Bristow Photos
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EP-HAM
I flew that gracefull old thing in 1974. Ron Cann was the station boss. I flew it out to the GANAVAE one night in a shamal ... (medical emergency) ran out of fuel just after landing on the pad back in Bushehr. The damn wind shifted ... scary!
Last edited by zilk235; 6th Mar 2008 at 18:12.
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More from Shenzhen.
The flight line, two Pumas and a Tiger. The runway consisted of 200m of concrete, at either end was a rubbleway.
The Chinese Greeny could really get in amongst it.
KZ receiving attention. Most of the time it was difficult to know who was an 'experienced' engineer and who was the water carrier. Everybody was determined to help in some small way.
Mayne Bristow (Australia) Greeny and assistant.
G - TIGN being prepared for a flight.
The control tower and office block, plus departure lounge. The radar sterilised all of us. One day ATC were adamant I could not depart as there were heavy thunderstorms around. He only relented when taken to the Tiger and shown our airborne radar. "Oooooooooh!"
The flight line, two Pumas and a Tiger. The runway consisted of 200m of concrete, at either end was a rubbleway.
The Chinese Greeny could really get in amongst it.
KZ receiving attention. Most of the time it was difficult to know who was an 'experienced' engineer and who was the water carrier. Everybody was determined to help in some small way.
Mayne Bristow (Australia) Greeny and assistant.
G - TIGN being prepared for a flight.
The control tower and office block, plus departure lounge. The radar sterilised all of us. One day ATC were adamant I could not depart as there were heavy thunderstorms around. He only relented when taken to the Tiger and shown our airborne radar. "Oooooooooh!"
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Any activity, no matter how mundane attracted a crowd of Goofers. G-TIGN about to go filming. (Robin Hunt in life jacket.)
Same trip
Wonderful pose from our interpreter. No matter how hard we tried, once we were out of the cockpit it was almost impossible to prevent the Chinese pilots from shouting at Guangzhou on the HF.
Lovely bloke, but very keen on the camera.
Three of the engineers. Really nice guys who tried their hardest despite the language barriers. The interpreters always wanted to work with the aircrew, so the engineers got by with hand signals. Most of them were sent to France and Aberdeen to do full courses.
The other end of the flight line, PHI's 214s and two of the Navy Dauphins.
One morning a PHI pilot had rolled back the throttles and was completing his paperwork, imagine it's the nearest 214. The Chinese Co-pilot received an instruction to move the aircraft to another spot, to the right of the other 214 which was also turning and burning. The interpreter had gone with the passengers, so the co-pilot intimated by hand signals what was required. The American Capt said OK and went back to his paperwork for a second. Meanwhile the Co had wound up both throttles, anticipating a ground taxi manoeuvre the Capt looked up, just in time to see the other 214 slide beneath his aircraft.
He managed to grab everything and prevent a disaster. During the debrief the Co was unable to understand how dangerous his actions had been.
Shekou during the construction phase; looking towards the ferry terminal. One evening I was sitting having a beer when a carpenter rode past on his bike. A tea leaf grabbed the saw from the chippies bag and ran for it, onto the football pitch, right of photo. The carpenter called for help and eventually the thief was being chased by a dozen irate Chinese in a scene reminiscent of Peter Sellers best films. Eventually the thief was caught and beaten, the saw was retrieved. The carpenter returned triumphantly to his bike to discover the rest of his tools had disappeared.
British Airways were operating from Macao, across the other side of the Pearl River. They came under pressure to allow two Chinese pilots to fly their S61 to a rig, and allowed it to happen. Their crew returned to Shenzhen one day, the ex-pats got off and vowed never to fly with them again. Their views were unsurprising, the crew had taxied in with huge grins, heaved on the brakes and glibly pulled back both throttles simultaneously. Silly boy hadn't applied the tail wheel lock. The aircraft turned about 25-30*. They hadn't the sense to wind it up again and roll forward. When all was quiet they descended the stairs and gathered all the Chinese engineers, who were required to push the tail boom to get the tail wheel straight.
30 minutes later the saga continued. They managed to get the Chinese passengers to board, the ex-pats were refusing to, and I commiserated with them. The aircraft taxied out to the very short runway, our hero took off and in a show of bravado carried out a 360* turn, followed by a rapidly accelerating second and a third, which was even faster. By this time I was below the window ledge. He managed to stagger it into the air, slewed at a dreadful angle.
