitalia using a BHL S76, a Helitalia AB412 with 3B's in it and an ex HKAAF S76A+ in Ancona.

[industry insider]

Sav, did I-HBAS once belong to the HKGFS?

[Savoia]

Aye aye I.I. Its been a while!

Indeed she did and still sported the sliding door.

I-HBAS first flew as HKG-16, came to Helitalia, then in the late 90's (after Bristows bought Helitalia) became G-BZAN.

Brgds

[industry insider]

I thought so.

I remember the day I had the phone call from GFB, "would I go at look at an S-76A++ for Helitalia" while I was at the Singapore Airshow.

I remember it had no seats in it, it was dark grey in colour. It was being sold through Sikorsky if I remember, my old Sikorsky friend CW was "marketing" it.

It must have been 1999 or 2000 if my memory serves me. I negotiated the purchase deal up to a handshake with CW. The rest was up to Bristow and Helitalia since I didn't work for Bristow or Helitalia at the time. They were keen to do a deal as A++s were hot property at the time. I still run into GFB at various OGP functions. He has been a great friend for so many years.

[Dave B]

Savoia
That looks like the one, as it had a sliding door on rails, instead of the normal 76 plug door, it also had its drive shaft cover secured with Dzues fasteners, instead of screw, which everyone thought was a good idea, until they rattled loose. We also sent one of the ex Jordanian 76s to Helitalia, Three more to Australia, and One to Aberdeen.

[ShyTorque]

Sav, did I-HBAS once belong to the HKGFS?

Any idea which civilan registration she wore after 1993 when the RHKAAF was disbanded and became HKGFS?

[Savoia]

I.I. Great stuff .. and well done on negotiating a 'quality ship' for Helitalia! :ok:

Dave: The ex-Jordanian craft you sent down is the one in Dave Ed's photo (G-BVKP, see photo below where, presumably, she appears in more familiar surroundings):

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TDbfzoBwqZs/UmGL2lzSgTI/AAAAAAAAOvQ/vV7OG_HN_JA/w957-h554-no/S76A%252B+G-BVKP+at+ABZ+31+Jul+96+%2528Richard+Taylor%2529.jpg
Bristow S76A+ G-BVKP at Aberdeen on 31st July 1996 (Photo: Richard Taylor)

ShyTorque: Sì, VR-HZC. (See her sister ship below):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3l8pzxl_qng/UmGL2uDstfI/AAAAAAAAOvU/-INKd4muSyI/w842-h554-no/HKGFS+S76A%252B%252B+HKG15+%2528760297%2529+Central+Hpt+Hong +Kong+13+Nov+90+%2528Rolf+Wallner%2529.jpg
Hong Kong Government Flying Service S76A++ HKG-15 landing at the Central Heliport in Hong Kong on 13th November 1990 (Photo: Rolf Wallner)

This was the sister ship to HKG-16 and became VR-HZB before being sold to Canada.

[Dave Ed]

Had a couple of great weekends out in the Channel islands fixing BYDF.
One was a T5 snag. Picked up from Bristows Redhill by the Harrods 76, dropped off at the BYDF hangar on the Barclay Bros island, a landing pad blasted out of the cliffs I was told.
Twenty minute fix, over night in the visitors accommodation and a great flight back IFR into Battersea in BYDF, ILS into London City and breaking off for low level, along the Thames....one of my best trips sitting in co-pilot seat watching Ex Bristow (Avionic?? Steve Hogarth??) pilot working single pilot IFR through busy London Airspace......impressive. Nice to see all the avionics/autopilot I normally look after being used to the full.
Second trip was to change the weather radar scanner, on a Saturday, whilst DF was hangared on Guernsey. Again a quick fix. No flight available back to UK until Sunday evening. Had a whole weekend on Guernsey courtesy of Bristow/Barclay staying at the Idle Rocks hotel with bar bill "looked after" :) Loads of overtime :)
Loved the hotel, so took Jan there a few months later.......shortly after, it burnt down :(
Dave B....Didn't a team from Redhill have to travel by boat from Guernsey to do the regular servicing?

[ShyTorque]

ShyTorque: Sì, VR-HZC. (See her sister ship below):

Hong Kong Government Flying Service S76A++ HKG-15 landing at the Central Heliport in Hong Kong on 13th November 1990 (Photo: Rolf Wallner)

This was the sister ship to HKG-16 and became VR-HZB before being sold to Canada.

In which case the last time I flew her was on Oct 2nd, 1995, when she was known as VR-HZC. That was an interesting sortie too, which saved the RAF a bit of embarrassment.

I flew VR-HZB last on Sept 27th 1995, obviously a less interesting flight because I can't remember anything of it!

Neither aircraft appears in my logbook after those dates, although I was there for a few years longer. Were those two aircraft sold before the other GFS S-76s? A vague memory says they were.

[Savoia]

Lol .. between the Barclaycraft and I-HBAS there seems to have been quite a bit of involvement from various members of Rotorheads, great stuff! :ok:

ShyTorque: Having whetted our appetite, is there anything more you can say about your final sortie with HZC?

Also, how did this aircraft perform in the SAR role? I know the 76 is still used for SAR in Scandinavia.

[Dave B]

Dave Ed
Yes I believe people used to fly down to the Channel Islands to service DF, I believe the trip out by boat was quite pleasant.
My greatest memory of DF was flying round the Emperors palace in Tokyo, we had finished the air test, and got all the figures, when my little Japanese pilot said "have you ever seen the Emperors palace", "so I said no", so we circled the green roof tops of the palace.
Later that night we had a Chinese meal in Yokohama, (my guide did not like Japanese food, having lived for some time in Hong Kong). We returned on a night sightseeing flight over Tokyo by AS355. Talk about global warming, try Tokyo at night from a Helicopter.

[tomotomp]

Shy I must know you as I last flew VR-HZB and C on the 26th September 1995

[ShyTorque]

Tomotomp, I think we've met! Please check the P.M. I've sent you. ;)

[ShyTorque]

ShyTorque: Having whetted our appetite, is there anything more you can say about your final sortie with HZC?

Also, how did this aircraft perform in the SAR role? I know the 76 is still used for SAR in Scandinavia.

Savoia,

I was asked on the QT if I could retrieve someone the RAF had put somewhere (I can't really say more in public) then they needed them back in a big hurry because a typhoon was coming. Their only Wessex, used to put them in place, had just gone u/s. We were cleared to go and took off into the teeth of the wind. Flat out we could only make about 70 kts groundspeed (the term seaspeed would be more appropriate). On arrival at the pickup point I couldn't get the aircraft to land because the wind was so strong and gusting that the up-draughting off the sloping rock shelf kept us airborne in autorotation; every time I fully lowered the collective the Nr was tending to go over limits. A slight lull in the wind finally allowed us to get a wheel on. The IAS was still showing 55-60 kts plus in the hover. The pax jumped on in very short order. Not surprisingly they were very keen to board as they had watched my antics trying to land for a few minutes. On the way back we were flying with the typhoon winds behind us and we had well over 220 kts groundspeed, the fastest I've personally seen on a rotary winged aircraft. I was glad to get the aircraft shut down in one piece.

