.
I've read the whole thing now and can fill in some gaps.
TRC: Bravo that man for trawling through twelve pages of trivia (albeit fairly interesting trivia!).
WIZZ - I didn't really have much involvement with this craft but,
Geoffersincornwall who, I am assuming must be a former colleague of yours, delivered her from Frosinone along with TALY. WIZZ was originally bought by Monks Builders in Sheffield who owned her from '77 to '82 and I'm guessing it was Monks' owner who requested all the detail you mentioned. For most of her early life she was distinguishable (as my 'wingman' on this thread,
The Earl of Rochester, mentioned in an earlier post) by the fact that she was one of the UK's first 206's to be fitted with high skids.
AYTF - Thanks for the clarification on the cause of the engine failure and .. thanks for trudging up to Norfolk with John Akroyd-Hunt (RIP) to 'rescue' me and the Col! I did make a thorough inspection of the engine that morning (promise) although I was only 13 (which would have made this 1980) but had been taught by Ferranti Helicopters engineer John Froud how to DI a 206 at age 10. Needless to say I had to use steps for everything - even to check the t/r! It was an interesting event - Col. Bob was totally engrossed with maps which, at the time of the failure, obscured his forward field of view entirely. I recall the sequence of events pretty well. First a yaw in the aircraft, then the sound of the C20 winding down and finally the engine out pips via the caution warning. Within about a second of feeling the yaw Col. Bob had dispensed with the maps and lowered the collective. Mercifully - there was a fairly large newly ploughed field ahead of us and that's where you would have found us! I remember Bob telling the Savage (I think) that the furrows in the field were quite deep and that you would be better bringing a high gear 206 but .. you and JAH arrived in a 206 with 'shorts' if I remember rightly. How the heck did you move the 'Dancer' (as G-AYTF was known) onto a low-loader because, from what I recall, no semi would have been able to access that field?
CHOC - She
really was registered G-CHOC and, courtesy of
Helipixman, here is the evidence:
Peter Cadbury's 206 G-CHOC
I recall my godfather telling me about the engineer who got his coat burnt by
PTC 'Peter the Cad' so its good to have a name to that incident from so long ago. Poor Nick Thake! Col. Bob knew Peter pretty well. Peter was, by his own admission, a difficult bugger to get along with but, Col. Bob always had a kind word for him and found him to be an amusing an interesting character. God rest his soul.
Btw, do you happen to know if it was Manfred Mann who re-painted D-HMAC when it was re-registered as G-CHOC?
D-HMAC before it became G-CHOC
BBBM - My godfather had names for everything and everyone, it was one of his many quirks which came to be known as '
Colonelisms'! This particular aircraft he would refer to as the
'Brave Brave Black Man' sincerely speaking - I don't know how he came up with that! BBBM was first bought by a client in Sussex in '73 then operated by Mann's during '74 and sold on to another customer in '75. At some point BM's owner (and I think it was a chap by the name of Bob Woods who went on to be one of Col. Bob's loyal clients in the post-Ferranti years) had my godfather manage the aircraft and so she entered the Ferranti stable at Gatwick for a season.
While with Ferranti this is how she looked:
G-BBBM at Biggin Hill 15th September 1973: Worked on by Rotorhead TRC and managed for a season by Ferranti Helicopters
COL. BOB - Well this man pretty much changed my life as, after my parents were divorced (when I was 8) he played a significant role in my up bringing (if you can call it that!). My godfather was a character, as you may recall, and in the end became mildly controversial for his somewhat unorthodox lifestyle choices! He was though an impeccable 'Army gentleman' with an eye for detail, fiercely loyal to his friends and a man of good will and good humour! Thanks for getting him in one piece to the Waldorf!
The Ferranti Group kept a permanent suite at the Waldorf for a good many years and I'm guessing that's were he would have gone. As I recall, it had a small spare bedroom annex where I stayed on a number of occasions. The last of these visits (for me) must have been around 1980/81. The Col. had been asked to drop a client at Stansted and we were using Jock Cameron's mount G-AWGU (the BA 206). We uplifted Bob's client from the Copthorne Hotel (near Gatwick) and proceeded to STN. After crossing into Essex the weather deteriorated noticeably so that most of the time we were flying in IMC (I do recall GU having the Schermuly flares fitted because Bob was the one who had recommended them to Jock) and it was also fitted with Decca's DANAC moving map navigator.
Whether we were classified as IFR or whether the Col. managed to convince the controllers at STN to let him in on a special I just don't know - what I do recall is arriving at STN in pitch black, in torrential rain and with a thoroughly sodden Martyn Fiddler standing on the apron to receive the pax. Martyn shouted a few words in Bob's ear trying to convince him to sleep over at Stansted but no .. there was an important dinner to attend in the city and so, to Martyn's disbelief we disappeared into the blackness and rain heading for Battersea.
Like many of the rotary characters from the early days, Bob was a determined type and having placed his dinner jacket and patent leather shoes in the baggage compartment there was no way he was going to miss his function!
By the time we approached North London the cloud began to break-up and the city became visible. I think we joined the Thames somewhere around HMS Belfast (perhaps just to the West of her) and the short cruise (around 8pm) to Battersea above the city lights seemed somewhat surreal after the noise and buffeting of rain and cloud during the previous 20 mins or so.
We wafted down to a dark and closed Battersea where I was assigned the job of putting on the overnight covers. When eventually we reached the Waldorf and Bob headed off for his function I was able to call my Mum who was beside herself with concern as apparently a couple of hours before we landed at Stansted a Hughes 300 had ploughed into the ground in the same weather system we had battled!
There are indeed numerous stories involving Col. Bob but, as you say, many of them cannot be recounted in public but, you might wish to send me a PM!
In the meantime
please do regail us with the apocryphal story about Sox!!!
* * *
DENNISIMO: I am of course the last person to be amazed that you knew Geoff Cocks - this is afer all the de-facto
Dennis Kenyon nostalgia thread! 
Dear friend, your knowledge of all the people and aircraft which surface here only endorses your place as one of Britain's 'helicopter heros' and of whom we are all fiercely proud!
Dennis, as I understand it, you flew planks in the Forces - are you to tell me that your first ever rotary wing foray was with Geoff in an Enstrom? How prophetic - given that you were to become 'Mr Enstrom' in the UK!
Was this the craft?
Enstrom F-28A, G-BALT, seen at Shoreham 25th July 1979
Out of curiosity, who first trained you to fly helicopters, on which type and what was your first assignment upon achieving a CPL(H) - did you start out with Roy Spooner?
Dennisimo at the World Helicopter Championships in Eisenach, 2008
DK in London (last year)
And ... something else which may russtle up a memory or two for the Menace!
Enstrom F-28C, G-BBBR, Shoreham 25th July 1979
Seemed only fair having included G-BBBM!
S.
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