That was the nail in his coffin. A phone call to 'Nigel' in Macao was made immediately, detailing what had happened. The shaken ex-pats explained that numb nuts had commenced his rig approach at about 15 miles, by which point he was at 150'. Little yellow ears were reddened in Macao.
Same trip
Wonderful pose from our interpreter. No matter how hard we tried, once we were out of the cockpit it was almost impossible to prevent the Chinese pilots from shouting at Guangzhou on the HF.
Lovely bloke, but very keen on the camera.
Three of the engineers. Really nice guys who tried their hardest despite the language barriers. The interpreters always wanted to work with the aircrew, so the engineers got by with hand signals. Most of them were sent to France and Aberdeen to do full courses.
The other end of the flight line, PHI's 214s and two of the Navy Dauphins.
One morning a PHI pilot had rolled back the throttles and was completing his paperwork, imagine it's the nearest 214. The Chinese Co-pilot received an instruction to move the aircraft to another spot, to the right of the other 214 which was also turning and burning. The interpreter had gone with the passengers, so the co-pilot intimated by hand signals what was required. The American Capt said OK and went back to his paperwork for a second. Meanwhile the Co had wound up both throttles, anticipating a ground taxi manoeuvre the Capt looked up, just in time to see the other 214 slide beneath his aircraft.
He managed to grab everything and prevent a disaster. During the debrief the Co was unable to understand how dangerous his actions had been. Shekou during the construction phase; looking towards the ferry terminal. One evening I was sitting having a beer when a carpenter rode past on his bike. A tea leaf grabbed the saw from the chippies bag and ran for it, onto the football pitch, right of photo. The carpenter called for help and eventually the thief was being chased by a dozen irate Chinese in a scene reminiscent of Peter Sellers best films. Eventually the thief was caught and beaten, the saw was retrieved. The carpenter returned triumphantly to his bike to discover the rest of his tools had disappeared.
British Airways were operating from Macao, across the other side of the Pearl River. They came under pressure to allow two Chinese pilots to fly their S61 to a rig, and allowed it to happen. Their crew returned to Shenzhen one day, the ex-pats got off and vowed never to fly with them again. Their views were unsurprising, the crew had taxied in with huge grins, heaved on the brakes and glibly pulled back both throttles simultaneously. Silly boy hadn't applied the tail wheel lock. The aircraft turned about 25-30*. They hadn't the sense to wind it up again and roll forward. When all was quiet they descended the stairs and gathered all the Chinese engineers, who were required to push the tail boom to get the tail wheel straight.
30 minutes later the saga continued. They managed to get the Chinese passengers to board, the ex-pats were refusing to, and I commiserated with them. The aircraft taxied out to the very short runway, our hero took off and in a show of bravado carried out a 360* turn, followed by a rapidly accelerating second and a third, which was even faster. By this time I was below the window ledge. He managed to stagger it into the air, slewed at a dreadful angle.
That was the nail in his coffin. A phone call to 'Nigel' in Macao was made immediately, detailing what had happened. The shaken ex-pats explained that numb nuts had commenced his rig approach at about 15 miles, by which point he was at 150'. Little yellow ears were reddened in Macao.
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More ex BCAL prior to Bristow Aquisition.
There have been a few BCAL & BEAS photos posted. Anyone got anymore?
What about the other companies that were swallowed up but are part of what makes BHL what it is today?
Last edited by Tail-take-off; 29th Mar 2008 at 19:49.
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Moderator: BCal Helicopters was bought by Bristow (just like BEAS that appears earlier in the thread) & 412ST FN operated for many years before being exported to Bristow in the US last year
I'll reinstate it, maybe Tto can edit it for the world at large 
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Senior pilot
Way back in post 105 I posted a BEAS picture & said:
It was greeted with enthusiasm by a number of Bristow people who had joined via other companies who were absorbred by BHL & a number of further BEAS & BCAL pictures were subsequently included.
Yes I know. It is the title I gave it when I started the thread. Perhaps now it has developed it should be changed to Bristow (& associated companies) photos?