As far as a SAR platform was concerned, the S-76s were underpowered for the ambient conditions, often using well over 90%/90% Tq to hover OGE over a ship or the rocks. Not a good situation to find yourself in. The SAR automatics were reasonably good as long as you never trusted the "transition to climb from the auto hover" mode - it tried to kill me a few times. During one of my early night check rides my examiner was convinced it was me doing something wrong - he then tried it to show me how and we came very close to ditching; the aircraft made as if to transition away then descended instead of climbing...all "a bit challenging" in the dark with no horizon and your only visual reference, the ship already gone behind you.

Happy days. I think...

[Savoia]

Dave B: Some great reminiscences from your Tokyo expedition! :ok: Sorry to ask again but .. was the Barclaycraft in fact manufactured as an executive aircraft or was she converted for this in Japan. Also, as mentioned by Sanus, did she fly as part of Honda's corporate fleet?

ShyTorque: What a wonderful account of your experiences from the Orient .. fantastic .. and well done! :D

Flying underpowered aircraft in challenging circumstances generally demands greater skill levels but, such operations I know, are an absolute pain to contend with and, needless to say, a frustration in terms of the potential compromises to safety. Thankfully, aircraft are generally experiencing better performance levels with each new generation.

More Barclaycraft ..

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aeoDxobiYhA/UmJE8xBk9BI/AAAAAAAAOvs/wV7mcuhBuAI/w786-h554-no/S76A%252B%252B+G-BYDF+Jersey+9+Sep+10+%2528John+Fitzpatrick%2529.jpg
Sikorsky S-76A++ G-BYDF as seen at Jersey Airport on 9th September 2010 (Photo: John Fitzpatrick)

Here seen displaying her non-existent starboard passenger door!

Is it true that 'DF' is the last flying example of an 'A' model in the UK?

[OvertHawk]

G-BURS is an A++ and it's still operational as far as i'm aware, although i'm not sure who's got it since it was taken away from Premiair.

[Dave B]

Savoia

I am pretty sure that DF was kitted out by Sikorsky, or at least one of their contractors in the states. It was impressive, it even had a television in the back.
I am afraid I cant remember who it flew for in Tokyo, all I know it was very low hours, and spent most of its life there sat in the corner of the hangar. When they came to resurrect, it,they did a major inspection, despite the low hours.

[Fareastdriver]

VR-HZB last on Sept 27th 1995
the last time I flew her was on Oct 2nd, 1995, when she was known as VR-HZC
Shy I must know you as I last flew VR-HZB and C on the 26th September 1995


I last flew GBISZ from Shenzhen Heliport to the 24/3 platform on the 21st June 1995 and GBHLY on the on the same route both via the Pearl River on the 22nd.

Small world innit?

[Savoia]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-IJ2fxVtzao4/UmZSNhCk8YI/AAAAAAAAOxM/BCx1b9xMgWc/w778-h518-no/G-BISZ+Farnborough+1986.png
S-76A G-BISZ, Farnborough, 1986

FED: Out of interest, for how long did Bristows have 76's based in Hong Kong?


.

[industry insider]

I ferried BHLY to the docks before her departure to China, it was 1994, Southend if I remember. I think BISZ followed soon after.

BISZ was based at Redhill in the 1980s on UK charter work then moved to North Denes to join the offshore fleet in the late 80s after the BCAL buyout sprung the SPZ 7000 auto pilot equipped BIBG to Redhill on charter duty. SZ was always a low hour aircraft having spent so much time at Redhill where it wasn't that busy.

[OvertHawk]

SZ must have come back to UK thereafter, as she was at North Denes and NWI in 1999.

[Fareastdriver]

GBISZ was never based in Hong Kong. Bristow had a deal with China Overseas Helicopter Corp. who had a base in Xili Heliport on the other side of Shenzhen Bay from the New Territories. This was in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and was fairly civilised. They used Bristow 330 and 332L when they started in 1984. By the time I arrived there to start a new contract with the S76 in 1994 they had aircraft of their own.
The S76 was there because, the rumour was, that the chap from Phillips who was organising the transport had come from the GOM and thought that a 76 was the biggest aircraft available. They soon added a 332 when they found out what was required for winching, GBHLY was the Phillips aircraft and SZ arrived later primarily for Conoco.

It was hard work with a S76A+, especially when you had been off them for five years. The main problem was Group A en-route. At those temperatures it was about 1,000 ft. at 10,300 which meant that we could not use the route taken by the 332s around the north of Hong Kong and coast out at Sesan, an island well east of Myers Bay, then south for about 80 miles. Instead we had to route around the west via the Pearl River almost to Macau to keep clear of Kai Tak traffic. We were always on the knife edge for fuel which brought the problem of Huantien, Shenzhen international. Our route took us across their centreline almost as a soon as we were airborne and getting clearance for this was a nightmare. We tried getting clearance before we taxied and even before start-up but it was quite often rescinded. This meant that you had to taxy back, offload the pax and refuel. Eventually COHC cured the problem in the Chinese way. They took the whole of Huantien ATC out for a slap up banquet and after that we had no trouble.

The problem with the S76 offshore is that the customer can never be sure of what they could put on for the return trip. We use to pass them a payload for the return trip after we had calculated the max offshore take off weight about ten minutes before we arrived having got the platform weather.

I left the Chinese S76 operation in 1995 and came back shortly after on the 332L Soon after that SZ had gone and LY was replaced by BG a few years later. One of the major operations there during the summer were Typhoon Evacuations and Remannings. This could never be planned ahead because the different oil companies used different weather forecasting agencies so they got differing forecasts. In the worst case you could be remanning a platform whilst next door they have just started evacuating. The crunch came to the S76 about the summer of 2005.

We were evacuating the Phillips 24/3 and the 76 had gone out on its first early morning trip and as usual had passed a return payload. On the subsequent flight some three hours later the temperature had gone up somewhat so he passed a new, lower payload. This threw the platform because they had worked out the whole days programme using the initial payload. I was in the office awaiting my aircraft, a 332, to come back and I took the call from Phillips and they were not happy. With my ears still ringing I pulled out the 76 performance charts and I could see what the problem was. The situation wasn't helped by having the heaviest S76 flown by the heaviest pilot in Bristow. The remanning came a couple of days later and I could see the writing on the wall because they omitted the 76 from the program. One week later they terminated the contract.

I cannot remember whether it went to Singapore or on a boat to somewhere else but it disappeared quite quickly. I was glad to see it go. There was always the chance that it would be convenient for me to strap it on if one of the established pilots fell over. I’d had enough of throwing helicopters off the side of helidecks and relying on gravity to bring on VTOSS.

