Savoia

Zis: This is for your collection, although you've probably already got it:


SA341F RA-05702 over Gelendzhik, Russia, on 5th September 2012 (Photo: David Cherkasov)

This craft appears to be flying over the Russian equivalent of Hollywood!

Not sure whether she's of Aérospatiale, Westland, SOKO or ABHCO origin but .. I am sure your records will soon tell you.

Brgds

Sav

Zishelix

Thanks you think on me, Sav

Of course I spot it, almost few weeks ago at the Óêðàèíñêèé Ñïîòòåðñêèé Ñàéò Àýðîâîêçàë - Ðåçóëüòàò ïîèñêà. Believe or not, I still have no clue which c/n is this. I'm trying to find out but RA/RF register is very difficult to browse...
So, any help in this matter would be much appreciated

Savoia

Zis: It is becoming quite difficult to find even a single Gazelle which you do not have in your collection!

How about this one below .. do you have that too?

It was sold less than four weeks ago by Falcon Aviation in the UK to James Blaylock and Carol Evans and is an ex-British Army Westland-built 341 model. Her Army designator was XX432.


Westland Gazelle SA341 AH1 G-CDNO as seen at Gamston on 15th September 2012 (Photo: Dave Grimsdale)

ps: That is an intriguing web address in your link.

Zishelix

Great finding, Savoia!

I haven't see G-CDNO in this livery before, just few shots while she was painted light blue back in 2008. I owe you a beer for this one

Pittsextra

Savoia

Pitts Extra: Well you made my day yesterday when your apparition of 'The Dancer' suddenly appeared. Fantastico!

She is such a special craft to me .. being the one in which I performed my first solo (under the watchful eye of the late great Tony 'Antonio' 'Nobby' Clarke) and also being the first bliterblat in which I experienced an engine failure. I have many memories of flying her between 1981 and 1983 while she was under Colin Chapman's patronage and then in 1984 when she joined Dennis Kenyon's stable at Booker.

Your photo must have been 82-83 (as she wore the Essex Motorsport colours in 81) .. do you have any further details on the specific date and location?

Again my thanks, what a super shot of the little girl!

Pittsextra

Haha - it is 1982. I found the picture on a website of a friend of mine from a previous career. You can scroll to the relevant part on this site:-

DoubleDeClutch.com | The Right Stuff, The Wrong Way

Its actually a picture of the helicopter from the Osterreichring. An extract from the site says:-

"In addition to the (Lotus) Elite the JPS-liveried Jet Ranger helicopter was also deployed for the weekend, being used by Colin Chapman to commute from the rather more salubrious hostelry where he and Hazel were staying. Naturally he wanted to land as close as possible to the paddock and was using a small grassed spectator area(!) at the end of the pits as helipad. Mike the pilot and I used to go and shoo the punters away when he was coming in. On race morning Mike and I duly went and taped-off the area and the ‘chopper landed, with the Old Man at the controls, Hazel alongside and Peter Dyke from Players, together with his wife, in the back."

Edit to add:- The guy who runs that site is a professional photographer called John Brooks. Super nice guy and he has been around forever - get in touch I'm sure that he may have other shots..

Savoia

Pitts, many thanks!

Well if this is the Österreichring circuit in Austria in 1982 then I suspect we may be venturing towards the memory-zone of the intrepid VFR440 who may also be able to give us a clue as to which 'Mike' was employed as The Dancer's driver on that occasion.

Perhaps the event with my bare-footed godfather in Klagenfurt occurred the following year in '83 and which would have meant that dear old Colin would have somehow managed to torch two turbines in the same year as I recall that at least one hot section was replaced around Easter '83.

Geoffersincornwall

In September 1978 I was sitting on top of the Wolf Racing Pits/garage with a bunch of hangers-on. It was the Italian GP and this was Monza. Ronnie Petersen had that terrible crash during the start and subsequently died in hospital. Ronnie was with Lotus but Colin Chapman did not have a helicopter at that race but I was flying G-BCYP, Walter Wolf's 206. It was parked nearby on the infield helipad.

Without discussing it with me Walter went to Colin and offered 'YP' as an ambulance to take Ronnie to hospital. He then came and found me and told me to get ready to fly an injured driver to hospital.

You can imagine that there was a moment of panic whilst I juggled the notion of carrying a stretcher in a helicopter with no fixtures and fittings (actually it would have been physically impossible to carry anyone other than 'walking wounded'). Then there was the matter of 'taking him to hospital'. What hospital? Where? Fortunately wiser heads were already dealing with the situation and Ronnie disappeared in an ambulance.

Situations like that were the reasons why Sid Watkins pushed for (suitably equipped) helicopters (x2) at every GP.

G.

Pittsextra

amazing stories, you can see one of the helicopters I guess in the background of Pironi's shunt at Hockenhiem 1982 here:-



One other motor racing story that is in my mind comes from the 1982 season.

Giles Villenueve got wiped out at Zolder and there is a piece in a book that talks about how the following day, once all the circus had moved on the only thing left in the paddock was the helicopter Gilles had flown in with. It must have been a grim task collecting it, anyone know who had his helicopter after that?

