Soggy: Great stuff!
There does seem to be a bit of a consensus regarding the Djinn and Dollar/BEAS.
What we know (according to Planemike) is that the UK Djinns were regesterined to Agricultural Air Services (AAS) who were evidently based at Kidlington and which is presumably a close enough association to assume that there may have been a link with BEAS. As Planemike suggested, there was probably a degree of collaboration between AAS and BEAS.
Now .. for some "threading" ..
Soggy has brought-up the fascinating Djinn which we've been looking at on this page and has mentioned that last one he saw was at the “Fliegermuseum” in Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Now it was in Switzerland, on the 3rd March 1955 to be exact, that the Djinn achieved an altitude record of 13,500 ft as follows:
"On 3rd March the French pilot Jean Dabos flying the third prototype of the SNCASO SO. 1221 Djinn F-WGVY (who had arrived in Switzerland with a group of technicians to make high-altitude test flights) made several take-offs and landings from the Kleine Scheidegg.
Flying sos Dabos made a hovering flight above the Mönch (4105 m). That day it was however impossible to make a safe landing so the pilot decided to make just a touch and go. The day after the small two-place helicopter continued the demonstration program and landed with one passenger on the Jungfraujoch. Later Dabos flew to the top of the Mönch where a French flag was fixed in the snow to confirm the success of the flight. Among the eye-witnesses was the famous Swiss Colonel Willy Frei."
[Details courtesy of Markus Herzig]
Sud-Ouest Djinn F-WGVY on the Jungfraujoch in March 1955 (Photo: A. Bazzani courtesy of Markus Herzig)
Sud-Ouest Djinn F-WGVY in front of the 'Sphinx' observatory on the Jungfraujoch at 3'471 m (Photo: Heli-Archive.Ch)
Some more "threading" ..
Now the day before the Djinn F-WGVY reached 13,500 ft in the Swiss Alps .. another piece of rotary-wing history was made, also in Switzerland, this time by a Hiller:
"On March 2 1955 Sepp Bauer, (1918-2000) a Swiss helicopter pioneer, landed a Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH belonging to Air Import SA on the Jungfraujoch (3510 m). That day Bauer landed at first on the Kleine Scheidegg (2100 m) with a passenger. He then contacted the operators of the Jungfrau Railway summit station in order to obtain the wind condition and air temperature. After confirmation that everything was ok, Bauer told the operators to fix a wind flag near the meteo station announcing his intention to make a landing there.
Bauer removed the auxiliary fuel tank to save as much weight as possible and took-off at 14:32 from the Kleine Scheidegg; 20 minutes later he landed without particular problems on the Jungfraujoch at 3520 m, a remarkable event if we think that the helicopter was powered with a 200 hp Franklin engine! After a short conversation with the two operators of the observatory, Bauer took-off and returned to the Kleine Scheidegg where his passenger was anxiously waiting for him."
[Details courtesy of Markus Herzig]
Pilot Sepp Bauer with Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH at Kleine Scheidegg in 1955 (Photo: A. courtesy of Markus Herzig)
Air Import Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH is used to connect the resort of Zermatt which had been cut off after a series of avalanches , with the valley bottom (Photo: Heli-Archive.Ch)
Now .. HB-XAH was the same Hiller filmed by PPRuNer HeliComparator's father as recently showcased on
this thread.