Dear Sav, thank you for your kind welcome.
My main aviation interest has always been helicopters, and in particular Crop Sprayers, as a young twenty year old in the mid seventies I would jump on my motorcycle camera slung on my back and head out to where they were working. There were several regular companies that worked this area (North Notts) at that time. Agricopters from Thruxton, N Huchhings from Edwinstowe, only ten miles from me, Farmwork Services from Metheringham in Lincolnshire, Miller's from Wickenby airport, primerrily stuck with Ag-Cats though, Linc's Aerial Spraying, Pawnee users, John Holburn Farm Helicopters from Grantham, and a couple of others from North Yorkshire.
Over the years I got to know one or two of the outfits very well, they would often allow me a ride up when the pilot had only half a tank to finnish off. N Hutchings was the main sprayers in this area with it being local, I got to know them very well and became friends with the manager of the company and the pilot. The manager was a chap called Chris ?? his surname just escapes me, and the pilot was a Kiwi by the name of Ross Harvey, Ross was Tragically killed in a sight seeing flight about fifteen years ago, his good friend Jamie Mckenzie (also a crop sprayer) was also killed in the same accident I believe, he flew with a company from Thirsk in North Yorkshire in the eighties.
Hutching first started using Helicopters in or around 1977, they started with a Hiller 12E. they bought Alouette G-AWFY in 1980 I think, they used this aircraft for around three years, it was sold on to Italy for a Alpine Medevac company, unfortunatly it was written off in an accident near Bergamo in Northern Italy not long afterwards. They then loaned G-AYTF for a season, this was resplendant in its JPS black colour scheme, it always looked out of its depth with the spraying gear attached, compared to its more glamourous usual commitments.
After G-AYTF went back they then took delivery of another Jet Ranger G-AZRU, this looked like a new machine very clean. they had this jet for only one season I think. Right up until the early nineties when the EU basically outlawed Aerial Crop Spraying Hutchings finnished of using a mixture of Bell 47's, hired in machines. At the time, all thier maintenance work was carried out by a company at East Midlands airport.
Looking at my old photo's brings the memories flooding back, they were good times, Chris being a motorcycle fan himself used to swap me a flight in the Heli for a ride on my bike, (not a bad swap I think), Ross would deviate off his return route to allow me to overfly my home, or any other landmark I wished to take photo's, a true gentleman.
Below I have included a couple of shots of "TF", I shall in due course upload the others, especially the Alouette G-AWFY, which has a special place in my heart.
Regards... John.
ps having difficulty inserting image, have not done this before
help would be most welcome.