Steve great shots, most enjoyable!
The aircraft below first debuted on page
68:
Bell 206A JetRanger G-AYMW at London Gatwick Airport on 11th June 1971 (Photo: Keith Harper courtesy of David Haines)
In the photo on page 68 'MW' is still wearing 'shorts' whereas here we see her on 'pop-outs' and with the addition of a Decca DANAC (moving map) navigator having been installed (the teardrop antenna beneath the baggage compartment).
AYMW was registered to BEAS in November of 1970 and was sold to Wykeham Helicopters in September 1973 and with whom she remained until 1984. During that time she evidently spent some seven years in Eire (between '73 and '80).
From 1984 she was a 'Dollar bird' but came a cropper in County Meath (Ireland) in 2004.
An excerpt from the accident report reads:
"The helicopter was engaged in aerial filming of the Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange, Co. Meath. During its fourth orbit of the mound, the helicopter was seen to yaw suddenly to the right and spiral out of control. Appropriate corrective action by the Pilot, ie of opposite left pedal, reduction of collective and pitching the nose down to increase airspeed, proved ineffective as the helicopter continued yawing right in a spiral descent. The helicopter impacted heavily into a field immediately east of the mound, but remained upright. The three persons on board suffered various sudden impact injuries and were transferred to hospital by the emergency services a short time later. There was no fire. Distribution and analysis of the wreckage and the evidence of an eyewitness determined that the helicopter was fully intact at the point of initial impact. An engineering investigation did not find any technical fault that could have accounted for the accident. Onboard film footage recovered from the accident site did, however, provide evidence that the helicopter was operating in a part of the flight envelope where it was susceptible to loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE)."