Savoia

Dick Smith apparently landed his globe-trotting 206 (VH-DIK) somewhere near the Potomac River (the info provided says due wx) in 1982


Dick sleeping rough (somewhere!)

treadigraph

Ah yes, VH-DIK - and presumably Dick - was at the Farnborough display in '82. Do I recall a story that the JetRanger picked up a bullet hole en-route round the world?

Nigel Osborn

I think the bullet was fired at him in Scotland. Probably said he didn't like scotch!

Savoia

Indeed, for I recall seeing the craft there.

Evidently he also met-up with Baston's friend PC while in the UK!

How incredibly unsporting!

Or in Russia, where the sight of a 'skidded' blitterblat would have offered a rare trophy for the seasoned hunter!


Bell 206B JetRanger III VH-DIK at the Farnborough International Air Show in September 1982

Savoia

In 2011 Swiss photographer Anton Heumann informed me that he had a collection of "G" reg rotorcraft taken at Brands Hatach in 1984.

Given that this thread was covering a number of craft from the UK from this period I was naturally interested.

Over the past two years I've been keeping in touch with Anton to check-up on his progress with scanning and making available his images which now, at last, we can see.

As there are quite a few I plan to drop them into the thread over the coming month or so.

I begin with just one craft of special significance:


Skyline Helicopters Agusta-Bell 206B JetRanger III G-CSKY (formerly G-TALY) at Brands Hatch in July 1984 (Photo: Anton Heumann)

G-TALY .. delivered by Geoffers, purchased by Denissimo, used by Savoia for his PPL course and .. the 'progenitor' of this thread!

Plank Cap

Savoia, A 206 for your PPL - that is posh........... My first 100 hours came thanks to the venerable Bell 47 complete with the fourth dimension (twist grip over correlated reverse action throttle!).
Just curious, but did you ever get to fire up that windscreen wiper on TALY and if so, did it work as advertised without scratching the (presumably) perspex screen?

Plank Cap

Savoia

Planko: Believe me, I would dearly have loved to have done my PPL on the 47 .. wow!

Re: wipers, not just G-TALY but the Towers Ranger too (the Long Ranger beloning to Alton Towers .. also flown by PPRuNer Paco) which was similarly fitted with wipers.

The wipers were a novelty. I used them a couple times on TALY during moderate precipitation, but they were unnecessary.

On the Towers Ranger (G-JLBI) their use was strictly 'verboten' by my godfather .. exactly because they scratched the perspex. I think his instructions were something along the lines of .. "If I see you even touch the wiper switch .. you will remember it!".

Having been 'assaulted' for a 'lax comment' during a night time sortie and literally left standing at Dublin Airport when flying then Prime Minister Charlie Haughey .. because my shoes were 'not shiny enough' .. I can assure you .. the wiper switch was never touched, lol!


Alton Towers LongRanger G-JLBI at Brooklands c. early 1982 (wipers and their motors can be seen half way up the windshield)

Edited to add: While the wipers were a novelty in practice, in principal they were added (to the best of my knowledge) as part of the 'IFR package' .. as both TALY and the Towers Ranger were IFR capable.
.

Dennis Kenyon

'S' ... Wipers? ... I really concur. When we first acquired G-TALY I hadn't ever used wipers on the very curved Bell JR sceeen. I recall so well, when flying her on an early morning run, (probably to the BH Grand Prix of that year) I decided to try them to clear the dust off the screen ... big mistake. All the wipers managed was to leave a full width 'smear' such that heading east into sun I virtually lost all forward vision. I had to land on route to clear the screen. Thereafter, like the Colonel, their use was very much verboten, but the fare paying passengers seemed to like the idea! Regards. Dennis Kenyon.

TRC

We fitted the wipers to TALY at the request of Ken the pilot. I don't know if it came down from the DoW or not.
We also fitted green perspex sun visors from Aeronautical Accessories, don't know if they remained in later years. Seemed a good idea to us, but it's the only time I've ever seen them fitted to a 206.

As for scratched screens, the worst scratches on TALY were on the bottom six inches of the co-pilot's screen - on the inside! Apparently, His Grace used to stretch out and put his feet up on the de-fog outlet in flight.

Savoia

Twins .. for safety .. and sometimes a 'no fly' policy issued by the boards of public companies prohibiting too many directors flying on the same aircraft at the same time .. well how about two presidents flying in a single!


The President of Brasil, Juscelino Kubitschel (left), with President Alfredo Strossner of Paraguay (centre), prior to take off in a Bell 47 which is about to show them the completed highway linking their two countries. Taken in the Paraguyan city of Coronel Oviedo on 6th October 1956

Dennis Kenyon

Just spotted the 'sooty' tail-boom on KY. How disgusting. And it was actually yours truly at the wheel. DRK For front row of the grid!

TRC

It's not soot Dennis - it's caused by flying at night. All the dark stuff is sucked in by the engine, compressed and then squirted out the exhausts.

Not soot - concentrated darkness. Trust me..

Savoia

Ah Denissimo .. your 'disgust' is reminiscent of the Colonel's own attitude towards aircraft presentation! Ferranti's charter fleet was the stuff of legend among its clientele and the object of derision by and handful of Ferranti staff and some others in the industry. However .. to find a Ferranti-bird with 'concentrated darkness' upon her hide .. was rarer than hen's teeth!




