Calling all ex-Wessex personnel
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Can anyone put me in touch with Wayne Sibley ex Bristows WA. We did our helicopter conversion course together at Jayrow Helicopters at Moorabbin in 1969. After the course Wayne joined SA Helicopters and I went to Woomera Range for 6 years. When I got back to UK to resume my airline career, I heard that he was with Bristows at Blackpool on the Wessex. Before I could visit he had gone back to WA with Bristow in the NW. Would be great to make contact now in our eighties!!
Wayne's last flight was in VHBZU on the 9th Feb 2007, with me, at Karratha. He fell out of the cockpit whilst dismounting a 332 and though he wasn't injured in any way he decided that the time had come to pack it in.
As far as I know he stayed retired but I don't know where he is now. He's not in his eighties, he's younger than I am.
As far as I know he stayed retired but I don't know where he is now. He's not in his eighties, he's younger than I am.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 16th Jan 2017 at 12:34.
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Hi Nick, Ritchie was my flight manager in Range ferry and recovery flight at Woomera from my joining until he went to Gulf Helicopters in 1974. I did the helicopter conversion in order to get the job. With three pilots we flew Alouette 3, Single DHC Otter and a DC3. Sometimes switching to all three types in one day. It was a peach of a job and we were all unhappy that it was closed down. Within a year of Ritchie leaving,I was offered a job back in the UK with the airlines. I wanted to stay in Aussie but the airlines all told me I was too old at 38! Ritchie visited me in the UK about 1979 on leave from GH. That was the last time I saw him as he died of cancer soon after retiring back to the UK. At Woomera,when not flying, we would sit in the crew room and he would keep us enthralled with stories of flying over Berlin in a Pathfinder Mossie. A great guy. Did you fly with GH when he was there? He started on the S62and later was on the Bell212. Regards Bob.
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Hi, Fareastdriver, Thanks very much for the info on Wayne. Your right about the ages. My memory went to pot years ago. I was 32 and now I think about it he was about 20 give or take. I can however remember back in 1964 flying the Governor of WA in a Cessna205 from the Karratha homestead strip to Rosemary Island Game fishing club. When I got back to my base at Port Hedland [I was the only aircraft there apart from Jim Smith with the RFDS aircraft] I found a bag of fillet steak which had been put onboard by the manager at Karratha for the Gov to have during his time on the island. When contacted by HF he told the guy to give to me and my wife. When I went back a week later to pick him up he said" I hope you enjoyed the steak Bob, I have had to eat bloody fish all week, and I don`t really like the stuff!" He was a really nice bloke. This all took place before rail lines were laid ..or any iron ore was taken out of the virgin bush. Sorry, I!m rambling on a bit. Would love to hear from you if you do get any info on Wayne. Regards, Bob.
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I flew the Wesseex 5 in the RN but flying the Wessex 60 with Bristow in the early 1970s was something of a revelation.
Southern North Sea during the Winter of discontent, 1971-72 and a very cold one too. 17 passengers over short sectors, 16 in the back, one up front, single pilot and PNR flights from Esbjerg and very occasionally up to the Ecofisk. The nav fit was pure luxury to an ex-naval pilot. We had a Mk8 Decca with rolling map display, a coffee grinder ADF, a stick on VOR/ILS, 2 VHFs and an HF radio with a trailing aerial. The Ferranti SAS was temporarily unavailable after an accident at Swansea. All this was great when the weather was good and the HF was quite good over the ranges involved, compared to the vastly more sophisticated unit in the Mk5 where it was quite possible to speak to Singapore or Aden from Culdrose whereas Exeter was incommunicado.
