Ciao Dennisimo!
Great to see you back on thread .. don't be a stranger!
On lift off it would pop out like a Champagne cork.
The 'F' model was a dream to fly. I flew the only two (as far as I am aware) to work in Papua New Guinea, P2-AHM (when I was with Rotorwork) and N16031 (leased to Specific when I was with the 'kela' bald-headed man
). They had heaps of power (even at altitude) and I would have wished that all the 500's in that part of the world would have been F models!
Regarding Albacete .. I've not been there. Perhaps Aser or Estepo? But .. have a great visit. I hope the weather is warmer than where you are now.
Regarding General Franco, wasn't Albacete the seat of his avowed enemies .. the International Brigades?
Funny how that paint job looks similar to TC's 500 in Magnum PI TV-series.
The Magnum ship had orange-tone stripes over a brown base but .. I know what you mean:
N58243, one of several Hughes 500 'D' models which sailed the skies over Hawaii during the making of the 1980's American TV series Magnum PI
Sadly, N58243 (the pop-out-float-equipped bird seen skimming the waves during the opening titles of the series) ditched into the sea off Hawaii killing cemera technican Robert Van Der Kar and injuring the driver Robert Sanders. The accident report concluded a cause of pilot error CFIW. When aired, the episode being filmed 'Skin Deep' was dedicated to the memory of Robert Van Der Kar.
But .. I
can think of a Hughes which was similarly coloured:
Dennis Kenyon's Hughes 500C G-HSKY in his Skyline hangar at Booker c.1984
HSKY was probably the first 500 I flew. I remember 'The Clarke' wasn't so keen on the
Angry Bumble Bee and so one of Dennis' other instructors gave me a go - (I think it was a chap called Bowden or something similar. I remember that he was the first non-military pilot that I had flown with).
Oh Geee .. look what I found .. a Kenyon with a Bumble Bee!
Dennisimo with Hughes 500C G-GEEE c.1990
Formerly known as G-BDOY this craft was most likely registered to Brian Stein of Ockwells Manor, Maidenhead at the time of the photo.
In the late 70's this craft was bought by Cosworth Engineering of St.James, Northampton and which, if I remember rightly, was a British engineering firm which 'beefed-up' somewhat pedestrian automobiles and gave them some 'grunt!'.