[unstable load]

Savoia,

Not trying to be picky, but that picture of BISZ is of an A Model with Allisons.
The A+/++/C etc have the engine cowling with the flat deck plate of the
cowling only at the back 2 feet or so,like the picture in your earlier posted
picture of G-BYDF.

[industry insider]

G-BISZ was converted from an Allison engine A model to an Arriel engine A+ in 1991 or 2. It was the second last one to be converted, the last being G-BIBG.

[Savoia]

FED: Thank you for your summary of Far East S76 ops, most interesting! :ok:

UL: You are not being too picky, just accurate, and which I greatly appreciate.

Based on your recognition pointers .. the craft below should hopefully be an A+

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-cAlDr0JWuIk/UmkUn3WADAI/AAAAAAAAO0E/mSFiw7L8aAU/w958-h527-no/S-76A%252B+G-BHLY+Malta+Luqa+10+Jan+92+%2528Jospeh+Tonna%2529.jpg
S-76A+ G-BHLY at Malta International Airport, Luqa, on 10th January 1992 (Photo: Jospeh Tonna)

As flown by Industry Insider to Southend prior to her shipment to China where she would be flown by FED.

[Dave B]

At Bristow Redhill, we converted 16 S76s to Arriel power, 10 original BHL machines, 5 obtained from the Royal Jordanian Air Force, and one for Fayair.

[unstable load]

Savoia,
It's either an A+ or ++, the differences are mostly structural and the engines.

[ericferret]

I believe at least one of the Bristow S76A+(+) had a glass cockpit so could that be an A+++ and the Bond/CHC S76C's had analogue cockpits so maybe an S76C-.

[Fareastdriver]

LY was an 'A' when I first flew it and an 'A+' when I last flew it.

[industry insider]

I flew all the BHL S-76s in A form and A+ form until 1995 and at that time there were none which had glass. The only different one was G-BIBG with a Sperry Autopilot, all of the others were Hamilton Standard AFCS phase II which had no holds, not even a simple heading hold.

[ericferret]

I believe Bristow were operating a 76A++ with a glass cockpit out of Norwich until fairly recently. I wonder if someone can confirm that.

[Dave B]

Industry Insider
If my memory serves me correctly, the Five ex RJAF aircraft had AFCS Phase 111.
G-BIBG had an overhead panel that one CAA surveyor was always grumbling about,as he thought it was a danger to the pilots head. We had to respectfully remind him, that it was an approved mod., and we were not about to rewire the whole cockpit. Also BA had Five aircraft like this. Had to agree with him though, it was a danger.

[industry insider]

Dave B

The 4 BA ones I remember were BHYB, BZAC, BIAV, BIAW (can't remember a 5th one) and yes, they were the same fit as BIBG.

I never flew the ex Jordanian ones and I am sure you are right (knowing you as I do). The Phase II I remember were the original BHL S-76s from the early 80s.

[Savoia]

Also BA had Five aircraft like this.

Ah ha! I was planning to head in that direction.

But for now ..

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Df0x7p2jKv0/Umty0nTZnqI/AAAAAAAAO2U/XahQYSpaHho/w155-h119-no/BF+logo+s.png

More Barclaycraft ..

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QjakGsODG6s/UmtyvSf4nDI/AAAAAAAAO2E/l9Lx08Ek5c4/w958-h479-no/G-BYDF_BHX_18+Jan+2012+depart+for+bristol+trg.jpg
S-76A++ G-BYDF departs Birmingham International Airport on 18th January 2012 for Bristol

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FEUTMAllb-o/UmvjBSW_OQI/AAAAAAAAO3A/mu1NQKyPTjE/w620-h413-no/Barclay+Bros+home+on+Brecqhou.jpg
Barclay Castle on Brecqhou Island (immediately East of Guernsey)

This is where Dave Ed visited to sort-out the Barclaycraft's weather radar.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EopW1EdTqBo/UmvjBJfAPfI/AAAAAAAAO3E/lyovx7irLCs/w475-h323-no/The+17-gun+salute+to+honour+Baroness+Thatcher+was+timed+to+coincide +with+a+similar+firing+in+London.+%2528Picture+by+Peter+Fran kland+17+Apr+13.jpg
The parapet of Barclay Castle

The guns are not merely decorative and were last fired on 17th April 2013 (in a timed salute with guns in London) in tribute to the late Baroness Thatcher on the day of her funeral. Maggs was of course a guest of Barclay Bros. at the time of her passing (albeit not on Brecqhou).

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uv4uIZmLoS8/UmvjBGqQ4JI/AAAAAAAAO28/aUVvx6rbxK8/w450-h304-no/Three-Photos-from-book.JPG
The helipad at Brecqhou

Sorry for the poor quality helipad shot. Perhaps there are some Bristow or ex-Bristow staff with photos from the islands?

[nomorehelosforme]

Do they have a support/spare machine?

[Savoia]

NMH: Not sure (don't think so) but perhaps someone can enlighten us! They probably have someone (a charter firm) they use for back-up etc.



https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xyszxaYoe1Y/Umvu0KwHY8I/AAAAAAAAO34/zJjKTlO02ZM/w800-h547-no/Tim+Collins%252C+MT%252C+%2526+Mike+Wood+%2528Dave+Ed%2529.j pg
Maggs with Tim Collins and Mike Wood


Can anyone help with a likely date and location for Dave Ed's photo?

[Dave B]

Looks like the time before the election, 25 May to 10 June 1987 when the aircraft was based in the Redhill Hangar, under armed police guard. Maggie was never seen there, the aircraft used to depart and pick her up somewhere else, I guess Battersea Heliport, but am not certain.
That was the time I showered an armed policeman in Hydraulic fluid, most embarrassing.
We got a thank you letter from her office.

[Savoia]

Dave: Grazie mille! :ok:

This tallies with the black and white photo I have of Maggs on the campaign trail with a Bristow 76 and which is dated 30th May 1987.

Would you happen to know the aircraft's ID?

Also .. did you keep the standard utility seating for such flights (as per your offshore configuration) or was there some other arrangement?

It should have been a great photo to capture the policeman and the incident with the hydraulic fluid!

Do you happen to know whether letters (such as the one you refer to) and other Bristow memorabilia .. have been preserved, such as in a company library?

[Fareastdriver]

I'm certain that would have been GBISZ. That was the one I used to take the Old Man around with in the early eighties. We used it at Haverfordwest for a short contract in 1986 and then I took it back to Redhill.
We won't talk about a couple of Welsh ladies in the back for a weekend in the Smoke with some fellow Bristow employees.

There was no VIP fit as such. Nappy liners for the headsets was about it. We could turn the front row around to the back row therebye cutting it down to eight seats but we had to stop that because the rearward facing seats did not have whiplass protection. I lugged Lord Carrington plus hangers-on around Scotland later on and we used standard seating for that.

[industry insider]

The aircraft was not BISZ, it may have been BIEJ and the picture was taken at Battersea. MrsT was sometimes picked up at Battersea but often down at a temporary landing site in Canary Wharf area. The authorities were very worried about the IRA in 1987 so it was always in 12 seat fit with Mrs T!, Denis and security. There was one other site in Central London which was prepared but not used. It required the crew being checked out on the backwards Category A take off.