Unfortunately Westland seemed unable to make a nose door that didn't get clogged with snow or ice and the BS Gnomes hated ice. We experienced several incidents where one, or on one occasion both engines flamed out whilst flying in snow. Stan S and Ben B had to deal with serious situations trying to get into Bacton and on joining Esbjerg I was given a report to read prior to my first flight:
G-AZBY was outbound to the Britannia from Esbjerg. Cloudbase and vis were on the limits for a PNR flight. At PNR the pilot checked with the radio operator that the weather was still OK and once confirmed, he carried on. After a short while the aircraft ran into a continuous line of heavy snow. The HF radio was immediately swamped by static, the Decometers spun uncontrollably the moving map unrolled and the ADF needle pointed to the nearest Cb. He had no option but to carry on, using DR, in minimum visibility. Shortly after this one of the engines stalled and shutdown. On reaching his calculated ETA the pilot started a square search pattern and came upon the Britannia after about ten minutes. He landed on one engine.
Fortunately I never experienced these extremes whilst I was there but the flying was challenging, to say the least. As a result of the incident Bristow opened up or removed the valves restricting the airbleed to the nose door and cabin heater. This certainly did the trick although the additional heat in the cockpit was wont to cause the sticky tape joining the maps of the Decca to come unglued, causing the map to unroll into the cockpit.
I hasten to add that I do not harken back to these as the good times and am extremely glad that things have improved for the better. It was just that we were operating to the extremes of the technology and knowledge we had.
Southern North Sea during the Winter of discontent, 1971-72 and a very cold one too. 17 passengers over short sectors, 16 in the back, one up front, single pilot and PNR flights from Esbjerg and very occasionally up to the Ecofisk. The nav fit was pure luxury to an ex-naval pilot. We had a Mk8 Decca with rolling map display, a coffee grinder ADF, a stick on VOR/ILS, 2 VHFs and an HF radio with a trailing aerial. The Ferranti SAS was temporarily unavailable after an accident at Swansea. All this was great when the weather was good and the HF was quite good over the ranges involved, compared to the vastly more sophisticated unit in the Mk5 where it was quite possible to speak to Singapore or Aden from Culdrose whereas Exeter was incommunicado.
Unfortunately Westland seemed unable to make a nose door that didn't get clogged with snow or ice and the BS Gnomes hated ice. We experienced several incidents where one, or on one occasion both engines flamed out whilst flying in snow. Stan S and Ben B had to deal with serious situations trying to get into Bacton and on joining Esbjerg I was given a report to read prior to my first flight:
G-AZBY was outbound to the Britannia from Esbjerg. Cloudbase and vis were on the limits for a PNR flight. At PNR the pilot checked with the radio operator that the weather was still OK and once confirmed, he carried on. After a short while the aircraft ran into a continuous line of heavy snow. The HF radio was immediately swamped by static, the Decometers spun uncontrollably the moving map unrolled and the ADF needle pointed to the nearest Cb. He had no option but to carry on, using DR, in minimum visibility. Shortly after this one of the engines stalled and shutdown. On reaching his calculated ETA the pilot started a square search pattern and came upon the Britannia after about ten minutes. He landed on one engine.
Fortunately I never experienced these extremes whilst I was there but the flying was challenging, to say the least. As a result of the incident Bristow opened up or removed the valves restricting the airbleed to the nose door and cabin heater. This certainly did the trick although the additional heat in the cockpit was wont to cause the sticky tape joining the maps of the Decca to come unglued, causing the map to unroll into the cockpit.
I hasten to add that I do not harken back to these as the good times and am extremely glad that things have improved for the better. It was just that we were operating to the extremes of the technology and knowledge we had.
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I took a couple of weeks out last year, at the time that my book "Rescue Pilot" was published, to visit all the surviving Wessex in my logbook.
Most fun was the "glamping" (hardly!) Wx 1 - XS886 - at Blackberry Wood campsite in Sussex.
Best preserved was Wx 5 - XS481 - at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum near Doncaster. Those guys really go the extra mile in restoration.
Most confusing was the entrance to the flight deck display at Yeovilton FAA Museum. It isn't one, it's two x Wx 5, each cut in half longitudinally - XT482 and XT769.
