Bristow Photos
TTO.......true but if you don't ask........ Enormous PR value to the company and goodwill around their new SARH contract ....and if employees past and present all wrote to the Board too plus a few MPs etc,imagine what might be achieved.
Faint heart never won fair lady and the museum didn't get to where it is now by giving up too easily. Who's for joining the campaign?
Faint heart never won fair lady and the museum didn't get to where it is now by giving up too easily. Who's for joining the campaign?
There is also the Tax Write Off to consider as well.
Some hoops to jump through but Corporate Donations to qualified Charitable organizations can reduce Tax Liabilities.
Corporate Charitable Contributions - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Corporate Charitable Contributions - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com
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Oscar Charlie
I would like to see OC in a museum as it is one of the Origanal Bristow machine and by far the one a/c with the greatest History for the company and the 61 in general it was also the first fully equipped SAR S61.
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Oscar Charlie would be an excellent choice for the reasons given. However it is no longer owned by Bristows and is still very much earning it's keep with the US State Department (probably in Afganistan).
Paull
Paull
Paull hangar, 1977.
Paul Hangar and gate guard.
Thanks to Michael Johnson for the following article.
I joined BHL in Nov 68 after leaving the RAF and, after working for Bill Petrie at Redhill, I was sent up to Paull to look after the JetRanger G-AWMK in Jan 69. Paull Airfield was a farmer's field, about 6-7 miles east of Kingston upon Hull in East Yorkshire, used by the Hull Aero Club. Bristows chose to use it as a base to service the BP West Sole gas contract when Tetney shut down in late 1968.
Unfortunately, the morning I arrived at Paull, (one Portakabin & some sleepers ), the JetRanger, piloted by a very young Dave Hogg, was forced to make a heavy landing in the North Sea after an engine failure! The fixed floats were about level with the door handles, and the underside bashed in !! It wasn't me, honest, I hadn't even touched it at that time! Anyway, it was eventually hauled out by a Wessex from North Denes and returned to the BP helipad at Easington gas terminal (just north of Spurn Point, for those unfamiliar with East Yorkshire), still with it's trailing HF aerial deployed and catching on the wires as it came ashore! Larry Coram came over from Grimsby where he lived at the time, and the a/c was loaded onto a truck and taken to Redhill for repair. A month later it was back, as good as new, and flew from Paull 4 or 5 times a day for the next two years, usually piloted by W G (Bill) Holmes who, I am sad to report, has just died in Dec 2001 at the age of 80.
We took on a locally employed labourer, Dave Stephens, ex Army, and I got my Bell 206 licence and became the ch/eng (the only eng. !!) of a patch of concrete in a field at the end of a farm lane. The fuel was stored in an old tanker which stood on some sleepers, and we had to re-lay the sleeper road just about monthly during the winter when fuel supplies came by tanker from Teesport. All good fun when you are young !! The promise of a hangar by a local 'business man' never materialised so BHL had to have it built. Eventually we had a hangar with a small patch of concrete inside it, on which sat the JetRanger, and a strip of pavers stretching out to a helipad.
In 1971 we up-sized to a WW 55/3 Whirlwind G-APRW, again on fixed floats, which meant more concrete, and a tractor to pull the beaching trolley. In 1973 we up-sized again to WS60/1 Wessex, with wheels this time !, which meant extra staff, 7 day week, shift work, etc... we had G-ATSC to begin with but, on 8 March '75, we lost that one in the sea in a snow storm !
Then we had G-ASWI until, in 1980, we lost the contract to Bond Aviation, who offered more modern equipment, working out of the new Humberside airport, and BHL Paull was finally shut down in June 1980.
There were many staff during these 11-12 years as the job grew; originally, ch.pilot Bill Holmes, relieved occasionally by Dick Dorman,( part time farmer / jetranger pilot), and many relief pilots from North Denes including Clive Wright, John Ogden,Tony English, John Waddington, Tim Carbis, Ben Breech, Jim Lawn, etc.........also Jack Brannon as 'plotter'; Resident ch.eng Mike Johnson, with radio covered by Ian Stevens / Wilf Shepherd from North Denes.
