Bristow Sumburgh - End Of An Era
Thread Starter
Bristow Sumburgh - End Of An Era (with Sumburgh Airport History)
After a 36 year presence at Sumburgh Airport in Shetland, Bristow today gave up the lease on the hangar and handed the keys back to the airport owners.
I had the task of handing the place over and having spent a significant part of my Bristow career based there, it was a sad day.
There have been lots of good times and a few bad times, and names and some characters that we will never forget.
There can't be many Bristow guys (and ex Bristow guys!) who haven't "done time" at Sumburgh over the years, and I bet there are some good photos and stories out there, so please share your memories here.
I took a few pics today of how the place now looks... it's a bit run down (a bit like me!) but hasn't changed that much over the years.
If these pics work, I will add some more memories later.
Would the last person to leave Bristow Sumburgh please switch the lights out...
Well that'll be me then... EH !
I had the task of handing the place over and having spent a significant part of my Bristow career based there, it was a sad day.
There have been lots of good times and a few bad times, and names and some characters that we will never forget.
There can't be many Bristow guys (and ex Bristow guys!) who haven't "done time" at Sumburgh over the years, and I bet there are some good photos and stories out there, so please share your memories here.
I took a few pics today of how the place now looks... it's a bit run down (a bit like me!) but hasn't changed that much over the years.
If these pics work, I will add some more memories later.
Would the last person to leave Bristow Sumburgh please switch the lights out...
Well that'll be me then... EH !
Last edited by S61-S92; 22nd Oct 2019 at 20:43.
Thread Starter
Bristow lost the HM Coastguard contract to CHC in 2007, and the two S61N (G-BDOC and G-BCLC) moved on to pastures new.
CHC now operate two Coastguard SAR S92 from their own hangar across the apron.
Bristow temporarily re-opened Sumburgh to support the Scatsta S92 operation whilst their new hangar was being constructed - as this is now up and running there's no requirement for the hangar at Sumburgh.
CHC now operate two Coastguard SAR S92 from their own hangar across the apron.
Bristow temporarily re-opened Sumburgh to support the Scatsta S92 operation whilst their new hangar was being constructed - as this is now up and running there's no requirement for the hangar at Sumburgh.
Last edited by S61-S92; 18th Sep 2009 at 16:26.
Thread Starter
A Bit Of History
The first aircraft Bristow operated at Sumburgh was a Wessex 60 G-ATCA which operated for Mobil in April 1972 for a couple of months.
In July 72, S61N G-AZRF and Wessex G-ASWI were on site for a short period.
In March 1973 S61N G-AZDC started the continuous presence at Sumburgh.
The south hangar was constructed in 1975, and extended in 1978.
At its peak in 1978, Sumburgh was operating 6 S61N, 7 SA330J Puma and 2 S58ET.
In July 72, S61N G-AZRF and Wessex G-ASWI were on site for a short period.
In March 1973 S61N G-AZDC started the continuous presence at Sumburgh.
The south hangar was constructed in 1975, and extended in 1978.
At its peak in 1978, Sumburgh was operating 6 S61N, 7 SA330J Puma and 2 S58ET.
Originally Posted by S61-S92
At its peak in 1978, Sumburgh was operating 6 S61N, 7 SA330J Puma and 2 S58ET
The shed doesn't look all that different to how it was then: it always impressed me the efforts of the blackhand gang to get the machines turned around overnight and back out for the morning
Sad day indeed...
I wos there in 1978 and it was brilliant craic, it has never been about the location, but the people who make the fondest memories.. and the Bristow gang was as good as you could get
I had great fun in and out of the Sumburgh club with the likes of Reuben Collins, Ian Hooker (RIP) Steve Armstrong, Magnus Bentley, occasionally putting my life on the line (S58T) with SaSless, Garth Parfitt (RIP mate) and co..
Guess all things come to an end eventually... seem to remember it wasn't long after that they tried to stop us climbing up rig legs in the fog as well
I wos there in 1978 and it was brilliant craic, it has never been about the location, but the people who make the fondest memories.. and the Bristow gang was as good as you could get
I had great fun in and out of the Sumburgh club with the likes of Reuben Collins, Ian Hooker (RIP) Steve Armstrong, Magnus Bentley, occasionally putting my life on the line (S58T) with SaSless, Garth Parfitt (RIP mate) and co..
Guess all things come to an end eventually... seem to remember it wasn't long after that they tried to stop us climbing up rig legs in the fog as well
Thread Starter
Some Sumburgh Pictures From The Harkives
No Apologies For The Quality - Scanned From Old 5x3 Prints
Credit To the Original Photographer, Some Were Donated To Me Years Ago!
Credit To the Original Photographer, Some Were Donated To Me Years Ago!
Last edited by S61-S92; 22nd Oct 2019 at 20:48.
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John Eacott :
BEAS had a presence in that shed before the end of that once Wonderful Company in the so called "Buy Out" remember doing a CAA inspection on G-BBBP there 77/78
Mav
BEAS had a presence in that shed before the end of that once Wonderful Company in the so called "Buy Out"
remember doing a CAA inspection on G-BBBP there 77/78Mav
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Truly a sad day.
There are some photos of Sumburgh on the "Bristow Photos" thread as well as the skyweaver Shetland base page which includes some interesting text.
Some of the Skyweaver photos are reproduced below.
Does anyone have any photos of the S61s packed into the hangar in storage, minus their Blades, having been sold to Aerospatiale? They were dragged out on a weekly basis for a ground run.
There are some photos of Sumburgh on the "Bristow Photos" thread as well as the skyweaver Shetland base page which includes some interesting text.
