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Dennisimo, welcome back!
In recent pages we have discussed Tommy Sopwith and I suppose it would be great to hear whether you have any recollections of this rotary-wing character, son of Sir Thomas Sopwith!
Industry Insider mentioned that Tommy lost a finger courtesy of a set of main rotors and I recall the Colonel relating such a story to me but was unaware that it was attributed to Tommy. He seems to have been based in the Brighton/Shoreham environs so perhaps there are some memories!
Similarly,
Ah de Havilland and I were both wondering whether you had any recollections of the "Mad bad and dangerous to know aristocrat" the Marquess of Bristol (page
34) who at one time flew a Hughes 500C (G-BKTK) which you would later go on to sell to Barry Sheene when it became G-STEF?
While on the matter of 500's, do you recall G-BESS (below) which used to belong to one of your partners at Skyline (Peter Millward). He came in to Booker one day and hit a small post with the tail rotor (perhaps you remember the chain-link affair that existed for a while around the heli-park opposite your hangar). He then proceeded to observe the cool down while the tail began to rattle itself to pieces. I think it was 'Nobby' who ran out to tell him to shut the thing down before matters escalated!
Hughes 500D G-BESS seen at Cranfield on 3rd September 1977. Imported by Sloane Aviation then sold to Micro Consultants of Surrey and on to Dennis' former business partner Peter Millward in 1981. Ferranti's AB206B G-AWJW in the background. (Photo: Keith Sowter)
Head Turner: If you are referring to Mark Thatcher scion of mother Mags then, to link it with my previous post, he was the only other student I recall (at the time) who was training on G-TALY. If however by '83 he was already qualified then perhaps he was performing his 206 conversion in early '84 as opposed to undertaking his PPL. For whatever reason Thatcher kept bashing Antonio 'Nobby' about my age quizzing whether I was old enough to be his student. To be fair I had only just turned 17 but looked about 15!