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Dennisimo! Brilliant! I knew there couldn't be a post on this thread that didn't somehow relate to you!
Earl: 206's - I recall seeing the Compass 206 running around the UK as well as Dennis'/Air Anglia G-BBUY.
G-BHXU and the 'Thompson Crew' were of course a common feature throughout the UK in the early 80's. The Treasure Hunt show was awful (especially the studio component) and which was a shame as I very much liked Kenneth Kendall as a person. But, like most aviators, I would endure Rice's wobbly bottom for the sake of observing Thompson going in and out of various locations across the UK. By virtue of its association with the show 'XU' must have been one of the most recognisable 206's in the UK! Although I only got to watch a few shows I believe in one of them they landed at Rochester!
I would certainly like to know more about the French 'airlec' JetRanger - especially which vineyard she was visiting.
However, the 206 which is of most interest to me is the 'USA' JetRanger. This was in fact N50005 which was shipped to Russia in June 1978 and was the entrant for the US team at the World Helicopter Championships held in Vitebsk, Russia in July '78. As far as I recall the US team didn't collect any awards that year but I think that may have won on the next occasion?
05 was then flown to the UK (where CSE swapped her shorts for pop-outs) after which she attended the Farnborough Airshow in September '78. As far as I know, she was the first Bell (as opposed to AgustaBell) 206 III in the UK. At Farnborough she was bought on behalf of the race horse trainer Vincent O'Brien by Irish Helicopters and delivered to Dublin the same month where she was registered as EI-BFK.
I have around 200 hrs in this craft from the early 80's when she served with Vincent. In those 200 hrs I flew quite a collection of characters including Stavros Niarchos (Greek shipping magnate) who I collected from Shannon (he had arrived on his private 737 from Athens en route to the Kentucky Derby). Another regular passenger during '82 was a chap called Charlie Haughey to whom Vincent would regularly lend the craft (you know how these political arrangements are).
Though not especially liked by a number of people, I always got on with Haughey. I didn't delve into his politics - as a person he was both warm and sincere and I spent many a weekend on his private island in the Blaskets with its stark (memorable) Eastern Atlantic seascape.
Charlie was a keen sailor and I eventually convinced him to try his hand at flying the Ranger. Most people when you give them the controls of a 206 for this first time tend to enter a sort of 'pendulum' swing with the cyclic but Charlie never did. He managed to keep her on course and altitude with remarkable ease - given that this was his first time ever to control a helicopter.
While I didn't manage to inflict the flying bug on Charlie I later discovered that my 'helivangelism' had not been in vain as his son, Ciarán (who was also on board during the occasion of his dad's first lesson), was keenly interested and apparently ended up buying an aircraft.
I shall not quickly forget flying the Haughey family around the Emerald Isle during the summer of '82. There was some stunning scenery along the South West coast and some equally memorable encounters with a number of Irish characters.
Some abstract linking; G-BHXU belonged to Castle Air (Roy Flood). My godfather's company sold Roy his first 206 (G-BAKX) which had previously been owned by Mohamed Fayed. 'KX' was then sold to Ireland in August '79 (a year after Roy had bought it) and became EI-BHI which I also flew - but that is another story!
S.