Bristow Photos

[Dave Ed]

Bolivia

Bolivia




Winning the first Bolivian contract was a major milestone for the fledgeling company.
They started working for Shell in Bolivia using Augusta Bell 47s in September 1957 and shortly afterwards won another contract working for the Bolivian California Oil Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil of California. For this contract they used American built Bells.
Bristows worked in Bolivia for six years and as well as the helicopters also bought and used two fixed wing aircraft - a twin engined Beech Bonanza and a de-Haviland Beaver.The first task was to support geological field parties operating in the river beds and in the foothills of the Andes. In this work, the helicopter was used to fly the geologists out from the base camp first thing in the morning, to support them in the field and return them safely to base at the end of a long, hardworking day. On this type of work, the pilot often accompanied the geologist and assisted him in carrying the rock samples. In this pattern of work the geological party moved camp at intervals of about ten days and this involved transportation of all camp equipment by helicopter.

Operating conditions at the beginning of the Bolivian operations were primitive in the extreme and as experience was gained it became clear that a fairly sophisticated maintenance facility would be required to provide a high level of aircraft availability. To achieve this, hangar and workshop facilities were set up at jungle base camps which enabled the carrying out of all necessary maintenance up to Check 3s. For Check 4s and major overhauls a fully equipped inspection and overhaul shop was built in Cochacomba, but getting the helicopters to this facility involved flying over part of the Andes at more than 14,000ft which
was no mean feat of pilotage in the early Bell 47 model.


"Crossing from the Beni to Cochacomba at around 14,000ft." Dated at 1960.






It is unclear when and where these two pictures were taken but as they include a Bell 47 it is conceivable that it could be Bolivia or very early Redhill FTS.