Hi All
This I think is a big ask after so much time has passed. We are looking for photographs of Bristow Whirlwinds and Wessex operating from Tetney in Lincolnshire as well as any other relevent photos.
This would be circa 1964-197?.
Any leads gratefully received as would be any stories. We are in contact with a local man who flew many times from Tetney in this period.
Started as a local farm boy who got an offshore job as a deck hand and ended up as a senior driller for B.P.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/u...ea-oil-1071896
Just a taste of what was going on in those far off days, stolen from elsewhere on this site.
“On at least three occasions, by their skill and bravery, Bristow pilots have saved rig crews in dire peril. Early in 1968, when the Ocean Prince was being pounded by hurricane force winds, Captain Robert Balls flew out to the rig from the Bristow base at Tetney, near Grimsby - a distance of 100 miles - in a Westland Wessex 60 and, loaded with the minimum of fuel, transferred the 45 members of the crew, in three trips, to another rig 20 miles away. Captain Balls was later made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and the citation read: "....... but for his initiative, bravery and splendid airmanship, the members of the Ocean Prince crew would have probably lost their lives". Just as the last group was lifted off, the helicopter platform collapsed and, soon afterwards, pounded by mountainous seas, the Ocean Prince sank.”