Great reflections on Bond and Clyde (above) as well as Twyford Moors - please keep the stories from TMH coming!
On the previous page I posted a screenshot of G-BAKS in response to something similar by
WiganAirways on page 22 where G-AWJL appeared in an episode of The Saint.
G-BAKS was first mentioned on
page 3 of this thread when, as we discussed John Crewdson, PPRuNer
Low Flier noted that John had handed over the job of flying BAKS in the Bond movie 'For Your Eyes Only' to Marc Wolfe. It was of course this movie which made BAKS 'famous' as it were and herewith is the flying sequence from the 1981 film:
Here's the interesting thing (well, for some at least); at the time BAKS performed her role in Bond #12 she was owned by the Lord Dulverton who's first 206 (G-AZAG) appears on the previous page (courtesy of
Helipixman) - we are still on the lookout for anyone with recollections of Lord Dulverton and his helicopter operations.
BAKS, an AgustaBell 206B, began her life in 1972 being delivered to her original owner, Galliford Construction of Banstead in Surrey, in December the same year. Galliford's pilot was a chap called Chris Powell an ex-RN Commando role pilot. When Galliford's closed in 1976 Chris joined the Ferranti team, initially at their Gatwick base then moving to Shoreham. Chris went on (as did many of Ferranti's pilots) to join BCalH and was posted to ABZ where he became S-76 fleet manager. (Details courtesy of PPRuNer
Speechless Two).
After Gallifords BAKS was bought by Lord Dulverton of Oversley Castle, Wixford, Alcester, Warwickshire, who kept her until 1994 when she was sold to Stephenson Marine of Wrecclesham, Farnham under whose tenure BAKS met her demise.
It was on 14th November 1997 that BAKS was destroyed while returning to Goodwood in Sussex from having completed a charter to Basingstoke in Hampshire. The
accident report reads:
"The fuselage had impacted in an almost inverted attitude with initial ground contact made by the aircraft's nose followed by the cabin roof. Prior to this, one rotor blade had already struck the ground destroying that blade and causing the detachment of the rotor hub from its mast." The accident was weather related and the pilot was killed. (I would been keen to know if anyone recalls who was lost in this tragedy).
BAKS outside the Dollar hangar at Coventry on 27th June 1979. (Photo: Alan Mosiezny)
BAKS at the Leicester Airshow on 26th August 1979 [on her way to collect the commentator for the Red Arrows]. (Photo: John Bell)
BAKS over Westminster painted in the colours of the MI6 front 'Universal Exports' in the role that made her famous during the filiming of Bond 12.
S.