Apologies to Geoff......
........Chandler that is, it must be my age. Speechless Two, Charles Pemberton and Chris Powell and Chris Hunt were of course reinforcements once we got our first contract and then I went over to Evergreen's HQ in McMinville, Oregon to check out another S61 which became G-BIMU once it had been through Marshal's hands down in Cambridge.
Another S61 found in Buenos Aires (remember main line BCal provided scheduled DC10 services to BA) turned out to be the ex-president's ex-VIP transport and had been painted Olive Green and had no paperwork to speak of so that was given a miss. I believe it turned up in South Africa with Court Helicopters but not sure about that.
A quick trip to Greenland provided another ship and then there were three:
G-BHPU - Leased from KLM first flight in BCal(H) colours April 23rd 1980
G-BIHH - ex Greenlandair, first flight in BCal(H) colours January 9th 1981
G-BIMU - ex N8511Z Evergreen, first flight in BCal(H) colours in May 1981
G-BFPF - came along in July 1981, it came from BA but it was leased by them from Court and they did not extend the lease. I collected it on 3rd July 1981 after doing a test flight at Beccles on June 2nd.
G.