[Savoia]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dx82FMd51pg/Um4hjYHmmjI/AAAAAAAAO54/FUdZbkHqWWU/w957-h497-no/S-76A+G-BISZ+Redhill+April+1985+%2528Peter+Fitzmaurice%2529.jpg
S-76A G-BISZ at Redhill in April 1985 (Photo: Peter Fitzmaurice)

Haven't been able to put my finger on an 80's shot of BIEJ but .. I do note in Peter Fitzmaurice's photo (above) that 'SZ' is wearing the Bristow title above the passenger door as per Dave Ed's photo.

It seems that Alan B must have asked Dave B :p to paint some additional script on the aircraft (for Dave Ed's photo shows the Bristow name appearing on the for'ard cowling as well as above the door) meaning that for operation 'Maggs Aloft' either 'SZ' or 'EJ' was wearing three sets of Bristow titles!

[Savoia]

Is there another possibility?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WEgFpZRxjVc/Um4_AsiAA6I/AAAAAAAAO6I/e4slP_BxxCg/w942-h554-no/S-76A+G-BHBF+is+pictured+in+their+hangar+at+Aberdeen+Airport+on+Marc h+23rd+1991.jpg
S-76A+ G-BHBF, Aberdeen, 23rd March 23rd 1991

I'm afraid my premise for suggesting this as a contender for 'Iron Lady 1' is pretty flimsy and rests solely on the style of the Bristow title on the for'ard cowling and which matches that of Dave Ed's photo but .. it lacks the titles above the door as well as the white 'door surround' safety stripe (they may have been removed later for various reasons).

'BF' was of course also known as 'The Spirit of Paris'.

I am certain that someone knows which craft was deployed and, as I.I. has suggested, it may well have been G-BIEJ.

[Savoia]

That was quick!

Just received a message saying that 'BF' did have the door surround safety stripe and that despite how it appears in Dave Ed's photo, such stripes on Bristow 76's were in fact grey.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3vejoCyFsV8/Um5HDVnj_7I/AAAAAAAAO6g/-ABdcmCMMqo/w958-h485-no/BHBF+door+paint.png
Enlarged section of BHBF showing the grey door surround safety stripe

Unfortunately, in Dave Ed's photo, Tim Collins is standing exactly where one might expect to see the 'Spirit of Paris' wording - if indeed it was BHBF.

All of this assumes of course that Alan Bristow was in fact willing to allow Margaret Thatcher to fly around Britain, at the height of her popularity, in a helicopter named 'The Spirit of Paris'! :E

[Dave B]

Yes, Mrs. Thatchers aircraft was BF, SZ was on standby, along with a 206. I don't know why that aircraft was chosen, as it was based in Aberdeen, but the guys in Aberdeen did a good job of tarting it up for the job. On its way down looking immaculate it staged through Yarmouth, where someone doing a turnround let off the floats. So Yarmouth had to spend most of the night repacking them, before it could be ready for the next day.
The Bristow sign over the door on SZ, was because all news cameramen filming people getting out, would studiously avoid the tail boom lettering. With letters over the door they could not ignore them.
I still have copies of letters from the Police deputy chief constable, and the conservative central office.

[nomorehelosforme]

Still no pictures of what we can only assume is a VVIP configuration in its current ownership would be interesting?

[rotorspeed]

Would just like to say that I've really enjoyed reading all the history/nostalgia comments from everyone on this! A thread just about one aircraft didn't seem exactly the first to dip into - but it's almost a bit of a soap now - easy interesting reading at the end of a day!

And Savoia do keep posting your fascinating historical stuff - we are privileged to be able to enjoy your enormous knowledge, and so well written!

[Fareastdriver]

GBHBF was used in some London Paris air race which is why it got its name. It didn’t win but it could have done if they had talked to Sikorsky first. They would have approved it to fly at 2X100% torque which would have been close to VNE. They had done it dozens of times during certification so they were quite confident..

The first three aircraft in 1980 were GBHBF, GBHLY and GBGXY joined by GBIEJ in 1981. The aircraft hadn’t really been fully tested and we were discovering all sorts of idiosyncrasies. One was the VTA (Variable tuning attenuator). This was an hydraulic hammer that hit the aircraft in the opposite way that it wanted to shake. When it got out of sequence vibration went from moderate to severe so you had to pull the circuit breaker.

To brighten up a boring trip the Allisons had an overspeed protection device. You tested this taxiing out by pulling one engine back until the needles split and then holding down its test switch. This would cause the engine to hunt about 10% up and down proving the system worked. This used to go off in the air so you had one engine galloping up and down with the other galloping down and up trying to compensate. They would never get in sequence so the aircraft would fishtail furiously with the swings in torque. One had to lower the lever and pull the throttles to see which one had gone wrong before it threw the passengers out of the windows. Pulling it back to idle cleared it and so on you went.

Engineers will want to know the reason why the undercarriage pin holes have circles painted around them. I was bombing along just west of Sumburgh when the undercarriage lowered itself. Just like that; wheeze wheeze thump thump thump, three greens. I diverted to Sumburgh because the gear had gone down at 145 knots and its limit being 130 so I was worried about the flotation gear. Over the radio I asked Bristow to send an engineer out to put the lock pins in before I landed. I threw the pins down to him but he couldn’t find the holes. In the end I was hovering over a committee of engineers and they eventually managed to find them. After that they were painted.

We only flew single pilot in the first few years. Because the initial plan by Sikorsky to achieve a basic weight that was 50% of Maximum the aircraft were very light. Twelve passengers (at a standard weight of 175 lbs) were quite common for the Beatrice. At the same time the Tigers were being introduced and they had bigger problems than we did. There wasn’t an effective winching vehicle at Aberdeen so we became quite adept at landing on a helideck between the blades of a stranded Tiger. We were also convenient for shifting drilling tools around as well.

On one occasion I was called in at about 15.00 to take a drilling tool to the Basin. The tool arrived and it was still glowing. We could not take it like that so I had to wait until it had cooled down. Eventually it was going to be too late for me to return to Aberdeen so ops were going to arrange a night stop at Unst. It was late and dark when I left and Highland Radar and Sumburgh had both closed so I only had Scottish Information. I arrived at the platform and shut down to unload. I didn’t need fuel for Unst so off I went. Scottish Info then told me that they could not get hold of Unst. It was a gin clear night so I pressed on but I could not raise ATC or BHL Unst either. I could see the runway and the Bristow hanger lights illuminating the apron through the open doors so I set up an approach. There was then a breathless voice on the radio from ATC asking for the callsign of the aircraft on finals. Then the runway lights came on and I landed and taxied to the hanger. There was nobody around so I shut down and went inside. All the engineers were at their break in the office drinking coffee and the ripple of jaws hitting the floor was something to behold. Not being familiar with the 76 they thought the noise I was making outside was a Dash 7. Aberdeen Operations had forgotten to inform Unst. The controller involved had had an alcohol problem and after this he was employed in other duties.

