StrangeSteve: Thank you for the Scout photos on the previous page, wonderful!
EricFerret: I had a job picking you out in the photos .. I think you may have put on some weight since our days in Africa, lol! Happy New Year!
500 Fan: Great shots as always (I have some more 500 nostalgia on the way). Tell me, do you suppose the shot with the Beetle is to scale? If so .. then I never realised how large penguins were!
SmartHawke: Some great nostalgia there, thank you. I think this may be the first time G-BFZE has appeared on the thread and so this is much appreciated. Without checking the files I think she may have been the second or third Ecureuil in the UK after Tommy Sopwith's - certainly one of the first having been delivered to 'Valley of Gleneagle' Helicopters in October 1978.
Great to see some other JetRangers in your collection, some of which have made rare appearances on the thread.
You enquired about the registration of the LongRanger in your photo. There was only one 206L in the UK with that colour scheme and that was G-LRII, owned by Castle Air and painted in similar colours to the 'famous' G-BHXU (the helicopter which transported Anneka Rice around during her Treasure Hunt days). G-LRII was flown (at one time) by one of our own .. PPRuNer Geoffsincornwall!
A little game of snap to match your shot of AVIG:
Bristow Agusta-Bell 206B (upgraded from an 'A' model) and the first 206 delivered to the UK, G-AVIG lands at Gloucester's Staverton Airport on 13th March 1980. This aircraft perished in Antarctica on 5th January 1985 in poor visibility conditions (Photo: Keith C. Wilson courtesy of David Haines)
And another 'snap' to match your shot of G-BFAY which in fact recently cropped-up for the first time on the thread on page 89.
Sloane Aviation Hughes 500D departing Farnborough in 1978
Hughes 500C (369HE) G-BFYJ as seen as Henstridge on 10th April 1988
Another new entry for the thread BFYJ and another new operator for the list of 'lesser known operators' with 'YJ' having been bought by Wilford Aviation in 1978.