Bristow Photos
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 308
Likes: 10
From: Cyprus
Totally agree with Fareastdriver.
We need some good pics of Bristows current aircraft and operations. Having exhausted the Bristow archive collection for now I will take a sabatical while I prepare my house for selling!
We need some good pics of Bristows current aircraft and operations. Having exhausted the Bristow archive collection for now I will take a sabatical while I prepare my house for selling!
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Vancouver, Canada
Hello Saint Jack:
I apologize for the delay in responding. work has been quite busy. My Father Yves Le Roi came to Canada in the early sixties and yes, he worked for Bow Helicopters in Calgary, Canada in the sixies and moved over to Okanagan in sixties.
He did however go all over the world especially ASIA such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, during the late 60s and 70s working for Okanagan.
He was transferred to Base Manager in 1973 and we lived in Inuvik, North West Territories for 3 years before coming to Vancouver where he started the Engine Shop in 1978.
He was based in Canada that entire time, but did travel there periodically to recruite technicians, mostly in Asia.
He worked till the Early 90s during the Name change to Canadian Helicopters and then left Canadian to work for Bell Helicopters in Amsterdam for a few years before coming back to Canada. He then went and worked in our Prince Edward Island Division in the Mid 90s and came back to Vancouver once again. He then went and worked for Coulson Aircrane on Vancouver Island for a few years to help them set up a repair shop. He came back and did some consulting work for Vector Aerospace in early 2000s before finally retiring.
He is well, lives in Aldergrove, British Columbia with his wife Francoise (yes coincidence the wives both have the same name) and has 5 children and 6 grandchildren which are all visiting right now during this summer
He just turned 75 this year. He is doing well, in good health.
I will let me know about you.
Regards
Katell
I apologize for the delay in responding. work has been quite busy. My Father Yves Le Roi came to Canada in the early sixties and yes, he worked for Bow Helicopters in Calgary, Canada in the sixies and moved over to Okanagan in sixties.
He did however go all over the world especially ASIA such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, during the late 60s and 70s working for Okanagan.
He was transferred to Base Manager in 1973 and we lived in Inuvik, North West Territories for 3 years before coming to Vancouver where he started the Engine Shop in 1978.
He was based in Canada that entire time, but did travel there periodically to recruite technicians, mostly in Asia.
He worked till the Early 90s during the Name change to Canadian Helicopters and then left Canadian to work for Bell Helicopters in Amsterdam for a few years before coming back to Canada. He then went and worked in our Prince Edward Island Division in the Mid 90s and came back to Vancouver once again. He then went and worked for Coulson Aircrane on Vancouver Island for a few years to help them set up a repair shop. He came back and did some consulting work for Vector Aerospace in early 2000s before finally retiring.
He is well, lives in Aldergrove, British Columbia with his wife Francoise (yes coincidence the wives both have the same name) and has 5 children and 6 grandchildren which are all visiting right now during this summer
He just turned 75 this year. He is doing well, in good health.
I will let me know about you.
Regards
Katell
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Vancouver, Canada
Yves Le Roi
Hi:
I'm over at my dad's and yes he does remember Russ Shand and has a very high opinion of him. I'm going to get my dad to sign up to this Network as there are so many great pictures and contact for his to stroll down memory lane.
Thanks again.
Katell
I'm over at my dad's and yes he does remember Russ Shand and has a very high opinion of him. I'm going to get my dad to sign up to this Network as there are so many great pictures and contact for his to stroll down memory lane.
Thanks again.
Katell
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 308
Likes: 10
From: Cyprus
A couple of pics courtesy of Dave Gash...
"The S-58's seemed to have a main transmission problem. This was taken possibly in 1977 at Sumburgh. G-BCDE and G-BCDF."
"The S-76 had a main transmission problem and was shipped back to Great Yarmouth. Circa 1987."
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: pointy end
G-BJVZ had an MGB chip and had to be brought back by boat. That was an unusual S-76 in the Bristow fleet and it had Fuel Pressure gauges not Fuel Flow gauges like the rest of the fleet. S/N 84 if I remember. It also had 4 car type doors and no RH slider. It must have come from the GOM at sometime.
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 5,174
Likes: 7
From: UK
I picked up VZ in Antwerp from the Ro Ro. It still had traces of its pre-Bristow paint job in the door liners. Somebody told me it had started off life with the FAA.
It had pressure guages, normal A/H and low-tech HSI. The navaids, twin VOR/ILS with OBS presentation were U/S. It had the small, low centre coaming with a blanking plate for the Litton and the tyres were flat. Luckily I was flying back with Avgas who had a normal example except the Litton did not work. As the weather was not very marvelous it was, or I, decided to fly to Gatwick as his No2 in formation as he had an engineer who could watch me.
His tyres were flat too so we hover taxiied and punched out of Antwerp. VZ was making all the right noises so I settled down in a loose echelon. Pre-start I had stacked the usual 20 Bensons and lighter at the back of the centre consol so in the cruise I reached down to light up.
They weren't there! The reason was that there was a gap at the back of the Litton blanking plate and they had both slid in to the depths of the consol. I could not possibly survive the trip to Gatwick without them plus they were a loose article hazard. We were issued in those days with a circular four-blade miniture screwdriver thingy to undo the Dzus faseners on the doghouse so I wielded this, undid the blanking plate and recovered said items from a tangle if wiring; at the same time keeping two rotor spans from Avgas.