An amusing one was when returning from the Trans World 58 near the Auk field. All fuelled up, in the cruise, TBMN and I noticed one of the front seat passengers looking a bit ill. I checked on him a couple of times and he was getting worse, sweating profusely with his eyes bulging. Then I realised what it was. On the 76 we had a mechanical fuel remaining indicator that was set when you first started. Theoretically one should reset it every time one refuelled but it was out of sight and out of mind. This poor chap had been looking at a mass of instruments that he did not understand except for the one which was labelled FUEL REMAINING and this was slowly ticking down to Zero. I leaned over, punched in about a 1,000 lbs, shouted, “In Flight Refuelling” and carried on.

Single pilot operations came to an end after the TW58’s refuelling system broke down. The pilot expected to refuel at the Auk but when he called them up they refused to accept him. Because of the 76 troubles at the time Shell had banned all 76s from their decks. The pilot thought he had enough fuel for Aberdeen but the headwinds got worse and he landed at Nigg lighthouse on the fumes of a few litres of fuel. It was then discovered that the client had paid for two pilots up front. Should they have had two pilots then the extra weight would have meant that it would have run out of fuel and ditched just short of Nigg. However the decision was made that two pilots would be the norm for everybody and when we had enough FOs that was it.

In April 1981 we went to LeHavre to pick up GBISZ,(me) GBTIR and GBJFL?. One of out pilots had an aversion to any food except fish suppers or pie, beans and chips. He spent all the time we were out there living on French fries and bread rolls. When we had finished rebuilding on the docks it was quite late but we found a restaurant that unstacked enough chairs and offered us Lasagne and wine. He wouldn’t eat any of this and as the cook had gone so there were no chips so he had bread rolls for dinner. During the unloading TR’s tail rotor had been nicked by something or other and Sikorsky told them to Araldite the hole and fly it.. Our worthy had picked this aircraft and he had to land it at LeHavre airport because it was so bad and so he was stuck there living on bread rolls and chips for three days whilst they fixed the tail rotor.

February 1982 found Avgas and I at Antwerp picking up GBJVX and GBJVZ, the four door one. VZ was, I believe, an ex FAA machine and it still had the blue and white finish in the door apertures. It had a small centre consol with a blanking plate where the Loran was, fuel pressure gauges, Artificial horizons and OBS instead of flight directors. Avgas and the one engineer went in VX, which had a normal fit and I followed in formation with VZ.
As we coasted down Belgium I felt like a fag. On a normal 76 I would put my cigarettes between the radio master switches and the back wall. On this one there weren’t any switches so I tucked the on a step in front of the Loran blanking plate. There was a gap I didn’t notice at the front and my lighter had disappeared down into the consol. At that time we used to carry a miniature screwdriver on a chain to undo the doghouse fasteners so I unscrewed the blanking plate and fished my lighter out from the wiring. Put the plate back on and then lit up. Whilst this was happening my maps decided to migrate from the left hand seat down to the left hand collective. I then had to go into loose formation, unstrap, sit on the consol, collect my maps and then regain control and reposition. Crossing to the UK the weather was getting worse and worse and I could not get the VHF navs to work. In the end I did a formation ILS on Avgas into Gatwick. We were in fairly thick cloud from 2,500ft down to 800 but being an ex RAF pilot I had done innumerable formation GCAs and ACR7s so to me it was a non event. Surprisingly it was to Gatwick ATC as well.

Towards the end of 1982 I picked up GBKJU from Southampton docks. We unloaded in the next bay to where the SS Canberra was being refitted after the Falklands Conflict. I was supposed to come back in formation with a S61 that had come over from Rhode Island at the same time but I get fed up of flying at 110 knots and I decided to leave him before anybody noticed that it still had its American registration painted on the underside.

My final ferry was when Redhill found out that I was the last legal 330J pilot they had in the UK. To this end I went to Redhill and ferried GBERG to Portsmouth to begin a new adventure in China.

I could have gone with it; they asked me to but I turned it down.

The worst decision I ever made.

[industry insider]

FED

I think the registrations were G BJVZ and BJVX? VZ became the first Great Yarmouth S-76 in 1984. I was moved to GY to fly it, single pilot for a variety of clients, Britoil, Hamilton Bros to the Bar Protector on the Esmond field and lots of Ad hoc flights for Amoco when a 212 went unserviceable.

Even then VZ still had 4 car type doors and fuel pressure gauges, a slightly standardised center console, TANS but King radios and no Flight Director. But it was light and fast and always my favourite, except for SZ which was always tight as it had few hours having languished in Redhill not doing much.

BJVX was the next permanent Great Yarmouth S-76 after we won a contract with Conoco to the Viking field. BISZ used to make an appearance from Redhill when either VZ or VX were unserviceable, I had many drives to Redhill to collect it.

The thing was BISZ had no Area Nav (TANS) so single pilot offshore could be a challenge NDB hopping and DR nav. In those days, VFR did not require an area navigation system according to the Ops Manual if you could use "other means". The ND NDB and radar worked fine for short range.

I well remember a day when we got a call from British Airways looking for an as hoc S-76 for the a day's flying. All of their 3 S-76s at Beccles were unserviceable because an avionics engineer had removed the cannon plug at the back of all of their Decca TANS units for a check, and systematically damaged all the plugs.

We were glad of the Ad hoc rates so dispatched SZ to Beccles to collect the BA passengers. The look on their faces when the BA pilots saw that we didn't even have a TANS fitted was a picture! Happy days, North Denes in the mid 80s flying the S-76 single pilot and the S-61 for Shell when the S-61 needed an extra crew.

[Fareastdriver]

I think the registrations were G BJVZ and BJVX?

I can't read my own log books so I have corrected that.

March 1981 and North Denes had two out of their three Wessai unserviceable so down I went with a S76 to help them out. I arrived in the afternoon and after the hotel had been fixed up I got the briefing for the evening shuttle. I was taking one of the unit's cabin attendants with me so I had to fill him in with emergencies, doors and luggage bay etc. My briefing from the chief pilot consisted of an A4 sheet of paper with the route from North Denes to Leman and Indie with a side route for Bacton. The platform positions in their nav folder was in Decca co-ordinates so I had to find out the lats & longs for the TANS. There appeared to be one main platform for each field so I put those in; traffic gave us the route and off we went.

The weather was lousy; low cloud, poor vis and getting dark. I picked up the first platform on the Leman and as I approached it the CA beside me confirmed that it was the right one. I landed on and thought I was on a ship. It had what looked like wooden decking and rails like Brighton Pier. Not to worry; off we went for the next place.

This was more difficult as there were so many platforms close together. For the Wessex it was easy. Once they had landed on the first one they just reset the Decca pen and it would guide them everywhere but you could not do that with TANS. Not having a positive position for the next one I decided to circle the field, establish the destination on radar and go at it that way. I had to do this because the weather was really too bad to continue but the Wessex was still steaming around so I could not throw it in with my super-dupa modern helicopter.