SA341F Gazelle RA-1558G at St. Petersburg in Russia on 6th April 2013 (Photo: Igor Dvurekov)

Zishelix: Perhaps with the aid of your boundless Gazelle databse you could tell us where this Russian Gazelle hails from. By the way, do you have any idea how many Gazelles are in Russia? So strange these days to see 'skidded' helicopters there .. when for so long they were never seen.

Zishelix

"Boundless"?! Wishfull thinking

Unfortunately still missing ID for the specifiic Gazelle. Here you are what I have about the RA/RF Register at the moment:

- RA 00502; 341H (G); c/n 014
- RA 05702; 341H; 058
- RA 05703; WA.341B; 1524
- RA 0608G; 341H; 123
- RA 1214K; 342L; 12? (exYU production)
- RA 1233G; 341G; 1020
- RA 1341K; 341H (G); 003
- RA 1451K
- RA 3341K
- RA-0628G; 341G
- RA-0682G; 341G
- RA-0884G
- RA-1558G
- RA-1691G
- RF-00383
- RF-14009

It goes without saying, any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Savoia

Zis: Grazie mille! It does seem strange that there is no public record of RA-1558G and her serial number. Do you suppose this is an ex-Soko Gazelle?



More from Anton's 1984 Brand's Hatch collection:


Skyline Helicopters Agusta-Bell 206B JetRanger II G-WIZZ at Brand's Hatch in July 1984 (Photo: Anton Heumann)

Also delivered by Geoffers and purchased by Denissimo but (unlike TALY) not flown by Savoia. However .. as with TALY .. she was prepped (prepared for delivery) by TRC.

G-WIZZ was the second helicopter to be discussed on this thread after TALY and, like TALY, had a poem written in her honour.

After her delivery from Frosinone she was despatched to Sheffield to her owner .. William Monks builders.

Now for some cross-stitching; the Colonel had names for everything and everyone .. it was one of his many foibles! One of the craft managed by Ferranti Helicopters was G-BBBM which the Colonel (for reasons known only to himself) referred to as the 'Brave Brave Black Man'! But at the same time .. there was another 'triple bravo' running about .. this one a zulu .. G-BBBZ .. an Enstrom which had been sold by Denissimo to none other than .. William Monks builders!

The 'JPS livery' seeen on WIZZ (above) was in fact worn by three aircraft .. firstly 'The Dancer' G-AYTF (which was Colin Chapman's personal mount), then G-WIZZ and .. finally .. G-TALY when she became G-JOKE having been purchased by Freddie Starr.


Bell 206B JetRanger II G-BTWA at Brand's Hatch in July 1984 (Photo: Anton Heumann)

Another 206 to feature earlier in the thread was G-BTWA .. so named after Tradewinds Airways (Charles Hughesdon's company) and this craft was in fact used privately by Hughesdon when not engaged in charter work. When flown for charter she was 'driven' (according to TRC) by Geoff Cox.

This craft had distinctive tri-colour tail markings overlaid by a small coat of arms which Charles opted to preserve when he bought her. The origins of these markings only become evident thanks to Hofmeister who identified that 'TWA' had once flown as D-HJFF .. which had belonged to Baron Heinrich von Furstenberg.

'Back in the day .. TWA' was frequently chartered by Estepo .. whose Gazelle Hofmeister ended-up having a go in!


Bell 206B JetRanger II G-AYMW at Brand's Hatch in July 1984 (Photo: Anton Heumann)

'Mike Whisky' has similarly featured previously on Nostalgia; a former BEAS and Wykeham Helicopters craft which for a time flew in Eire as EI-BJR which, according to Shane, was with Irish Helicopters. Personally I remain curious as to Irish Helicopters' choice of livery given how similar her scheme looks to Denis Ferranti's 206's à la EI-ASW. Perhaps they had wanted to convince Denis to upgrade or even supplement his existing craft!

In this photo she is seen under Dollar's tenure although flying on the day for Cabair.

~ ~ ~

More Brand's Hatch copters on the way ..

Savoia

New York Airways S61L N617PA at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport on 7th August 1978 (Photo: Howard Chaloner)


Some of the crew of the North Sea's MCP-01 with what appears to be a British Airways S61 in the background, c. late 80's

The MCP-01 was a 'Manifold Compression Platform' used as a compression and interconnection platform for the pipelines, previously known as the Frigg Transportation System (FTS), consisting of the 32” Frigg UK line and the 32” Frigg Norwegian line (known today as the Vesterled pipeline) transporting gas from the Frigg reservoir to the St. Fergus Gas Terminal in Scotland.

treadigraph

Last two suggest G-BEID? Ditched in the North Sea, July '88, happily all aboard escaped.

902Jon

Many hours flying this old bird at Dollar.
Never saw her in that paint scheme though - just the standard Dollar white with Blood & Custard stripes (sorry David) - Old Gold & Crimson (Regimental colours).

Plank Cap

Circa late 80s, Scilly Isles and the one off S61NM........ G-BCEB

Plank Cap

Earlier still, G-BEDI 1977 about to head off on an instrument training session, as evidenced by the blind flying screens fitted to the right hand cockpit windows. Who needs simulators when you have the real thing!?