Ah, a registration to conjure with (well, not really, but you can't have a G-Abracadabra ). I saw some photos of her on Prune a while back, painted all white and on a UN contract somewhere, but don't remember where that was now.
Goodness - what with the 214ST thread, nostalgia rules! First flew Golf Balls as EI-AWK when she arrived in Dublin in March 1973 as Irish Helicopters first offshore machine. She must have some hours on her now after 34 years!
Photo below shows G-BALZ at BEAS Kidlington in March 1973 before the Irish registration was applied.
Last edited by Speechless Two : 20th June 2007 at 11:24.
Reason: Added Photo
Doesn't seem that long ago (it is only 14 years) that I was doing my 212 conversion with two other "candidates" in BALZ. Lydd ILS's ad nauseum etc. Ably conducted by Brains with long debriefs in the Heli Club.
The other two went on to greener pastures while I'm still here. I wonder if someone's trying to tell me something ? Must get that skin thinning operation done...............
Bell 212 VR-BEK awaiting its next task against a rocky backdrop. It was the first Bristow Bell 212, being a Bell demonstrator at the time.
Picture;: http://209.196.171.35/images/gcspain2.jpg
Further more the Bermudan registration shows her Registered to Bristows as VR-BEK then re-registered as G-BALZ on 10 January 1973.
However the Speachless Two’s photo above shows her in BEAS colours in 1973 but BEAS was not to be part of Bristows for a few years yet.
I know she went to Ireland registered to Irish Helicopters until 16 July 1974 when she was re-registered as G-BALZ.
Did Bristow originally just lease her or was there already a relationship between the two companies?
Last edited by Tail-take-off : 8th August 2007 at 13:52.
MPR is indeed correct when he posts the dates than G-BALZ was with Oxford Heli-Services Ltd - in fact I was paid by them at that time, not BEAS, although we were based in the BEAS Hangar at Kidlington - prior to going to Dublin for our I/R training with Aer Lingus(!) and then to Cork.
I can't remember the ins and outs of the reasons why LZ wasn't registered to BEAS then - it's all far too long ago - but we certainly weren't part of Bristow, nor then was Irish Helicopters (I left in December '73). Bristow took over BEAS in 1978.
). I saw some photos of her on Prune a while back, painted all white and on a UN contract somewhere, but don't remember where that was now.
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