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The Kenyon Files: What
did Dennis sell Colin?
Among the notable gentlemen rotary-wing owners discussed on 'Nostalgia' have been the Duke of Westminster, Cy Rose, Peter Cadbury and Colin Chapman. In true
Nostalgia Thread style, Dennis has been involved with all of them!
We are still tracking down the Enstrom sold to DoW and trying to find out which aircraft Dennis demonstrated to Cadbury although the latter might only be uncovered via the pages of the maestro's log book! A photo of Cy Rose's Brantly (G-ATJY) was posted on
page 17 but we are still searching for the Enstrom which Dennis sold him.
Regarding Chapman; Dennis mentioned G-BAWI in an earlier post (and we we shall come to BAWI) but .. the craft Dennis sold to Colin was infact G-BAAU.
Now here I was thinking that Dennis, being a man of great flair and possessing panache, would in his efforts with the UK's F1 leader at the time, deliver a sharp looking Shark, perhaps suited in jet black with snazzy accents in gold and silver and upholstered with white leather seats etc.! Imagine my surprise then to discover that what Chapman bought was an orange and fawn F28A!!!
Team Lotus Enstrom F28A G-BAAU at Blackbushe on 10th May 1981 nine days prior to being sold to RHM Investments in Hampshire
I am of course joking Dennis and well aware that Chapman was not into the fineries of executive aircraft. He was however interested in performance so I am still a little 'miffed' as to why you didn't offer him a Shark!
F28A G-BAAU at Bournemouth Hurn on 3rd June 1988 while registered to Merlyn Upton (Photo: John Sullivan)
BAAU was sold to John E. Clark and Co. of Bournemouth in August 1972 and bought back by Spooner, intriguingly registered for a time as 'Spooner (Enstrom Helicopters) Limited', until being sold to Group Lotus in July '76.
From Lotus she went to RHM Investments as mentioned above and from there to Dennis' chum Norman Bailey.
BAAU's final owner appears to have been a Stuart Cox under whose patronage she seems to have perished on 15th December 2004 at Coton Hill in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
An excerpt from the
accident report reads:
"The pilot was on the return leg of a solo flight from Manchester to Nottingham when the engine suddenly cut out. He entered autorotation however the aircraft sustained extensive damage in the ensuing forced landing. On inspection it was found that the aircraft had run out of fuel. Investigation revealed that there was no appropriate data on fuel consumption rates in the aircraft manual, although this information existed in the aircraft’s engine manual. The pilot did not possess a copy of the engine manual and had incorrectly based his fuel planning on the consumption rate witnessed on the aircraft’s fuel flow gauge on previous flights."
Sav