However, it was not finished. Duing my exertions my maps had slid off the left hand seat and had fallen between the seat and the LH collective. Fortunately being a low consol I could unstrap, park my backside on the consol and lean over and recover said items; at the same time keeping two rotor spans from Avgas.
After a welcome fag the trip continued without incident until we crossed the FIR boundary and then the weather socked in. As we were above cloud and I had no navaids we ended up doing a formation ILS to Gatwick. The cloud was pretty thick on the slope so I had to close up to a span and a bit. It was OK for me; flying in cloud in close proximity with another aircraft whilst he was flying a GCA or ILS was common in the RAF but I could see the engineer in Avgas's aircraft was having kittens.
To get an idea of how much work had to be put into it to make it like a standard S76A I picked it up from Antwerp on 10th February 1982 and it wasn't until June 24th that I went to Redhill to start the post-reassembly airtests.
It had pressure guages, normal A/H and low-tech HSI. The navaids, twin VOR/ILS with OBS presentation were U/S. It had the small, low centre coaming with a blanking plate for the Litton and the tyres were flat. Luckily I was flying back with Avgas who had a normal example except the Litton did not work. As the weather was not very marvelous it was, or I, decided to fly to Gatwick as his No2 in formation as he had an engineer who could watch me.
His tyres were flat too so we hover taxiied and punched out of Antwerp. VZ was making all the right noises so I settled down in a loose echelon. Pre-start I had stacked the usual 20 Bensons and lighter at the back of the centre consol so in the cruise I reached down to light up.
They weren't there! The reason was that there was a gap at the back of the Litton blanking plate and they had both slid in to the depths of the consol. I could not possibly survive the trip to Gatwick without them plus they were a loose article hazard. We were issued in those days with a circular four-blade miniture screwdriver thingy to undo the Dzus faseners on the doghouse so I wielded this, undid the blanking plate and recovered said items from a tangle if wiring; at the same time keeping two rotor spans from Avgas.
However, it was not finished. Duing my exertions my maps had slid off the left hand seat and had fallen between the seat and the LH collective. Fortunately being a low consol I could unstrap, park my backside on the consol and lean over and recover said items; at the same time keeping two rotor spans from Avgas.
After a welcome fag the trip continued without incident until we crossed the FIR boundary and then the weather socked in. As we were above cloud and I had no navaids we ended up doing a formation ILS to Gatwick. The cloud was pretty thick on the slope so I had to close up to a span and a bit. It was OK for me; flying in cloud in close proximity with another aircraft whilst he was flying a GCA or ILS was common in the RAF but I could see the engineer in Avgas's aircraft was having kittens.
To get an idea of how much work had to be put into it to make it like a standard S76A I picked it up from Antwerp on 10th February 1982 and it wasn't until June 24th that I went to Redhill to start the post-reassembly airtests.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 23rd July 2010 at 18:24.
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 320
Likes: 0
From: Cornwall
Yves Le Roi
Katell
Give your Dad my regards. Having worked for Bristows for over 40 years, I knew a lot of the "Old Timers".
I am reading Alan Bristows Autobiography at the moment and it is scary how many people I knew from when I joined the Company in 1968
John Whale
Give your Dad my regards. Having worked for Bristows for over 40 years, I knew a lot of the "Old Timers".
I am reading Alan Bristows Autobiography at the moment and it is scary how many people I knew from when I joined the Company in 1968
John Whale
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 264
Likes: 0
From: Goodwood, Sussex, UK
If this has already been posted then my apologies, in the meantime:
VH-BHL at Barrow Island c. 1980 - Looking more like a hovercraft than a helicopter!
The deflation caused by the giant engineer on the starboard float is impressive - as is the pilot's eagreness to exit the craft whith blades turning - although to be fair they are probably winding down!
Earl
VH-BHL at Barrow Island c. 1980 - Looking more like a hovercraft than a helicopter!
The deflation caused by the giant engineer on the starboard float is impressive - as is the pilot's eagreness to exit the craft whith blades turning - although to be fair they are probably winding down!
Earl
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 829
Likes: 9
From: taking up the hold
more like those above here Barrow Island Image Gallery
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: `Inverurie, Aberdeenshire
Norsk S61N scheme
Although OF came back to Aberdeen quickly, there was a spin-off. The US agent for the chap who owns Victoria's Secrets and a heap of other US retail brands, liked the Norsk style high back cabin seats. They bought the a/c, reregistered it as G-LAWS and Bristow operated it for almost 7 game murdering seasons until he switched to the S92. Due to an unusual lack of Redhill foresight ("Bristow will never operate the S92!") the contract was handed to Harrods. LAWS became DAWS now with Tony Jones out of Penzance. Why didn't it revert to OF?
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 260
Likes: 0
From: Dallas TX
I was with Offshore Helicopters in Sabine Pass Texas but left prior to the purchase by Bristow. It was short lived as I think the Gulf of Mexico was a somewhat different enviroment to make money. Anyway does anyone have any pictures from that time? I would love to view them.
Clint Polansky
Clint Polansky
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 41
Likes: 0
From: Dyce, Aberdeen
Sabine Pass
There are some pics posted by me some time ago of all the ops on the Gulf coast, mainly machines at Sabine. Look at posts by me to see them, if there is a problem let me know and I will repost.