I got outside the field and got a good picture that matched the sheet of A4 I was holding. There were a couple of trawlers floating around and one of them was just off track as I drove towards my next destination. Allofasudden out of the gloom came this massive chunk of steelware with SHELL LEMAN written all over it. This was one of the Shell platforms that they hadn't bothered to tell me about or mark on the map.

Just at that point the Wessex announced that he was chucking it in and so did I. I should have climbed and come back for an NDB at North Denes as was explained on this sheet of A4 but I had had enough of North Denes briefings. 300ft because the Wessex was at 500. Undertook him, comfirmed the track with a light ship. The CA guided me pointing out the lifeboat station, along the coast until the ADF needle went across, right turn and over the dog track to the runway.

I was not happy and I had a fifteen minutes jump up and down. The next morning the CP apologised and they spent a day doing a proper situation map in case it happened again.

The next time I went down it was because of Ben Breach's crash. They could not recover the aircraft because of shifting sands so they did not know whether he was still in it. On the basis that he may have never be found I flew a party consisting of his wife, priest etc to lay a wreath at the site.

The next day he was found in the nets of a trawler.

The Wessex was grounded after that so we had regular detachments to Yarmouth until they got their 212s organised. On amusing episode was that the 76 was so fast in relation to the Wessex that some of the day trippers would get home half an hour or so earlier than usual.

One of them did; to find his wife and the neighbour weren't expecting him.

[heli1]

Didn't the Spirit of Paris refer to the London Paris London speed record set up between Battersea and Issy in 1981? I recall being at Battersea for this and still have a large sticker duplicating the one on the S76.
The record didn't last long.....Aerospatiale beat it with a Dauphin within weeks!
That Dauphin is now in the Helicopter Museum but efforts to persuade Bristow or Sikorsky to give up a timex S -76a have so failed.

[Savoia]

Dave B: Great stuff. Thanks for sorting that out! :ok:

NMH: To fulfil your request we may need to 'recruit' the support of someone with contacts at Fairoaks to see whether it is possible and permissible .. for someone to take an interior shot of the Barclaycraft while she's in for maintenance at GAMA. My experience of S76 VIP interiors is that they vary widely .. with the majority that I've seen not being that spectacular. Some of the latest offerings (within the past five years or so) are among the best I've seen however.

A member of the Rotorheads community (who used to fly the Barclaycraft) PM'd me explaining that those tasked to fly (and maintain) the Barclaycraft are required to sign confidentiality agreements (pretty standard) and which is one reason for a lack of additional photos.

Rotorspeed: Do not be fooled by my 'dabblings' in rotary-wing history, for much of it is done 'on the hoof'! But thank you for your encouragement. :) I'm glad to be able to share my hobby (helicopter history) among those with similar interests.

I agree that the thread responses have been enjoyable - I have been especially pleased by contributions from Dave B, Dave Ed, Fareastdriver, Industry Insider, OvertHawk, Plank Cap and ShyTorque.

It was also great to discover that Dave B and Industry Insider had a hand in helping out with Helitalia!

Have a little bit of Brecqhou history to share on the next page and, as mentioned earlier, I would like to touch on the BA 76's .. plus the odd additional 'A' model. So, with a bit of help .. we may be able to squeeze another couple of pages out of the thread. We shall see.

FED: Wow! What brilliant, enjoyable and amusing posts .. tremendous! :D

I'm going to come back to you with some questions but .. for now:

One was the VTA (Variable tuning attenuator). This was an hydraulic hammer that hit the aircraft in the opposite way that it wanted to shake. When it got out of sequence vibration went from moderate to severe so you had to pull the circuit breaker.

Dear God .. I should like to have seen one of those in operation. As a contraption it sounds utterly intriguing! :eek: :)

Didn't the Spirit of Paris refer to the London Paris London speed record set up between Battersea and Issy in 1981?




A glance back to Tuesday 8th January 1980 when one of Bristow's S76's broke the London-Paris speed record which, surprisingly, had until then been held by 'Sox' Hosegood flying a Bristol Belvedere!

Hosegood's best time was 1hr 40mins in the Type 192 whereas Le Grys managed a best time of 1hr 11mins.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AT3jikVWrNs/Tm5SQcRjD5I/AAAAAAAAE5U/-DMU9ZXuPi0/s576/FI%25252019%252520Jan%2525201980%252520%2525281%252529.jpg
Flight International 19th January 1980

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EOBAlNAbfbc/Tm5RvzCtW9I/AAAAAAAAE5c/9QLl_mirbIw/Spirit%252520of%252520Paris%252520Postcard.jpg

BHBF's Crew: Frederick Le Grys, John Allerton, Douglas West
Observers: Capt Eric Brown & Carolyn Evans
Courier: Michael Fopp

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3r66e9OOtIs/Tm5RrgMuukI/AAAAAAAAE5Y/Hj5ZSY4Yr3M/s800/S76A%252520G-BHBF%252520Aberdeen%252520Dyce%25252013%252520Jul%25252083%2 52520%252528Don%252520Hewins%252529.jpg
S76A G-BHBF (still wearing her 'Spirit of Paris' name) at Aberdeen's Dyce on 13th July 1983 some three and a half years after her record-breaking flight (Photo: Don Hewins)

[Dave B]

Just to get back to the election job for Mrs "T", we used to clean the aircraft inside and out every morning, and then the Police would come along and put a bomb sniffer dog in the back. This was a long haired Labrador that used to jump all over the seats, and leave hairs everywhere, so we then had to set to with the vacuum cleaner again.
Another guard dog they brought in was a huge German Shepard with bloodshot eyes, it used to sit in the hangar and defy anyone to go near the aircraft, the police told us that at one time this dog was chasing a burglar, when the burglar ran around and hid behind a stud partition wall, the dog did not bother to go around the wall, but bashed its way straight through it.

[76fan]

Mann's flew Mrs T from Chequers to Glyndbourne and afterwards back to Battersea in July 1980 in the Agusta 109A without any of that hoo-ha about aircraft security as far as I know, although one of her special branch did ask me if we had flown a "test run" before hand!:bored: It was a bit of a squeeze for them all in the back and I am sure she had a much better flight to Harrogate in Lord Hanson's exec 76B fifteen years later.

[nomorehelosforme]

Poor Maggie having to travel in a 109! Im sure she was fine, she was a very hardy lady, don't know what Dennis might have said though!

[Savoia]

Arrivederci Barclaycraft!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/10560336173_ba1e14b21b_b.jpg
S76A++ G-BYDF as seen at Guernsey Airport on 8th April 2007 (Photo: TZ Aviation)

I'm sad to say that this will be the last photo of the Barclaycraft (from me) for now. :( I have others .. but this is the last 'decent' one.

