More Tittle-Tattle
Okay for E of R ... Yes, Enstrom G-BBRS (28a) was leased to John Crewdson and Gill Aldam's Helicopter Hire initially for the Met Police contract and as I have noted here earlier ... Air Pictorial posted a front cover pic of the heli on Police Service. I was tasked by John Crewdson to do a few days 'demo flying' of the type out of Battersea. I also used Enstrom G-BENO on that task alongside demos to the Police at Kidlington and Glascow. Around early 1993 ish I taught John Crewdson's son Nick to fly rotary. As many will understand the non turbo 28a did struggle a bit with three up, but was good in an emergency as David Voy will testify when he suffered an engine malfunction lifting off from Battersea and promptly landed it back on the pad. I think he later also pulled off a successful auto to a railway siding while over London.
I can'r recall from memnory whethewr m y company Spooner Aviation sold the Enstrom to his lordship, but we did sell an F28a to his colleague Lord (Spenny) Compton of Castle Ashby. My first firm knowledge of Lord Grosvenor was when buying the 206 G-TALY (later G-GSKY) when I also flew with Ken Davies in the company Twin Commanche. Spooner were also the Piper dealer in those days.
In the perod 1988 to 1991 or so, I was one of Clyde Helicopters TREs and routinely visited the Clyde Helipad to carry out their Schedule 9 checks (as they were known as in those days) being line & base checks. On those trips, my log shows I flew B206, G-STVI, G-EYEI and with George Muir, John Mulvaney, Ian MacCallum and Ian Georgeson. As an intiguing side note ... it was on a training trip across Lock Lomond with Ian McCallum that from around 1000 feet, Ian called out "there's a sheep in trouble down there." All I could see were hundreds of sheep below. We dropped down to fifty feet and then landed in the rough pasture and as I took control Ian jumped out and ran across to the stranded sheep which I could now see was trapped belly up in a gulley. I watched with fascination as he struggled with about 1 cwt of very wet sheep to get it out of the gulley and back on its feet. By this time he was plastered almost head to foot with the animal's excreta having perhaps been trapped there for a couple of days. As he climbed aboard I learned at first hand how bad is the smell of large quantities of sheep poo in the confines of a Bell 206 front cabin!
More Tittle Tattle ... at that time I seem to recall Graham Pryke was a Clyde company pilot and flying a B 206, he lost an engine in snow while on police surveillance over Glascow. Sadly the policeman lost his life but Graham survived albeit later there was much legal to-ing and fro-ing regarding the wearing of a safety helmets on utility work. MD Joe McGahey was a good friend and customer of my new firm Starline Helicopters based at Biggin Hill. It was Starline that followed my first company Skyline at Booker.
I'd better stop rab itting but some pruners are v interested I can see.
Dennis Kenyon.