North Denes 'chippies' built offices & stores in the hangar, in true Bristow fashion; we had that much kit it was sometimes difficult to get the a/c in! LAEs Bill Nicholls, Malcolm Inness, Jim Willmott, became resident as the job grew; Local labourers over the years included Dave Stephens, Terry West, Jim Biglin, Pete West, visitors included Jack Woolley, Bill Petrie, Jean Dennel, George Arnold, Don Strange, Cliff Saffron, Paul Hill, relief engineers / projects / base inspections brought Frank Chammings, Mike Grinstead, Steve Hogarth (both as greeny & later as pilot), Alan Bowell, 'Harry' Harrold, Andy Hall, Julian Hillman, Phil Turner, etc........
.....and me (Dave Edwards) who, after having joined Bristows two weeks previously, was sent up to Paull with Ian Pearce to fit a third landing light to the Wessex in between Christmas and New Year, 1979. Very bleak if I remember!
.
Paull hangar, 1977.
Paul Hangar and gate guard.
Thanks to Michael Johnson for the following article.
I joined BHL in Nov 68 after leaving the RAF and, after working for Bill Petrie at Redhill, I was sent up to Paull to look after the JetRanger G-AWMK in Jan 69. Paull Airfield was a farmer's field, about 6-7 miles east of Kingston upon Hull in East Yorkshire, used by the Hull Aero Club. Bristows chose to use it as a base to service the BP West Sole gas contract when Tetney shut down in late 1968.
Unfortunately, the morning I arrived at Paull, (one Portakabin & some sleepers ), the JetRanger, piloted by a very young Dave Hogg, was forced to make a heavy landing in the North Sea after an engine failure! The fixed floats were about level with the door handles, and the underside bashed in !! It wasn't me, honest, I hadn't even touched it at that time! Anyway, it was eventually hauled out by a Wessex from North Denes and returned to the BP helipad at Easington gas terminal (just north of Spurn Point, for those unfamiliar with East Yorkshire), still with it's trailing HF aerial deployed and catching on the wires as it came ashore! Larry Coram came over from Grimsby where he lived at the time, and the a/c was loaded onto a truck and taken to Redhill for repair. A month later it was back, as good as new, and flew from Paull 4 or 5 times a day for the next two years, usually piloted by W G (Bill) Holmes who, I am sad to report, has just died in Dec 2001 at the age of 80.
We took on a locally employed labourer, Dave Stephens, ex Army, and I got my Bell 206 licence and became the ch/eng (the only eng. !!) of a patch of concrete in a field at the end of a farm lane. The fuel was stored in an old tanker which stood on some sleepers, and we had to re-lay the sleeper road just about monthly during the winter when fuel supplies came by tanker from Teesport. All good fun when you are young !! The promise of a hangar by a local 'business man' never materialised so BHL had to have it built. Eventually we had a hangar with a small patch of concrete inside it, on which sat the JetRanger, and a strip of pavers stretching out to a helipad.
In 1971 we up-sized to a WW 55/3 Whirlwind G-APRW, again on fixed floats, which meant more concrete, and a tractor to pull the beaching trolley. In 1973 we up-sized again to WS60/1 Wessex, with wheels this time !, which meant extra staff, 7 day week, shift work, etc... we had G-ATSC to begin with but, on 8 March '75, we lost that one in the sea in a snow storm !
Then we had G-ASWI until, in 1980, we lost the contract to Bond Aviation, who offered more modern equipment, working out of the new Humberside airport, and BHL Paull was finally shut down in June 1980.
There were many staff during these 11-12 years as the job grew; originally, ch.pilot Bill Holmes, relieved occasionally by Dick Dorman,( part time farmer / jetranger pilot), and many relief pilots from North Denes including Clive Wright, John Ogden,Tony English, John Waddington, Tim Carbis, Ben Breech, Jim Lawn, etc.........also Jack Brannon as 'plotter'; Resident ch.eng Mike Johnson, with radio covered by Ian Stevens / Wilf Shepherd from North Denes.
North Denes 'chippies' built offices & stores in the hangar, in true Bristow fashion; we had that much kit it was sometimes difficult to get the a/c in! LAEs Bill Nicholls, Malcolm Inness, Jim Willmott, became resident as the job grew; Local labourers over the years included Dave Stephens, Terry West, Jim Biglin, Pete West, visitors included Jack Woolley, Bill Petrie, Jean Dennel, George Arnold, Don Strange, Cliff Saffron, Paul Hill, relief engineers / projects / base inspections brought Frank Chammings, Mike Grinstead, Steve Hogarth (both as greeny & later as pilot), Alan Bowell, 'Harry' Harrold, Andy Hall, Julian Hillman, Phil Turner, etc........