Geoffersincornwall

Gilles was one of the few allowed to use Walter's machine and during my flight from UK to Milan I stopped off for fuel at Genoa only to find a disappointed refuel-crew who were used to topping up 'YP' with Gilles aboard. The bowser driver had a motor racing mag and held up the page with photos of all the drivers competing in the Italian GP and asked me which one was I. They should have known that a 6' 4" guy like me could be a lot of things but would never fit in a Ferrari - or anything else like it.

I did have to collect 'YP' from Cannes airport not long after (need to check the logbook) and positioned it to a location near Lichtenstein (again need to check the logbook), it's possible that this flight had a GV connection because GV lived in Monaco or at least close by.

After the race (which was further delayed by our driver Jody Scheckter crashing into and severely damaging an Armco barrier) there was no time to remove all of WW's hangers-on before sunset and chaos descended on our operation. We waited at the GAT at Linate for WW to appear which he did at 4 am and before boarding his King Air came over and told me that he had promised James Hunt (who he just agreed to sign for the '79 season) that I would pick him up at 10 in the morning at Cannes Airport and take him to his home in Barcelona.

He really dropped me in it because I had only a sketchy idea of what that would mean in terms of fuel and had no maps of Spain with me (actually Nick Cook, WW' regular pilot) was used to this manifestation of wealth and kept a box of maps for everywhere in a briefcase in the boot so in the end all seemed OK.

Then the fog descended on Linate as it regularly did at that time of year and put an end to any hope of getting down to Cannes. This was fortunate for I had brought wife Lesley with me and we were not sure if James would have his girlfriend '(called 'Hottie') or any other passengers for Barcelona.

By late afternoon it became apparent that the weather was good enough to head north so Lesley and I set off for Geneva and had an amazing flight over a snow enveloped Simplon Pass and down the Sion valley.

It was an amazing trip for there is not enough space here to tell all but believe me it was a real adventure.

G.

Dennis Kenyon

For Savoia,

Lovely to see another pic of the black lady that we called 'the Dancer' ... but knowing what a stickler Savoia can be for dates and accuracy, just to confirm my log book tells me that following my purchase of the Dancer from Colin Chapman, I collected her from Hethel on the 22nd January 1983 (not 1984.) I seem to recall she was fitted with the Collins 841 two-axis autopilot ... a neat piece of kit on which you could fly a 'back course' ILS.

The Mike you knew was almost certainly Mike Hamlin with whom I did the purchase negotiations and who flew the Lotus Navajo and the King Air and who later ran his own business of Hamlin Jet.

Hope this fills the odd blank in your records. Warm regards. Dennis Kenyon.

baldeagle73

I may be wrong but this post could be my old mate from HEMs. Hi GN

baldeagle73

HI GN
I did the odd ferry flight. Many trips with Gary Savage ( where is he by the way). THe most interesting was 2 A109,s for the MOD. I have a bunch of photos from that trip.

Savoia

F28A G-BALT alongside 280C G-BENO probably at Shoreham c. late 70's

Savoia

The writing on this pleasant piece of memorabilia reads:


Sikorsky S51 G-AKCU c. 1948

G-AKCU was first registered to Westlands in 1947 and then sold to BEA in January of the following year.

Agaricus bisporus

Old Buckingham???? Mistakes like that on a stamp are worth £££££, whats the value on a first day cover then?

Savoia

I recall my godfather telling me that he had sent-out aircraft from time-to-time to 'dry' various race courses which had become sodden. The Stewards in their attempt to salvage the day were willing to do almost anything it seems!

Stateside they were up to something similar - and here is some footage taken in 1969 when a 206 was called in to dry off the turf for the US Open:

Savoia

Enstrom 280C Turbo Shark G-KENY as seen at Shoreham in 1985 (Photo: Adrian Batchelor)

Well, one might easily be excused for believing the Shark displayed above was named after the 'Maestro' himself but .. unless I am mistaken .. was probably named after a chap called Ken Stokes of Wells in Somerset.

But .. KENY (after becoming OMCP) did end-up in the Maestro's hands when in 1989 he bought her and re-named her G-SHUU for his Biggin-based 'Starline' operation.

And .. most probably, Denissimo has had constant involvement with this craft becase in 1985 she was bought by the rally driver Tony Pond who was one of the 'Menace's' client's during his days with Skyline at Wycombe Air Park.

The last time I saw Tony Pond was in 1984. I was undergoing flight training with 'Nobby' Clarke in G-TALY when Booker got socked-in. Under 'Antonio's' guidance we fluttered down to Tony's home pad .. just as Rowan Atkinson drove up the drive way.

The encounter between 'Nobby' and Atkinson over tea at Tony Pond's was, well .. pricesless!

Savoia

Wiggy: For you!


Westland Lynx AH7 ZE378 and XZ651 at Glasgow City Heliport with EC135T2 G-SPAO on 15th September 2011 (Photo: Ray McFayden)

Not sure how often the Army come through your way but obviously they do!