Bristow Photos

[phive]

EP-HBF again!!

Not Stansted actually - Gatwick!

[WhirlwindIII]

Remember George Bedford bringing in a very large Barracuda from offshore Eket. I believe it weighed in at the 80+lb range and almost as long as he is tall. George does have a picture of it.

[Mike Bill]

Wessex in N Sea

There were a number of Wessex (I believe three) at Gt Yarmouth until replaced by the Bell212 in 1980.

[Grumpyasever]

50lbs actually, but it was as long as I am short!

[GCMOIR]

Hi Stacey,

I'm shocked to hear about Sammy, I had never heard this up to now. I knew him well in Eket as we used to fly model aeroplanes together, sometimes he came up to PH.

You don't have any pictures from the Tharos and Iolair days do you? Looking back I kick myself for not bringing a camera around more often.

Take care yourself,

Graeme Moir

[Thridle Op Des]

Wessex in Denes

I think you are a year out Mike, I recall a cluster of very muddy engineers returning from the middle of a dark Yarmouth fen having recovered Tony English (I think) from an all engines flameout in a WS60 and that was Jan 1981. I operated Feb/Mar 1981 with the 330J and the Wessex were still going then.

Regards

TOD

[AS332L1]

I must dig out my slides from the loft from the Tharos/Treasure Finder days

[flyer43]

Pictures of Tharos days etc

When I can find them, I'll try to scan some pics from my time on Tharos, Claymore A and Treasure finder from the early 80s. It may take a little while though! Watch this space...................... --->

[Rosh]

Ghana 2008

Great to see so many great pictures (particularly flared trousers!) and stories from the past.

A couple more recent ones.

Pics taken while operating an S-76A+/++ out of Takoradi and Accra, Ghana.
Sept - Dec 2008


Arrival at Takoradi









Takoradi Air Force Base





Fitting in amongst the resident vultures.





Africa Beach Club, Takoradi






Exploring on the bike.








Night Deck Landing practice on the Deepwater Discovery.









Takoradi Air Force Base






Leaving Takoradi for Accra.






Day Off. Offroading in the hills to the North of Accra. Steve Martin getting wet, and myself waiting to see how he gets on!









On the pan at Accra.






Big news in Accra.

[leading edge]

Mike Bill

Good to have you on the thread. TOD is correct, the Wessex were retired after the Ben Breach G-ASWI accident in 1981 and were replaced by Bell 212s BJJO BJJP and BJJR.

JR met its end sadly with Pip Smith and Tony Liston in 1985 during a night Rowan Crew change to the Cecil Provine.

[MamaPut]

Rosh,

Nice photos, but did you have 2 S76s there - I see G-BJFL and G-BJGX.

[WhirlwindIII]

Barracuda

Grumpy

Nah, 80lbs - you're thinking kilos. Biggest I ever saw.

WIII

[Droopy]

Had a passenger turn up once, I think on the Idoho, with a 90kg grouper. There was nearly a mutiny when he realised that as it was frozen it wouldn't fit in the boot so it travelled back to QIT strapped in beside him.


I have only a very few of the first weeks in the Falklands in 1983, this one is on Beauchene Island for a senior officers' picnic.

[Rosh]

Rosh,

Nice photos, but did you have 2 S76s there - I see G-BJFL and G-BJGX.

Well spotted. We actually had the use of 4 different airframes during the contract, due various reasons.

We started off with G-BHBF, then Nigerian 5N-BCT lent a welcome helping hand when BF went AOG, before being replaced by G-BJGX, which, in turn was replaced by G-BJFL. Musical airframes!

We only had one aircraft on site at a time, except for the odd occasion such as below. G-BJGX arrives, and 5N-BCT is getting ready to head back to Nigeria.

[WhirlwindIII]

90kg Grouper from offshore Eket is now the record in my book, George's barracuda gets second place.

[SASless]

You guys keep on and before long ol' Moby Dick himself will show up ....was there ever a Captain Ahab in Eket?

[WhirlwindIII]

No Ahab, but Jonah cruised by a wellhead once in the early 80s with engineers fishing from it - as it passed by, very closely, its eye moved as if fixated on them.

[Droopy]

Hang on, I didn't say I caught it, just transported it....but if anyone remembers the shark's jaws behind the bar at the airstrip that were us. They looked much bigger when still attached to the shark than when mounted.

Now that I've started digging into my shattered memory I seem to recall someone at the time mentioning a 75lb barra which sounds like it must have been George's.

Whirlwind, you wouldn't be thinking of a big spotty thing would you? I seem to remember seeing whatever the big veggie shark is.

[5711N0205W]

Skyweaver

To get access to SkyWeaver try the wayback machine at the link below, the pages can take a bit of time to load but there does seem to be a reasonable selection there

Internet Archive Wayback Machine

[flyer43]

Some from my scrapbook - Name those chaps!

Sorry for the lack of quality, but I've just taken a snap of some fairly basic quality photos from a few years ago. When I've got more time, I'll try to scan them properly to improve the quality and replace the ones in this post.

Maybe some of you can provide names to some of the faces.


G-AODA at Redhill in 1976



Kilo Sierra - Redhill FTS 1976



Uniform Kilo - Redhill FTS - 1976



HP7 - Redhill FTD 1976




Sedco 704 - 1980 ish



MSV Tharos - 1980 ish


G-BCMC over the Aberdeen Lifeboat - 1982 ish


Galeota Point, Trinidad - Xmas 1985


Galeota Point, Trinidad - Xmas 1985



Echo Rollover - 1980 ish - Claymore Field


G-BCMC - MSV Tharos 1980 - Peterhead Harbour


G-BBBP - Claymore Field - 1980



Galeota Point, Trinidad - 1985