.....and me (Dave Edwards) who, after having joined Bristows two weeks previously, was sent up to Paull with Ian Pearce to fit a third landing light to the Wessex in between Christmas and New Year, 1979. Very bleak if I remember!
.
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I was in Paul the same time as Phil Turner, had a great time for a couple of months - even managed to start the Wessex during a comp wash. Never seen Mike Johnson move so quickly!!!
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I live near Paull the Beverley Gate Guardian went to the Beverley Army transport museum then when it closed it return to the fort at Paull where it remains with a hunter as a museum piece.
The Fort is about 2 mile from the old Paull airfield, it can be seen on google earth.
The Fort is about 2 mile from the old Paull airfield, it can be seen on google earth.
I remember about 1979 when I caught a frantic call from Ops at Aberdeen. Outside was a Puma on spot 4 with its rotors slowly turning. Some engineer had turned the engine for some check and had moved the starter switch from the OFF, through the VENT, to the START position. The engine had fired up and they didn't know how to stop it.
I strolled over to the aircraft and suggested that they put the switch to the OFF position.
The wonders of modern science.
I strolled over to the aircraft and suggested that they put the switch to the OFF position.
The wonders of modern science.
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As I recall the WX60 had a selector switch in the centre console, as the engine started I though "oh crap" and centered the switch terminating the start sequence. By this time Mike Johnson was up the side of the aircraft and just about to reach across me. Alls well that ends well eh !!!
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Stopping a Puma
The "off" switch on the Puma doesn't work if you have panicked and turned off the battery first. I believe that was the dilemma that caught out engineers with an unintentionally burning and turning Puma on at least one occasion.
Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock
........more from Ken Rowe.....
Pembroke Dock, Wales (Jul 73-Sept73)
(A/C Wessex G-AZBY)
Pilots: - Dick Metcalfe (chief pilot), Rudi Meyer.
Engs: - Roger Leale (chief eng), Don McQuaig, Ken Rowe.
Plotter: - Kedge Goode
The hangar was one of two situated either side of a World War 2 slipway used for launching and recovering seaplanes. The hangars were huge and had not been used since the 1950's. They had enormous blast doors which were impossible to open unless you had unlimited manpower pushing them, which of course we didn't have, so we had to resort to the trusty Land Rover strategically placed to open them. The oil company had tidied up one corner of the hangar for us together with a couple of offices whilst the rest of it was still in a state of semi dereliction. Kedge Goode besides being plotter had the duties of dealing with freight and Pax both in and out. We flew on average about three days a week with the rig being situated about 1Hr 20 Mins away. Whilst we were there it all went with mundane normality.
Don McQuaig and myself arrived at Pembroke Dock travelling in Don's ageing Mini from Yarmouth whilst Dick Metcalfe flew in from Yarmouth in the Wessex and Rudi Meyer drove over from Germany in his Mercedes whilst Roger Leale drove up from Southampton in his Lotus Élan. A reasonable selection of transport one might say. We all met in the Pembroke Dock Hotel where we were to be housed which was situated just inside the dockyard walls. The rig, operated by Marathon, was at that time still off southern Ireland and the site that we were to service was to be situated in the Celtic Sea or just off the north Cornish coast to you and me. As we had a few days before the rig was due on site a few "meet & greet" flights for the local dignitaries were made, as there had been some opposition locally to a helicopter operating out of the dock.
As it was high summer in the middle of the South Wales tourist area there was plenty to do in leisure time. Rudi Meyer, a German, although working for the company for 12 years suddenly announced after a week that this was the first time that he had ever been in Britain and could he bring his wife over. Anyone who has ever known Rudi will know that he speaks perfect English with a public school accent and the only trace of his nationality is his name. None of us would believe him. Apparently he had been recruited 12 Yrs earlier by Alan Green when Bristow's had an operation in Germany and subsequently had always flown from any of the operations he had worked on straight back to Germany. It was the first time that I had met him and some of the stories that he regaled us with about his exploits in South America ought to be recorded so Rudi if you're reading this - get writing.
After 6-7 weeks the rig had finished drilling and was about to move to Denmark and wanted to take the helicopter with them. Redhill asked the complete crew to go, but as it was going to take a week for the rig to get there we were to take the aircraft back to Yarmouth. Roger Leale was due leave and during that time his wife talked him out of going to Denmark.
