1973 or 1974?
Now I fully admit that my memory isn't 100% nowadays but I can recall John Evans struggling on several occasions to get the 269 airborne out of Battersea and my battered memory recalls flying into Battersea on the day of G-AXXD's arrival in the Thames mud.
The trouble is that on the reported day of the ditching in post #1709 above - August 17 1973 - my logbook shows I was flying overseas so I couldn't have been there. However on August 17 1974 my logbook shows I flew into Battersea during the afternoon.
I also recall a forced landing of the 269 into a field east of the heliport about a week before the Battersea incident and seem to think all these events were not long after Twyford Moors got the contract. So, 1973 or 1974? Hopefully I have not gone totally doolally!
The perceived difference in the year might explain heli1's post on the Wessex thread that there is no record of Ted Heath signing the visitors' book on the 1973 date.
I await TRC's recollection of events - he may remember the year.
Last edited by CharlieOneSix; 14th Nov 2012 at 12:27.