Low Flier - your post above sent me scrambling through my slides. Maybe the photos below will jog your memory. The second one is the best I can do of an enlargement of part of the first photo showing the Helicopter Hire 206 on the ramp at Salisbury Airport in February 1980. I've tried various combinations of registration in G-INFO but haven't come up with a hit yet.....maybe the photo is sufficient for you to remember the registration? Whatever it is I don't think it's the one Savoia is looking for.
Edit: Got it! It's G-BGYF. With Helicopter Hire from 23/7/79 to 17/8/81 thence to the USA as N152AL and subsequently written off.
Last edited by Speechless Two; 16th Jul 2010 at 23:24.
I must commend your investigatory skills in identifying G-BGYF through the maze of aircraft in your photo and in persevering until you came up with the correct registration.
As you mentioned, this could not have been used for 'The Spy Who Loved Me' because it was only registered to HH in 1979.
- Low Flier
As impressive at Speechless' investogatory skills are, no less impressive seems to be your intuitive deduction in suspecting the intentions of your would be passengers. Astonishing!
If this was a HH charter perhaps this incident took place at Southend and in which case maybe they were planning a break from the prison at the Isle of Sheppy?
Brilliant catch. As soon as I saw the 'YF letters in your photo I had a head-slapping moment.
You can see why I called it the raspberry ripple. It was somewhat akin to the ghastly new Technicolor Yawn paintscheme which was inflicted upon the BEAS 212s circa 1977 when the company was taken over by Brand X.
I guess that photo was taken around Spring 1980 as it's got the high skids. They were put on for the AM contract in Zimbabwe as the job involved much landing in tall grass at the outer polling stations in de bush.
I remember making a bit of an arse of a practice auto in that thing as I stoofed the heels of the skids into the ground in a badly misjudged flare during my first flight with the new skids. No damage, other than to my pride.
Wearing a loaded pistol one one's hip when flying a G-reg aircraft was a bit of a novelty! It was a contractual stipulation, in case of any electoral unpleasantness. I think it was the UK Foreign Office (client) who insisted on that. Heaven forfend that anything like election monkey business should happen in Comrad Robert's socialist workers paradise!
Going back to John Crewdson, the Bond film in '80 required him to fly Yankee Fox through a disused warehouse on the banks of the Thames. John had something like 360 film credits to his name, in an immensely wide variety of roles, but that one really spooked him. He was very nervous about the expected recirculation effects.
I seem to recall that he declined the job and handed it over to Marc Wolfe.
Edited to add:
I've found a video of the job which Marc Wolfe did.
Dunno why a JetBanger starts to sound like a Stuka in a VNE dive when you push the nose down though! Yankee Fox never sounded like that.
Wearing a loaded pistol one one's hip when flying a G-reg aircraft was a bit of a novelty! It was a contractual stipulation, in case of any electoral unpleasantness. I think it was the UK Foreign Office (client) who insisted on that. Heaven forfend that anything like election monkey business should happen in Comrad Robert's socialist workers paradise!
I was flying the third 206 back in the front row (G-AWJW) of my original photo - it must have been taken about 27 February 1980. I don't remember anything about carrying pistols although we did ask for them! I did occasionally carry one armed soldier when we were going through a suspected active area but my only personal protection was by means of sitting on my flak jacket to protect the family jewels.
I also made a bit of an arse of a practice auto on day one. Forgot about the high density altitude in Zimbabwe and did a rather hurried EOL when I fell through the flare. Great fun though on that contract!
This thread is drifting everywhere but I think it makes it very enjoyable!
I was the guilty party who purchased Lord Grosvenor's (Duke of Westminster) Jetranger and recall his lordship being absolutely adamant that the Reg G-TALY be removed the instant I returned to my Skyline base at Wycombe. As a new business I began registering our sales acquisitions SKY hence quite a few machines had those last three letters in the early 1980s. I think I got as far as G-WSKY on an Enstrom Shark. My co-directors were the irrepressable Trevor Taylor ( a superb pianist) and the innovative inventer Peter Millward.
During the purchase negotiations I flew with Ken D when the estate was operating a Piper Twin-Com but would need to check my log book for the CAA reg. I recall the whole estate was surrounded by its own airfield.
A little earlier, I purchased Colin Chapman's B-206, G-AYTF which as noted was dressed in the colours of JPS. I was happy to retain the black and gold scheme in view of the annual tobacco sponsorship attached. Mr Chapman's pilot in those days was Mike Hamlin (if you're out there Mike - my best wishes) later the Hamlin Jet business. Earlier I had sold Chapman ... of all things ... an Enstrom 28A model, G-BAWI and as a first demo flew the great man from Hethel down to the river where his newly acquired Sunseeker business was based. I gave him a few lessons before Mike Hamlin took over. TF boasted the Collins 841H autopilot as noted earlier. I think Chapman sold the Enstrom to Roger Windley. Serial No 120.
