BUAF Bristol 170 Question
I remember (aged about 10 at the time) flying on one of these to/from Hurn/Cherbourg in the early '60s. Our car was a Triumph Herald estate!
G-APAU was operating for Channel Air bridge at the very least between May 1960 and June 1961, from Southend.
My old Dad flew for Channel Air Bridge having previously been a BOAC navigator.
'AU first appears in his logbook 31/5/60 with Eddie Roocroft as Captain and for the last time on 7/6/61 with Mike Bussey as Captain.
First recorded flight(s) Southend - Ostend - Southend..... times 4! Eight sectors totaling 6 hours 15 minutes. No wonder he was nearly deaf by the end of his life.
Amusingly, many years later I flew with both those Captains. Eddie Roocroft at BAF and Mike Bussey at Transmeridian.
My old Dad flew for Channel Air Bridge having previously been a BOAC navigator.
'AU first appears in his logbook 31/5/60 with Eddie Roocroft as Captain and for the last time on 7/6/61 with Mike Bussey as Captain.
First recorded flight(s) Southend - Ostend - Southend..... times 4! Eight sectors totaling 6 hours 15 minutes. No wonder he was nearly deaf by the end of his life.
Amusingly, many years later I flew with both those Captains. Eddie Roocroft at BAF and Mike Bussey at Transmeridian.
Last edited by BSD; 2nd Apr 2023 at 19:01. Reason: spelling!
Mike Bussey's son has uploaded some of his fathers cinie film onto You Tube. Search "A pilots life "Parts 1 & 2. Great period footage of Bristols and Carvairs.
I rember Captain Roocroft from VF. A very down to earth Yorkshire man who had flown heavy bombers during the war and later after Air Ferry closed did a stint on the Biafrian Airlift with Transavia I think.
I rember Captain Roocroft from VF. A very down to earth Yorkshire man who had flown heavy bombers during the war and later after Air Ferry closed did a stint on the Biafrian Airlift with Transavia I think.
BrownDHC2,
Thank you for the "Bussey Productions" YouTube pointer. Fascinating stuff but boy, was the Bristol one ugly duck in the sky!
Loved the low level tour of the channel forts too.
Mike Bussey ended up as a DC-8 skipper in Transmeridian. I think earlier in his flying career he had flown the B-50 Washington in the RAF. He was a great skipper and one of the most quietly competent and thoroughly pleasant chaps to fly with.
Eddie Roocroft had been a bomber pilot in WW2 and did indeed fly in Biafra. DC-6s. There is a documentary film about Biafra in which another pilot recounts an early flight into Biafra and his worries about the anti-aircraft fire. Eddie reassured him with a cheery "Nothing to worry about, I've been shot at by professionals lad!"
Thank you for the "Bussey Productions" YouTube pointer. Fascinating stuff but boy, was the Bristol one ugly duck in the sky!
Loved the low level tour of the channel forts too.
Mike Bussey ended up as a DC-8 skipper in Transmeridian. I think earlier in his flying career he had flown the B-50 Washington in the RAF. He was a great skipper and one of the most quietly competent and thoroughly pleasant chaps to fly with.
Eddie Roocroft had been a bomber pilot in WW2 and did indeed fly in Biafra. DC-6s. There is a documentary film about Biafra in which another pilot recounts an early flight into Biafra and his worries about the anti-aircraft fire. Eddie reassured him with a cheery "Nothing to worry about, I've been shot at by professionals lad!"
