Hughes 500D
Ah ... dear old G-BESS. So good to see her again. I started Skyline Helicopters at Wycombe Air Park circa 1982 when one of our first acquisitions was the G-BESS 500D for my co-director Peter Milward. Now scratching my head, I recall the occasion we used a second 500 (G-HOOK?) to lift G-BESS from where she landed safely following an engine failure auto into an Oxford college field of standing crop. The college wouldn't allow us to go in with a lorry so we simply removed the C-20 which dropped the weight to something in the region of 1300lbs and long-lined her back to safety.
The wonderful, Guy Ralph Scott was of course the Express MD at Biggin Hill, and in the late 1970s I regularly visited him as a co-Piper dealer. He was a great diner and would take us down to the pub in Westerham, (Kings Head or Crown perhaps?) but now a block of flats or some sort of business HQ although it still bears the name of the pub! .... I'm also trying to think of the name of the research TV firm who owned the Citation and whose boss was later knighted, but the brain cells are not what they used to be! He also flew an AS350 Squirrel.
And thanks for the Hong Kong blues song. Ain't life weird! ... At the time George Harrison seemed surprised that anyone would have known of the blues tune ... certainly when he played his version for myself and Barry Sheene. And great to hear that Barry's life is remembered with an annual run down under. Does Stephanie take part in any way? I'm sure many are aware of Barry's previous 500, G-STEF.
Want another Bazza story? ... Circa 1986/7, I attended a Castle Donnington Motocycle GP. There I met my old student Barry in the car park, which we were using as a helipad for our camera ship 500. My company March Helicopters was covering the event for the early days of David Earl's TV2 micro-wave system. Having landed after the morning practice, Barry asked if he could do the camera ship flying for the race. So off he went and with his knowledge of race tactics, probably did a better job than I could.
Take care all ...... Dennis K.