G-APOA
On joining Bristow at Redhill as electrical fitter in 1974 on 47p per hour I was waiting to join HP7 (Cadet Pilot Course) and I needed to build hours for my PPL IMC rating (60hrs P1) a pre-requisite of joining an HP course in those days.
I was allowed to use G-APOA for £7 per flying hour for my own use. I was fortunate to pick up many spares runs, mainly to Great Yarmouth which gave me "free flying".
Many of the runs were on a Friday afternoon (panic day) and my first was with a float bottle actuator for Bell 212 G-BBBP. I well remember flying over the East Anglia countryside and thinking " The first flight I have not had to pay for" I was ecstatic.
One afteroon whilst working in the hangar on an S58ET build I smashed my watch on the firewall. Then I got a call to take a Wessex tail rotor gearbox to Yarmouth. How the hell was I going to fly an aeroplane without a watch and give reliable ETA's.
I had a stopwatch so I went to the "clock in/clock out" machine where we punched in/out each day and started my stopwatch and keeping a record, used it to give ETA's etc to GY and and back from Redhill. When I arrived Dave Winter met me and Dixie Newton swung the prop to get me started (no electrics or starter on G-APOA in those days)
On another weekend (at my expense) I flew to the Auster Rally at Shoreham and G-APOA built in 1958 had been in what we call today a "controlled environment" timewarp and in 1975 she only had 850 hrs on the clock. I entered the Concours class for a laugh and she won without any preparation at all. Mainly thanks to a very good engineer Brian Rhodes who now resides in Aberdeen.
She was a beauty - but difficult to land well. When one got it right the pleasure was complete. I doubt I could do it today.
When I opened the Daily Telegraph years later to see a picture of her wrecked I was heartbroken - she gave me my break into flying and will have a special place in my career.
As I sit behind my desk at Redhill with the issues of the international scene to consider, a part of me wants to return to those parsimonious but fun filled days with G-APOA.
UG