As also noted here, a later purchase was the B206 G-WIZZ purchased from the Robinson lawyer firm following its heavy landing at LBA. The purchase price didn't exceed £20k. My engineering division rebuilt her and following the offer of further sponsorship, she was also painted to match G-AYTF.
Now here's a quirk for you all. Following the paint, a local signwriter was called in to attach the registration. No plastic numbers in those days. On the right hand side he set out the letters as G-WIIZZ. And like the well known 'PARIS IN THE THE SPRING',' phrase not a single person ever spotted the error or at least brought it to my attention, even after I'd been flying the machine for almost a year!
Okay ... so I'm a mine of useless information but I didn't start the drift!!!!
Oh and thinking and rambling a bit more, my firm also bought and operated G-AWJW ... and correct me if I'm wrong but seem to remember collecting it all of half a mile from the Col Bob Smith's (he of the white gloves) hangar at Shoreham to our hangar in the south east corner.
More drift ...anyone know what happened to the Hughes 500 I purchased from Nigeria registered G-OVPP (Go Vote Peoples Party.) I know a sabotage attempt was made on the machine while she was flying for the elections.
Dennis, yes, you must have bought JW from BCAL at the other end of Shoreham airfield when we all got a pierhead jump to Aberdeen following the takeover of Ferranti. 30 years ago - it doesn't seem possible, and I'm still up here!
Even though I'm Stateside and don't know who the hell all these characters are that you are talking about - its still a damn good read. Well done Limeys!
I did try and capture the essence of your delivery flight via a short sonnet in post #35.
Savoia is looking for info on G-CHOC (Peter Cadbury) and now I am also hunting for photos of this aircraft - there doesn't appear to be a single image! Did you ever meet the chap?
Geoff I've PM'd you Speechless' email address (the chap you did S61 sim training with - evidently someone knocked a switch and the craft went from standstill to 100kts straight at a hangar but .. Speechless managed to overcome the obstacle .. to your joint amusement).
Anyway, I'm fairly confident he shall be able to assist with hosting - I mean he's ex-Ferranti so the hospitality culture is ingrained!
MPR: You are quite right, the JCB 206 is departing Battersea the corner of the old pre-fab terminal building just visible on the left. I think Carl Beaman may have tried to re-furbish it, if not then Noel Edmonds.
Earl: The cause of the engine failure in AYFT was a crack in the engine transfer tube (carrying the fuel air mix). Checking the integrity of these tubes (one on either side on the Allison C20) was a standard pre-flight discipline but, in this case the crack was inboard (facing the engine) and could only have been detected with the aid of torch and mirror. The fact that the owner (God rest his soul) would forego engine cool downs was cited as a probable contributing factor by Mann's engineering department.
Low Flier: This image of Crewdson seems to be inconsistent with what I was told about him - in that he was always portrayed as 'fearless' when it came to such things and so for him to hand over the work to Marc seems extraordinary but, I believe you, for I did not know the man personally. My godfather always spoke well of John and I think that HH ended up buying at least one aircraft from Ferranti.
Speechless: The Rhodesian operation seems to have been quite comprehensive (by any standards). Could you shed some more light on the op, how many aircraft in total, for how many months, which aircraft (and how many) were used to transport the 206's etc.
From our private correspondence I knew that you were with JW but from the photo is looks as if you were accompanied by another ex-Ferranti aircraft? Was there also another ex-Ferranti pilot with you?
It looks like there are two aircraft from Air Hanson. Do you happen to know who the blue 206 belonged to?
Dennis: You were one of my boyhood hero's! I first met you when I was ten (it was at the Biggin Hill Airfair) and I pleaded with my godfather to let me meet you which we did at the Enstrom tent. Needless to say, I was enthralled by your wingovers and 'bucket carrying' displays which I came to see many times over the years.
My godfather had nicknames for everyone; you were 'Dennis the Menace' and which I found comical given that back then you were flying G-BENO, Beano of course being the publication in which DTM featured! The fact that DTM's jumper and G-BENO were black and red only added to the fascination (I was 10 remember).
Far from being useless, the information you are providing is most helpful and I am hoping that somewhere you have some photos of TALY and AYTF!
It is because of you that my godfather (he of the white gloves) sent me to Skyline to do my PPL. You were there when Col. B dropped me off but then you seemed to be away for great lengths of time (working on some project I believe) but, you left me in good hands, in this case the hands of Anthony 'Nobby' Clarke who one day asked me to look closely at the side of a recently painted 206 and posed the question 'do you see anything wrong?' to which I initially replied 'no' but seeing the disapproval in his face promptly re-examined the aircraft and eventually spotted the double 'ii' painting error to which you referred.
You created no small havoc naming all the aircraft 'SKY' because everything in the circuit soon became 'KY' and which caused the control tower and surrounding zones to accept the first letter only and the balance read as the word sky! TALY for example became 'Charlie Sky' over the airwaves.
Please tell me that after all these years of promoting Enstroms that Enstrom Corporation have given you your own mount to park on your lawn!
After I finished with Skyline I left the UK and was told that Richard Branson was going to set up corporate helicopter operations at Booker - did that ever happen?
