Couple of comments about the Redhill post.
The Wessex in the hangar was an ex Ghana Air Force Mk. 53, which was an almost identical configuration to the commercial Wessex 60 operated by Bristow, and eligible for conversion. There were two of them, and this was the second one, that was eventually completely rebuilt from the ground up and ended up going to Skye, I seem to recall. When the rebuild started, someone had stolen the dataplate and there was a massive panic in the hangar trying to resolve this issue - it was a nice ship when it was finished.
Also in that picture is BGB after undergoing a crash rebuild, and the 212 in the foreground is G-BFES which rolled over, offshore. They painted United Helicopters on the tail at one point for a Flight International tour and article about the US operations. We were ordered to install the twin-pac as there was inadequate visual progress (according to Bill Petrie) on the aircraft, and every night on the night shift, we would hoist it out and complete all the fuel call and engine deck installations, before sticking it back in in the morning and going home. As a result, the day shift couldn't work on it, so it took twice as long to complete!
The Beech Baron is G-APUB, belonging to Sir Douglas Bader, that used to be maintained there.
Bill Denman is the one doing the Broadway song and dance number on the top of the row of 212's.
I can't recognize the guys working on the Whirlwind, but do recall Joe Bowell telling me a stroy about completing an aircraft in one of the old hangars, in a rushed preparation for an overseas contract. They finally got all the ground and flight tests completed, and pushed it into the hangar for a dawn takeoff the next morning. Once they got the ship inside, they couldn't get the hangar doors to close properly and couldn't figure out what was wrong with them, so kept opening them and pushing them harder and faster to get that last foot of closure. Someone then looked up and realized that the end of a Main Blade was sticking out through the door and they had just destroyed it with their increasingly strenuous efforts to get it closed. Quick change and quick track first thing in the morning and it was gone...
Although I was glad to get out of there, I had a great time working there, and worked on some really great projects and got experience second to none in the industry.