Dave B: Brilliant story. :ok:

76Fan: I suppose that must have been with G-OAMH? If anyone from Mann's is reading (you know what I'm going to ask) I wonder if anyone perchance took a photo of the event?

[76fan]

Savoia

Yes, G-OAMH but no photographs. Not really the "done thing" to take pictures of one's passengers in the exec helicopter world unless they ask.

[ambidextrous]

:mad: Surprisingly enough in view of the Barclay brothers known aversion to alcohol, Brecqhou is not 'dry' as the picture below shows. The only pub on the island, self-help with an honesty box, proved to be a touch draughty as a Northerly wind whistled through the cracks, likewise the guest bungalow! Sadly there was no Brecqhou 'real ale' to be had, with Sark a touch too far to go for any 'real ale'! Overall an interesting Cook's tour secondment. :mad:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ysCsB_1AzI0/UnFpxyJUDUI/AAAAAAAAO9U/nTOcC9y6cfQ/w515-h761-no/Dog+%2526+Duck+Brecqhou+island.jpg:mad:

[Savoia]

Just to get back to the election job for Mrs "T", we used to clean the aircraft inside and out every morning, and then the Police would come along and put a bomb sniffer dog in the back. This was a long haired Labrador that used to jump all over the seats, and leave hairs everywhere, so we then had to set to with the vacuum cleaner again.

What Dave failed to mention is that on one occasion, after the security check was complete, the dog-handler left Dave with the bomb-detecting mutt .. whereupon Dave was about to give the quadruped a piece of his mind when all of a sudden the canine looked up at him as if to say ..

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-M4TsZdKoLic/UnOZhp189nI/AAAAAAAAO-Q/Y49Y04BT7Z0/w670-h176-no/Police+dog+at+Redders+illustration.png

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-OddRWs_YHGo/UnFnKayzjvI/AAAAAAAAO88/6TevAcwU_2A/s33-no/Super+Smiley.png

Ambi: Great to see more Rotorheads with connections to the Barclaycraft! :ok: I see a lot of 'censored' labels though .. is there something you're not telling us? :E

[Dave B]

Nice one Savoia

[Phil Kemp]

In April 1981 we went to LeHavre to pick up GBISZ,(me) GBTIR and GBJFL?.
Hey, I was on that trip... :)



When we had finished rebuilding on the docks it was quite late but we found a restaurant that unstacked enough chairs and offered us Lasagne and wine.
That evening was the highlight of the trip - they treated us fabulously.

This trip occurred on the Easter weekend in 1981 and was great fun! Because it was a holiday, there were no Customs people available to clear the aircraft and I recall it took a couple of bottles of Scotch and fast talking to resolve that issue. :D

A Puma destined forthe Mexican Presidential flight was sitting there when we arrived, and they were shocked when we pulled out 3 S76's and left a day later - no hanging around as two of these ships were destined for Nideria and had to be turned around immediately to meet the contract deadline.

Flying up to the LeHavre airport, when they opened the pilots door of the aircraft, all the aircraft paperwork blew away, leaving one set of charts and information for two aircraft to ferry back to Redhill. Gatwick asked what was going on, and why one aircraft was talking for both and why we weren't both communicating - there was actually another communication going on on 123.45 as one ship followed the other.

On the way over the channel, we were tasked with completeing as much of the Cof A test flight as possible to expedite the turn round and departure from Redhill. Al Tait was flying and when we selected the Hydraulics off and then back on, the caution light remained illuminated. Al turned a noticeable shade of white and said "that isn't good". We debated continuing the test and turning off the other system to see if it would restore the original system. On turning off the number two system and turning it back on - it also remained illuminated. :uhoh:

As the aircraft couldn't be controlled wthout hydraulics, we didn't disturb the flight controls, but frantically got into the Flight Manual to see our next course of action. It turned out that this aircraft incorporated a modification that maintained a hydraulic caution after it was activated, to ensure that you could identify the problem... I did briefly think I was going to die there - and by the tone of Al's voice, I don't think he was overly confident about the outcome either!

Got them into Redhill and off they headed to Nigeria a week or so later. These were the last S76's to be delivered at this time, as Bristow had cancelled the remaining orders after the loss in Aberdeen. I seem to recall more showing up later though (anyone?).

I actually have some pretty good pictures of that trip, if I can just find them...

[Fareastdriver]

These were the last S76's to be delivered at this time, as Bristow had cancelled the remaining orders after the loss in Aberdeen.

At the end of the seventies Bristows were aware that there would be a massive expansion in helicopter requirements for the North Sea. The problem was equipment. Sikorsky had already closed downed the S61 line and Bristows were taking delivery of BHOF and BHOG, the last two. The S330 Puma had, despite a few technical problems, performed reasonably well but was unpopular with its clients because of noise, cramped space, no proper luggage bay and its necessity to use offshore diversion to carry a decent payload. Also Aerospatiale were not helping with spares support and the Old Man vowed he would not buy anything from them again. To meet the need they ordered a shipload of S76As that were, in Lawrence Bristow’s own words, “going to flood the North Sea”. Jerry Hardy’s blade separation put an end to that.

As a result Bristow had to search for another supplier. They swallowed their pride and cooperated with Aerospatiale so as to produc the AS332L ‘Bristow Tiger’. The rest is history.

Phil's post reminded me of hydraulic failures. Breezing back to Aberdeen late at night there was a banging and crashing above me accompanied by a shuddering of the No2 Hydraulic gauge. Instinctively (and futilely) I lowered the undercarriage. (For 332/225 pilots, on the 76 the services etc are on the No2 RH system as opposed to the No1 LH on the Pumas). This was a waste of time as there are no hydraulic reservoir as such so all it did before the No2 went to Zero was to unlock the doors. I was now down to one hydraulic system, flying controls only (not even a VTA) with an unlocked undercarriage, lousy weather at Aberdeen but Glasgow fuel because of the weather. I passed my predicament to Aberdeen telling them that I was going to have a go at Dyce but if it failed I was going to Kinloss, a Master Diversion airfield, as I did not feel like flying across Scotland with only one hydraulic pump. This was before they had invented approach bans and I had another captain with me so we could use 200ft..

We flew the ILS and at DH my companion could not see anything so around we went and off to Kinloss. The weather was fine, as normal, so we went through the emergency lowering procedure in the hover just before we landed. The gear came down with lots of noise so then I put it down.

OC Eng was there to see this new arrival and he was not happy. When the S76 blows down its undercarriage with an air bottle all the oil in the system is exhausted to atmosphere. My 76 had sprayed a load of graffiti all over Kinloss’s brand new white concrete apron.

It was too late to do anything. Our sole passenger went to Aberdeen in a taxi to clear customs and then got the same taxi back to Inverness where he lived. Next morning our engineers found that the pump’s quill drive has failed. At that time hydraulic pumps were changed ‘On Condition’. The pump we had been flying on had 450 more hours than the one that had failed.

After that Bristow changed their pumps at regular intervals.

