Bristow Photos

[Dave Ed]

Paull

Paull




Paull hangar, 1977.




Paul Hangar and gate guard.




Thanks to Michael Johnson for the following article.


I joined BHL in Nov 68 after leaving the RAF and, after working for Bill Petrie at Redhill, I was sent up to Paull to look after the JetRanger G-AWMK in Jan 69. Paull Airfield was a farmer's field, about 6-7 miles east of Kingston upon Hull in East Yorkshire, used by the Hull Aero Club. Bristows chose to use it as a base to service the BP West Sole gas contract when Tetney shut down in late 1968.

Unfortunately, the morning I arrived at Paull, (one Portakabin & some sleepers ), the JetRanger, piloted by a very young Dave Hogg, was forced to make a heavy landing in the North Sea after an engine failure! The fixed floats were about level with the door handles, and the underside bashed in !! It wasn't me, honest, I hadn't even touched it at that time! Anyway, it was eventually hauled out by a Wessex from North Denes and returned to the BP helipad at Easington gas terminal (just north of Spurn Point, for those unfamiliar with East Yorkshire), still with it's trailing HF aerial deployed and catching on the wires as it came ashore! Larry Coram came over from Grimsby where he lived at the time, and the a/c was loaded onto a truck and taken to Redhill for repair. A month later it was back, as good as new, and flew from Paull 4 or 5 times a day for the next two years, usually piloted by W G (Bill) Holmes who, I am sad to report, has just died in Dec 2001 at the age of 80.
We took on a locally employed labourer, Dave Stephens, ex Army, and I got my Bell 206 licence and became the ch/eng (the only eng. !!) of a patch of concrete in a field at the end of a farm lane. The fuel was stored in an old tanker which stood on some sleepers, and we had to re-lay the sleeper road just about monthly during the winter when fuel supplies came by tanker from Teesport. All good fun when you are young !! The promise of a hangar by a local 'business man' never materialised so BHL had to have it built. Eventually we had a hangar with a small patch of concrete inside it, on which sat the JetRanger, and a strip of pavers stretching out to a helipad.

In 1971 we up-sized to a WW 55/3 Whirlwind G-APRW, again on fixed floats, which meant more concrete, and a tractor to pull the beaching trolley. In 1973 we up-sized again to WS60/1 Wessex, with wheels this time !, which meant extra staff, 7 day week, shift work, etc... we had G-ATSC to begin with but, on 8 March '75, we lost that one in the sea in a snow storm !
Then we had G-ASWI until, in 1980, we lost the contract to Bond Aviation, who offered more modern equipment, working out of the new Humberside airport, and BHL Paull was finally shut down in June 1980.

There were many staff during these 11-12 years as the job grew; originally, ch.pilot Bill Holmes, relieved occasionally by Dick Dorman,( part time farmer / jetranger pilot), and many relief pilots from North Denes including Clive Wright, John Ogden,Tony English, John Waddington, Tim Carbis, Ben Breech, Jim Lawn, etc.........also Jack Brannon as 'plotter'; Resident ch.eng Mike Johnson, with radio covered by Ian Stevens / Wilf Shepherd from North Denes.
North Denes 'chippies' built offices & stores in the hangar, in true Bristow fashion; we had that much kit it was sometimes difficult to get the a/c in! LAEs Bill Nicholls, Malcolm Inness, Jim Willmott, became resident as the job grew; Local labourers over the years included Dave Stephens, Terry West, Jim Biglin, Pete West, visitors included Jack Woolley, Bill Petrie, Jean Dennel, George Arnold, Don Strange, Cliff Saffron, Paul Hill, relief engineers / projects / base inspections brought Frank Chammings, Mike Grinstead, Steve Hogarth (both as greeny & later as pilot), Alan Bowell, 'Harry' Harrold, Andy Hall, Julian Hillman, Phil Turner, etc........

.....and me (Dave Edwards) who, after having joined Bristows two weeks previously, was sent up to Paull with Ian Pearce to fit a third landing light to the Wessex in between Christmas and New Year, 1979. Very bleak if I remember!


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