........more from Ken Rowe.....
Pembroke Dock, Wales (Jul 73-Sept73)
(A/C Wessex G-AZBY)
Pilots: - Dick Metcalfe (chief pilot), Rudi Meyer.
Engs: - Roger Leale (chief eng), Don McQuaig, Ken Rowe.
Plotter: - Kedge Goode
The hangar was one of two situated either side of a World War 2 slipway used for launching and recovering seaplanes. The hangars were huge and had not been used since the 1950's. They had enormous blast doors which were impossible to open unless you had unlimited manpower pushing them, which of course we didn't have, so we had to resort to the trusty Land Rover strategically placed to open them. The oil company had tidied up one corner of the hangar for us together with a couple of offices whilst the rest of it was still in a state of semi dereliction. Kedge Goode besides being plotter had the duties of dealing with freight and Pax both in and out. We flew on average about three days a week with the rig being situated about 1Hr 20 Mins away. Whilst we were there it all went with mundane normality.
Don McQuaig and myself arrived at Pembroke Dock travelling in Don's ageing Mini from Yarmouth whilst Dick Metcalfe flew in from Yarmouth in the Wessex and Rudi Meyer drove over from Germany in his Mercedes whilst Roger Leale drove up from Southampton in his Lotus Élan. A reasonable selection of transport one might say. We all met in the Pembroke Dock Hotel where we were to be housed which was situated just inside the dockyard walls. The rig, operated by Marathon, was at that time still off southern Ireland and the site that we were to service was to be situated in the Celtic Sea or just off the north Cornish coast to you and me. As we had a few days before the rig was due on site a few "meet & greet" flights for the local dignitaries were made, as there had been some opposition locally to a helicopter operating out of the dock.
As it was high summer in the middle of the South Wales tourist area there was plenty to do in leisure time. Rudi Meyer, a German, although working for the company for 12 years suddenly announced after a week that this was the first time that he had ever been in Britain and could he bring his wife over. Anyone who has ever known Rudi will know that he speaks perfect English with a public school accent and the only trace of his nationality is his name. None of us would believe him. Apparently he had been recruited 12 Yrs earlier by Alan Green when Bristow's had an operation in Germany and subsequently had always flown from any of the operations he had worked on straight back to Germany. It was the first time that I had met him and some of the stories that he regaled us with about his exploits in South America ought to be recorded so Rudi if you're reading this - get writing.
After 6-7 weeks the rig had finished drilling and was about to move to Denmark and wanted to take the helicopter with them. Redhill asked the complete crew to go, but as it was going to take a week for the rig to get there we were to take the aircraft back to Yarmouth. Roger Leale was due leave and during that time his wife talked him out of going to Denmark.
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Rudi was my flatmate in Abu Dhabi in the mid 70's. After he left Bristow, he went to work for Viking Helicopters out of Wilhelmshaven. I ran into one of the German engineers who had worked on Das Island and had gone to work for Viking at Flight Safety in West Palm back in the early 90's and he said Rudi was still with Viking then.
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It's not just helicopters, you know!
I was just sorting through some old stuff back here in Germany after a spell in the States finally finishing my BA. I found a nice color photo of me as a Dornier 328 Captain, looking very, very pleased with myself.
But wait ... there's something odd about the picture: Flugkapitän G. Burmeister had Photoshopped 5-bar epaulettes into the image, the cheeky fellow!
If I get around to that, I will take a digital shot of it and stick it up here, just to show that we did operate fixed-wing in Nigeria: Dornier 328s, Beech King Airs, an MU-2, some DHC-6 Twotters ... and sometime back in the early 80s I had an air-miss with a Bristow Islander, when I could see that the Bristow pilot was wearing a tie, but I forgot to take a picture of that.
But wait ... there's something odd about the picture: Flugkapitän G. Burmeister had Photoshopped 5-bar epaulettes into the image, the cheeky fellow!
If I get around to that, I will take a digital shot of it and stick it up here, just to show that we did operate fixed-wing in Nigeria: Dornier 328s, Beech King Airs, an MU-2, some DHC-6 Twotters ... and sometime back in the early 80s I had an air-miss with a Bristow Islander, when I could see that the Bristow pilot was wearing a tie, but I forgot to take a picture of that.