Most exciting prospect was XT761 which has been handed over to the Fly Navy Trust (if that's the right expression) and transported to a hangar at Culdrose. Rumours abound that it may be returned to flight one day. Form an orderly queue boys!
Most fun was the "glamping" (hardly!) Wx 1 - XS886 - at Blackberry Wood campsite in Sussex.
Best preserved was Wx 5 - XS481 - at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum near Doncaster. Those guys really go the extra mile in restoration.
Most confusing was the entrance to the flight deck display at Yeovilton FAA Museum. It isn't one, it's two x Wx 5, each cut in half longitudinally - XT482 and XT769.
Most exciting prospect was XT761 which has been handed over to the Fly Navy Trust (if that's the right expression) and transported to a hangar at Culdrose. Rumours abound that it may be returned to flight one day. Form an orderly queue boys!
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As a snot nosed recently ex-cadet I was in ND January 1981 doing an IR course, I recollect the engineers trooping into the portakabins smothered in a mixture of dark mud and ice having recovered a W60 that had the same snow induced dual engine flame out somewhere between Bacton and ND. I think Tony English was the unlucky star of the day, but stand to be corrected.
It wasn't just the '60s that suffered from snow induced flameouts. I lost both engines in snow in NI (with a fully modded Mk2 - mod 1051 nose door with air heating of the nose door intake panels*) even though above the limits for flight in snow, and I understand that other crews on task also checked their ac on hearing of my predicament and found a number of them nearly blocked! It seemed it was 'the wrong kind of snow'.
* - not an anorak - I have the Mk2 FRCs in front of me!
* - not an anorak - I have the Mk2 FRCs in front of me!
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I knew Ritchie & his wife Vi very well.In Sydney I had applied to Ritchie's advert for a pilot for Woomera. Due to security I wasn't able to go to Woomera to check the place out & that same week Gulf Helicopters offered me a job which sounded more secure. I went in Aug 1974 & was amazed when Ritchie turned up a few months later. He said he was going to offer me the job but as the place closed down unexpectedly, I was better off in Doha. He looked so old & frail it was surprising if he could fly the 62 with hydraulics off. His left arm had been severely injured when a propeller had entered his cockpit & was very weak. When Gulf bought 2 Bell 205s, he wasn't allowed to fly them as his arm wouldn't have been able to lift the lever.
His war stories were quite amazing & much to our annoyance he would never say a helicopter was u/s. On one occasion a 62 had been grounded for tail rotor problems but he took it anyway, saying you should have seen the bombers I flew! We tried to tell him the war was over but as he believed he would never get another job, accepted anything.
I'm sorry to hear he died of cancer, wouldn't have been that old I guess. They were going to retire on the Gold Coast but obviously didn't. Is his wife still alive?
Cheers Nigel
His war stories were quite amazing & much to our annoyance he would never say a helicopter was u/s. On one occasion a 62 had been grounded for tail rotor problems but he took it anyway, saying you should have seen the bombers I flew! We tried to tell him the war was over but as he believed he would never get another job, accepted anything.
I'm sorry to hear he died of cancer, wouldn't have been that old I guess. They were going to retire on the Gold Coast but obviously didn't. Is his wife still alive?
Cheers Nigel
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Hi Nigel, Yes ,what you describe was typical of Ritchie. Did he tell you about the time he got a parachute wrapped around the tail rotor of the Aloutte 3 over the airfield at Woomera at 7000 feet? The t/r shaft sheared but he did a really good run on landing on the runway with some damage to the rear fuselage when a blade hit it. When flying together, without pax, I have been known to slowly turn off the hydraulics and watch him lean further and further to the left trying to keep the collective up with that weak arm. Once twigged he would laugh and call me a bloody fool! I am afraid we lost touch with Vi. Thanks for all the info. Sorry we did not get to fly together at WRA but it was obvious that it was running down. It`s -5 degrees outside. Wish I was back at WRA. Bob.