Brgds
S.
Dennis Kenyon aka 'Dennis the Menace' during his display at Biggin Hill on 14 May 1977.
G-BENO at an unknown location in 1978
The Beano comic depicting Dennis the Menace and reflecting the same colours as G-BENO!
This image of Crewdson seems to be inconsistent with what I was told about him - in that he was always portrayed as 'fearless'
I've never ever heard of John being described that way.
I'd quite certainly never fly with any pilot who was/is fearless, not knowingly anyway.
This wonderful forum has some quite extraordinary pilots, some of whom I'm in awe. Kenyon and Farley are two such examples.
I doubt very much that either of those two examples could reasonably be described as fearless. Fearlessness is quite incompatible with safe and competent flying, in my opinion.
John Crewdson was an extraordinarily precise pilot. He did a lot of show flying which was right on the edge, but I would not say that he was fearless.
After his Gibraltar whoopsie, in which he crashed a plankwing into the harbour thru a fuel tank selection whoopsie, he lost much of his spleen in life-saving surgery. For a spirited drinker such as John, that would have been a wakeup call if he'd been a reckless kinda guy.
He continued to fly with great spirit. I mean that in the best possible way!
At Savoia’s request -The Rhodesian Election Contract 1980. First of all can I preface this by saying that it was 30 years ago so this is my best recollection after all this time – anyone who was there please correct any faults in my memory.
HM Government awarded a contract to Dollar Helicopters to provide 10 JetRangers to fly election supervisors to locations in the Rhodesian bush to ensure fair play in the elections which saw Mugabe elected. We provided 2 airframes from British Caledonian Helicopters – the company was formed from the takeover of Ferranti Helicopters some 10 months earlier. The 206’s were G-AWJW and G-AZZB and were still in the basic Ferranti livery. The other pilot was the late Chris Powell and his engineer was the late Eric Hardacre. My engineer was Gordon Winfield.
Terry Neill and Roy Neep were our liaison people in Dollar and they accompanied us to Rhodesia. Now this is where memory fails me somewhat. Yes, there were two airframes from Air Hanson, G-BASE was one of them. Spotty Mulhern flew one of them – he sadly died in that CFIT accident in a S76 in Ireland some years later. There were two 206’s from Gleneagles (G-AWLL was one) and one from Helicopter Hire (G-BGYF). The deep blue 206 in my ramp photo in my earlier post is G-BARX and was owned by Suttons Seeds. The registration of the yellow 206 with a part orange/red top deck is blurred but is G-BAX?. One 206 not in the photo was G-WOSP which was operated by Wasp Helicopter Hire of Glasgow and was the only casualty of the contract – more on that later. As for the other registrations/operators I'm afraid my memory has failed me.
The contract was a short one, starting in mid February 1980 and ending in early March. The first thing to do was to strip down the aircraft for transport to Rhodesia. All ten 206’s went out in one DC10 freighter and the amount of strip down can be seen from the photo below of JW and ZB leaving the BCAL base at Shoreham for Stansted, and yes, that is a DHC-4 Caribou in the background.
The crews reported to Heathrow and along with about 400 UK policemen were flown in a BA 747 to Salisbury via Nairobi. Part 2 follows tomorrow.....
Last edited by Speechless Two; 18th Jul 2010 at 23:26.
WIZZ has made it through the Gendarmes and past Gatwick's hesitant controllers! I hope as you moved on to Fairoaks? you carried out a slow fly past of the control tower so they could see the registration up close for themselves!
Wonderful to see WIZZ as I remember - with her red interior and high heels she looked like a 'sexy tart'! From what I can see the gold paint had yet to be applied. I'm fairly confident WIZZ was the first all black 206 in the UK. Great stuff!
Speechless Two -
A fascinating contract and well done (again) on the research into the aircraft. Could, I wonder, the yellow with orange stripe 206 be G-BAYA which in 1980 was registered to PLM Helicopters at Inverness?
I'm struggling to think of any other UK government contract (non-military and non SAR) which mobilised this many helicopters. There probably is but I just can't think of any.
Low Flier: As stated, my godfather only had kind words for John and his flying ability is something I have always admired.
Helicopter Hire eventually went on the buy at least one ex-Ferranti aircraft, an MBB Bo105D, B-BFYA.
Speechless: This was an impressive operation and I'm wondering how the DC10 must have looked in both holds with 10 airframes and tail booms, 20 blade boxes and tranmission crates plus skids!
I remember 'Spotty' and sorry to hear of his demise (RIP).
I remember G-WOSP (vaguely) and have been trying to find a little more about BARX which also rings a bell!
The unidentified yellow (with orange stripe) 206 is, I am sure, G-BAKF which was registered to Michael Belmont (was he Dollar?).
Keen to hear any stories of this expedition which took place in the final hours of Rhodesia's history.
Were you assisted at all by the Alouette's of the Rhodesian Air Force?
G-BAKF at the former US depot at Burtonwoord c. 1978