Way back in post 105 I posted a BEAS picture & said:
This picture from Speacless got me thinking why not include the companies aquired by BHL? They are certainly a large part of what made Bristows what it is. So any Fison's Airwork, BEAS, B.Cal. etc photos & anecdotes pleas add them here too!
The thread title says it all: Bristow Photos
Perhaps it might actually be OLOG Photos as Bristow was purchased by OLOG and was itself a subsidiary company for quite a while before adopting the BHL tradename.
Just stirring the pot a bit!
Just stirring the pot a bit!
More Stirring of the Pot
Ok SASless,
As Olog is no longer in the picture we could call it the Bristow Group Photos. With all due respect to our Bristow peers of course.
By the way old Bristow boys anyone remember Jack Brannon??? Best Snake Oil salesman in the biz.
Now I really feel old
As Olog is no longer in the picture we could call it the Bristow Group Photos. With all due respect to our Bristow peers of course.
By the way old Bristow boys anyone remember Jack Brannon??? Best Snake Oil salesman in the biz.
Now I really feel old
I can't get over how small and the lack of a rotor head for those massive blades on BKFN.
So what is it doing now since its retirement? Always loved hearing it pass at ABZ, gave you a little bit of a lift on a drerry morning.
TiP
So what is it doing now since its retirement? Always loved hearing it pass at ABZ, gave you a little bit of a lift on a drerry morning.
TiP
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How many of you remember Ozzie? Bill Hade's monkey in Miri; he would wait until visitors had gone inside then shred their windscreen wipers. As in this photo I'd put him on my shoulders, he'd grab some hair then off we'd go on my bike for a tour. A wonderful character, with some decidedly nasty habits, similar to the monkey.
Another trick was to fill a bucket with water then hook it up in his tree, he'd lie down in it and rest his head on the edge, quite the celebrity.
Another trick was to fill a bucket with water then hook it up in his tree, he'd lie down in it and rest his head on the edge, quite the celebrity.
Old names...."Tommy Sword Stick, Jack Trigg, Jack Moss, Marcel Avon...characters all!"
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Jack Brannon - Yes Inmate I remember Jack, he came to Singapore/Indonesia when that op first started up in 1968, also Jack Trigg, fresh from the RAF, John Odlin, the late Barry Newman, I remember quite a long list of well known names from those days!
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OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here - its been over 30 years - but wasn't Jack in charge of recruiting pilots in the 70's? Seems I remember a story that he was busted in Alabama or some place and was greeted upon his return to Redhill with his picture on an American style wanted poster.
George Puddy took over from Jack Brannon as I remember it....and George was certainly a gentleman in all regards. Ken Smith had pilot assignments, Puddy recruiting and Pilot Admin. Thas being '75 or so. Trigg filled as needed in the office.
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George Puddy, thank you for the nudge, had pilot admin for many years until about the late 80's. He would send gentle reminders about the lack of a passport photo in my personal file for example. Hence the photo above with Ozzie, he then replied with a poem, asking if he might just possibly have a passport photo; his last line, and it didn't scan.....
"A photo, dammit, a photo"
As SASless says, a gentleman of the old school.
"A photo, dammit, a photo"
As SASless says, a gentleman of the old school.
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Another 214ST this time after the Bristow take over:
Another one of G-BCMC. It would seem that this one is not at all camera shy.
I'm still waiting for a couple of contacts to let me have some 212 pictures from Nigeria & another some of the Falklands, North Sea, Redhill FTS & some late BEAS stuff as well. In the mean time there must be more out there.
Another one of G-BCMC. It would seem that this one is not at all camera shy.
I'm still waiting for a couple of contacts to let me have some 212 pictures from Nigeria & another some of the Falklands, North Sea, Redhill FTS & some late BEAS stuff as well. In the mean time there must be more out there.
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Does anyone remember G-BBHM (re-registered 8Q-HUM) being leased to Hummingbird in the Maldives. Mike Clark & Griff Jones ferried it out there & because Hummingbird were short of crews they had to stay out there for a couple of weeks to help out. Tough job but somebody has to do it. As well as a couple of weeks in the sun Griff ended up with a wife & family out of the trip.
Griff went back a year later to do the return ferry flight with Graham Lee (he knew the way!)
Griff went back a year later to do the return ferry flight with Graham Lee (he knew the way!)