Chief Bottle Washer
Lee, it would be far more in the spirit of Rotorheads to post here rather than resort to PMs to ask for generalities or even specifics.
FWIW, the Wx HAS3 back room was almost identical to the Sea King HAS1, so apart from hover/jump heights and a far better compass display with Rtheta for the driver in the HAS3 there should be little difference, especially in the 195 feed to the Doppler plot.
FWIW, the Wx HAS3 back room was almost identical to the Sea King HAS1, so apart from hover/jump heights and a far better compass display with Rtheta for the driver in the HAS3 there should be little difference, especially in the 195 feed to the Doppler plot.
Lee, in reply to your pm....
Speaking as an ex Wessex 1 & 3 (and later Seaking 1) pilot, the advanced AFCS and sonar in the Mk3 and Seaking were a great step forward. The demand on the pilots for accurate flying between dips disappeared however. If a submarine sonar contact had been made, rather than working out heading & times to the next dip position and then relying on the pilot to fly the transition profiles and headings, heights, and speeds accurately in order to hopefully make sonar contact again, all the observer would say was "transition up and I'll tell you where to go". He would then use his radar to give directions to the pilot to "drive" to the area of the next dip and just say "mark dip here". In addition the sonar range of the 195 was much increased so again an accurate new dip position was not as critical as with the very limited sonar range of the old sonar ball in the Wessex 1. Of course the Observer could also "drive" another helo to a position where it could also make sonar contact or drop a weapon if other helos were also available. Where the pilots could be of help in ASW work was in identifying surface contacts (especially in the radar blind arc forward) and trying to spot any periscopes!
I will pass on your pm by email to my Obs friends and let you know if they want to be of help to you. I presume you know the basics, ie the UC (underwater controller) worked the sonar in active and/or passive modes, and the Observer was the tactician with the radar deciding where or what the sub may do, and between them the back seat crew would assess whether the sonar contact was indeed a submarine or something else!
Speaking as an ex Wessex 1 & 3 (and later Seaking 1) pilot, the advanced AFCS and sonar in the Mk3 and Seaking were a great step forward. The demand on the pilots for accurate flying between dips disappeared however. If a submarine sonar contact had been made, rather than working out heading & times to the next dip position and then relying on the pilot to fly the transition profiles and headings, heights, and speeds accurately in order to hopefully make sonar contact again, all the observer would say was "transition up and I'll tell you where to go". He would then use his radar to give directions to the pilot to "drive" to the area of the next dip and just say "mark dip here". In addition the sonar range of the 195 was much increased so again an accurate new dip position was not as critical as with the very limited sonar range of the old sonar ball in the Wessex 1. Of course the Observer could also "drive" another helo to a position where it could also make sonar contact or drop a weapon if other helos were also available. Where the pilots could be of help in ASW work was in identifying surface contacts (especially in the radar blind arc forward) and trying to spot any periscopes!
I will pass on your pm by email to my Obs friends and let you know if they want to be of help to you. I presume you know the basics, ie the UC (underwater controller) worked the sonar in active and/or passive modes, and the Observer was the tactician with the radar deciding where or what the sub may do, and between them the back seat crew would assess whether the sonar contact was indeed a submarine or something else!
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Senior Pilot - Any contributions to the finished book will be credited to the individual concerned and this is one of the reason why I prefer to take it offline so that I can determine their identity (should they wish that, of course) in the spirit of 'credit where credit is due'.
76fan - many thanks for this (and the PM!)...
76fan - many thanks for this (and the PM!)...
I resurrected a Wessex book which has many details of the old girl in her many iterations; I've scanned some of the interior pictures but they're not all that good a resolution. These are 600 x 800, but larger images are on my website.
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+01.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+02.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+03.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+04.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...cabins+01.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+01.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+02.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+03.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...ckpits+04.jpeg
http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/8...cabins+01.jpeg