Some of the Skyweaver photos are reproduced below.
Does anyone have any photos of the S61s packed into the hangar in storage, minus their Blades, having been sold to Aerospatiale? They were dragged out on a weekly basis for a ground run.
Thread Starter
I have lots more pictures still to come, including of course, dear old Oscar Charlie!
Tail-Take-Off - We are working on getting pics of the 10 S61 in Storage line-up!
If anyone has pictures of Bristow Sumburgh please post them, or pass them on to me and I can scan and return them.
Send me a pm
Harky
Tail-Take-Off - We are working on getting pics of the 10 S61 in Storage line-up!
If anyone has pictures of Bristow Sumburgh please post them, or pass them on to me and I can scan and return them.
Send me a pm
Harky
The Bristow machines and the British Airways machines used to be lined up either side of the taxiway in front of their respective hangers. I remember my briefing from Dave Cramp when I first started operating there.
"If it's tight taxi closer to their line so that if you have a blade strike you take out one of theirs too."
One abiding memory.
My very first civilian pilot-in-command flight. Allocated a flight, briefed the co-pilot, was presented with and signed the tech log, went out to my S330J, climbed into the cockpit and discovered that there were NO radios or nav aids in it. Just holes in the centre pedestal.
Coming back late one evening from the basin. Usual stuff, pitch black, lousy viz, VFR at 300 feet. Had to hold because of a Trotter trying to land with the crosswind. We were circling on the coast just where Bristow rented a house. (Boddom?) and the radalt kept lighting up on the 200ft bug. Eventually the Trotter gave up and diverted somewhere. He was cleared to call Scottish and off he went. That was it. There was no answer when I called the tower or approach, nor could Bristow Ops get one. I had been forgotten about so I stumbled off towards the airfield and fortunately the cloudbase and viz perked up.
We used the north/south runway and as we were half way down finals we could see these lights going on progressively up the stairwell of Air Traffic. A breathless voice came up with our callsign, we called finals and were cleared to land.
Should have complained about it really but in those days who cared.
"If it's tight taxi closer to their line so that if you have a blade strike you take out one of theirs too."
One abiding memory.
My very first civilian pilot-in-command flight. Allocated a flight, briefed the co-pilot, was presented with and signed the tech log, went out to my S330J, climbed into the cockpit and discovered that there were NO radios or nav aids in it. Just holes in the centre pedestal.
Coming back late one evening from the basin. Usual stuff, pitch black, lousy viz, VFR at 300 feet. Had to hold because of a Trotter trying to land with the crosswind. We were circling on the coast just where Bristow rented a house. (Boddom?) and the radalt kept lighting up on the 200ft bug. Eventually the Trotter gave up and diverted somewhere. He was cleared to call Scottish and off he went. That was it. There was no answer when I called the tower or approach, nor could Bristow Ops get one. I had been forgotten about so I stumbled off towards the airfield and fortunately the cloudbase and viz perked up.
We used the north/south runway and as we were half way down finals we could see these lights going on progressively up the stairwell of Air Traffic. A breathless voice came up with our callsign, we called finals and were cleared to land.
Should have complained about it really but in those days who cared.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 10th Nov 2009 at 16:08.
Why, I'm right here sitting in the ferry line up for Bowen Island in Vancouver reading this thread!
What a sad day, truly the end of an era - and the location where so many of us started our careers and made friendships that have lasted a lifetime. It is pretty amazing to see it come to an end. I am actually quite shocked to see this news and the pictures.
I do indeed have many pictures of the 10 S61's that we picked up there and shipped out to the States. Unfortunately I don't have any with me to scan right now - if I had read this a couple of hours ago, I would have taken them out of the office with me, as I am going to be in Sumburgh next weekend. I just saw one of them (ex G-BDKI) 2 weeks ago, flying at the Sikorsky factory with a beautiful glass cockpit installed!
Some of the best pictures that were taken of that programme were by Malcolm Bradbury who worked in the tower - he had some superb images of all the goings on at LSI.
I have so many great memories of all the people that I was so fortunate to work with over the years there - of course a large number of them are still around and I get to see them every now and then.
I'll be at Helitech next week, so do stop by the Vector booth and say hi if any of the old Sumburgh crew are there. The rest I'll see in Shetland at the weekend. I might even buy the beer.
What a sad day, truly the end of an era - and the location where so many of us started our careers and made friendships that have lasted a lifetime. It is pretty amazing to see it come to an end. I am actually quite shocked to see this news and the pictures.
I do indeed have many pictures of the 10 S61's that we picked up there and shipped out to the States. Unfortunately I don't have any with me to scan right now - if I had read this a couple of hours ago, I would have taken them out of the office with me, as I am going to be in Sumburgh next weekend. I just saw one of them (ex G-BDKI) 2 weeks ago, flying at the Sikorsky factory with a beautiful glass cockpit installed!
Some of the best pictures that were taken of that programme were by Malcolm Bradbury who worked in the tower - he had some superb images of all the goings on at LSI.
I have so many great memories of all the people that I was so fortunate to work with over the years there - of course a large number of them are still around and I get to see them every now and then.
I'll be at Helitech next week, so do stop by the Vector booth and say hi if any of the old Sumburgh crew are there. The rest I'll see in Shetland at the weekend. I might even buy the beer.
Last edited by Phil Kemp; 19th Sep 2009 at 14:28.
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Many a happy day spent as a boy hanging around Sumburgh in the late 70s. Went on to fly offshore with the opposition for ten years, now driving the B777 in the desert for my sins..........