[hico-p]

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z155/hico-p/BZACFlorida.jpg (http://s188.photobucket.com/user/hico-p/media/BZACFlorida.jpg.html)

Cover of "Rotor & Wing" Bridgeport - myself with Andy O'Pry, November 1979.

Arrived Southampton in May 1980. During night landing trials Forties field October 1980, main tx chip warning required landing on Charlie platform. High winds blew a/c over when defective deck tie-down point failed. Shipped back to Aberdeen and rebuilt at Gatwick and returned to service in Sept1981 - tail always seemed to have a list to port!!

First Sperry fit was G-BHYB at Conroe in February 1981 followed by G-BIAW in July and G-BIAV in September that year.

[industry insider]

BZAC-registration named after old Jock Cameron's dog Zac, so he used to say?

[ShyTorque]

Savoia,

If it's who I think it is, the RHS captain in the photo of G-BYDF at post #83 now fills the post of "Head of Flight Operations International" at Bristows and sometimes finds time to post here.

[Savoia]

Phil: Interesting story, every good luck with the photo search! :ok:

FED: Your accounts of the S76 are fascinating and .. I think I must concede with Snarlie when back in 2011 he wrote:


Savoia, don`t get too orgasmic about the S76 in the corporate world in the 1980`s. The AS 365N Dauphin family was superior in all respects bar one. Range, speed, ride quality, reliability, running costs, ease of maintenance, powerplant were all superior to the Allison engined S76. The only plus for the S76 was the cabin, which is what has made it popular with owners over the years. The Dauphin cabin, no matter how plush the interior fittings, was always like sitting on cushions on the floor and the back row of seats was always a challenge for ladies in short skirts.


In response to Snarlie, yes, I admit, when it comes to the 76 .. I am seduced by the rake of her bows and the racy style of her sheers and always try to find excuses to love her but .. the stark reality (and to use one of Heli1's expressions) is that (the A model at least) seems to have been something of a 'puppy' operationally. Still .. she is a beautiful helicopter to observe and to fly in.

Hico-P: What a lovely shot! My godfather also flew BZAC (and which I shall come to in a later post).

ShyTorque: In the 80's there was a gentleman, I think it was Chris Fry, who headed-up Bristow's International Ops. I had occasion to contact him from India and which resulted in handing over a client (Kirloskar Gas) who were looking to serve their offshore platforms.

Would love to hear from the new head of Int Ops though .. maybe he could provide some 'oblique' references to the Barclaycraft given the confidentiality requirements. ;)

[Delta Fox Driver]

Ah the unique G-BYDF. I believe the only true S76 C Minus. Unique, insomuch that the 100% on the TQ Gauge was remarked at 86.66% not 80% as mentioned earlier. 1300shp/1500shp x 100% = 86.66. We bought a third TQ gauge, just in case, but as far as I know it has never been used. When we ballasted her up to 10,800lbs we pulled on the collective and hoped she would fly - she did of course and very well at the reduced figure.I cleaned and flew that machine many times and she had the cleanest wheel wells in christendom. I was very proud to put the pins in the main gear legs and not get covered in oil. The Island Manager and I used to squeeze into the A109C G-BVNH and when we got DF, the space seemed fantastic and we all know that the S76 is not huge in the flight deck area. It's all relative, I guess. She has undergone many subtle, but useful improvements since 1998, when she arrived on the "Island of Dreams". Sadly the guy alongside me at Post #83 lost his life in a very sad way in the Middle East. He was great guy, was Nigel, and his mexican fajitas were the best when we whiled away time on the "rock". Back with Bristow now after a 20 year gap and flying heavily laden desks on both sides of the Atlantic - Shy Torque was therefore right and I used to squeeze into the A109S with him. Great flying days! More to come I hope.:cool:

[Savoia]

DFD: Thank you kindly for sharing your Brecqhou memories with us, fantastic! :D

I have read that the island manager, Mark Harrisson, is a former driver! :ok:

Thank you too for bringing-up the former Barlclaycraft:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3b6hs1snXzo/Uns9kfM5FEI/AAAAAAAAPDk/QQ-CO286nFw/w892-h554-no/A109C+G-BVNH+Guernsey+Aug+94+%2528Air-Britain%2529.jpg
Brecqhou Development Agusta 109C G-BVNH at Guernsey Airport in August 1994 (Photo: Air-Britain)

Every story has a beginning and the one which ends in Glaxo buying their own aircraft began in 1980 when my godfather approached them with such a proposal. Between 1980-82 he worked on an off with their head office in supplying 'numbers' and making pitches supporting helicopter ownership. He also travelled around many of their sites both in the UK and Belgium and I accompanied him on several of these trips. I mention Glaxo because it was their 109C which became G-BVNH above.

For those interested, some Brecqhou Island rotary-wing history here (http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/419023-rotary-nostalgia-thread-113.html#post8138804).

[vfr440]

I did the ferry from Frosinone to Fairoaks in that machine.That was a trip and a half; 2 x VERY experienced drivers up front, and me in the back scratching my head as how to remove some weight from her (the Empty weight was extreme - epitomised by the comment that the A109C was really only useful for carrying a load of Ping-Pong balls around :ugh:) Not well received by Agusta I might add :rolleyes:

We did the acceptance flight test with the late Rafael Longobardi (?) and yes, the A109 is damn nearly aerobatic :eek:. Anyone else up front and I'd have been a little concerned. Rafael will be at the big bar in the sky now, racking up my bar-bill no doubt with (cases of) Vino Nobile. I look forward to joining him sometime - but 'not now Bernard' ;)

VFR

[Delta Fox Driver]

Savoia - great picture of G-BVNH with Mark Harrisson (always two S's) well done!

In the 70's there were 3 Bristow Engineers sponsored for pilot training. Terry Burnal (Bell Rep for many years) was the first, I was the second and Mark H was the third. Once on the ramp at Guernsey, we met Mr Alan Bristow who seemed to recognise myself and Mark from our days in the hangars. He glanced across at G-BVNH and complimented us on its appearance.

He then said, "just as well you chaps are engineers, you need to be, with one of those!"

When we bought G-BYDF around Christmas 1997, courtesy of Dave B of Bristow going to Japan to do the survey, we took it to Bristow Redhill for UK Certification and Mod Programme. She only had about 80 hours on the Clock and had been in storage originally owned by Honda we believe. They bought two and of course the boss found out he could only sit in one at a time!

When Mark and I walked into the Redhill Hangar, some of the lads we knew from our days on the spanners shouted "They all come back in the end !"

To which Mark retorted "Yes, but we're the only ones who brought you half a million pounds worth of work !"

It was truly wonderful to work with the boys at Redhill again and some still lovingly look after DF today from Fairoaks. They are first rate blokes and engineers.

Next instalment - how do you operate IFR with precision and regularity underneath the ILS to Guernsey? We cracked that one and it is an interesting tale.:ok:

[Phil Kemp]

I don't know if they all come back in the end - but they sure seem to end up here on PPruNe.

Nice to see you again DFD... :)