TRC

Quite a few clues here:

• White bone-dome
• Looks like an orange Mae West
• Soldier armed with an SLR
• Wearing Boots DMS with puttees, and 1960 pattern combat jacket and trousers

Late 60's - very early 70's?

soggyboxers

We didn't actually deploy to Northern Ireland until 15 August 1969. Flt Lt Tim Jenner (later Air Marshal Sir Tim Jenner) landed the first Wessex of 72 Squadron there in support of British troops who were deployed on 14 August.

This came after a speech by Jack Lynch, the Prime Minister of the Irish Republic who called for a United Nations peacekeeping force to be sent to the province.
300 troops from the 1st Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire, occupied the centre of Londonderry.

I was about to go on exchange service to 72 Squadron and had been expecting a nice sunny sojourn in Cyprus with the UN detachment, but instead went on the first of my flying detachments to the province with 72.

I don't particularly remember Eagle patrols then, but they probably started around that time. When I was on my final tour as a 'mud marine' in 1975, I was still wearing boots DMS with puttees and carrying an SLR and the pilots of 845 NACS on HMS Hermes were still wearing white bone domes (though when I was flying my AS Wasp as a Royal Marine, I flew wearing a proper green bone dome!

Savoia

TRC, thank you for that forensic analysis of clues from the 'Eagle Patrol' photo, most impressive, and thanks to Soggy for affirming TRC's hypothesis!



G-ANFH began life in 1953 as a Series 1 Westland Whirlwind subscribed to the factory until purchased by BEA in November 1954.

While with BEA ANFH was involved in a number of route trials for scheduled services including a link between Heathrow and Southampton.

In 1966 the craft appeared in the film 'Murderers' Row' (1966) starring Dean Martin and was involved in shoots in the Isle of Wight and in Monaco. Evidently, at both locations, a hovercraft also appeared and includes one scene in which it drives through the streets of Monte Carlo!

In February 1969 ANFH was bought by Freddie Wilcox (Autair) and sold on to Bristows in April of the same year. While with Bristows ANFH was involved in oil and gas exploration support in the Irish Sea.


In 1959 Anglia Television chartered G-ANFH from BEA as part of their channel launch which took place on 29th October. The ladies touring with the Whirlwind were accorded the title: 'Helibelles'


G-ANFH on tour with Anglia Television in 1959 and seen here with some of her supporting promotional vehicles


G-ANFH wearing her red and white livery [trust me] (date and location unknown)

I have to apologise for the rash of recent images lacking in detail, a hazard (I fear) of collecting older photos. Hopefully here on Nostalgia we may be able to fill-in some of the gaps from time-to-time!

check

Geoff,

Is Jack the guy in the dark blue shirt and white trousers?, if so we had some good times together in India

chopper2004

Sotiras,

A guy I worked with who was ex REME, said that in the mid to late 80s, his Scout squadron got transported over to Ft Lewis for an exercise. This wouldn't be one of the unit's airframe doing a long x country (albeit state) flight up and down the West Coast?

Cheers

Geoffersincornwall

Correct - I believe his full name was Jack Jaworski and I seem to remember he had a Venezuelan wife and lived in Florida.

G.

Savoia

During the past week I received the image below from Adrian Batchelor who worked with HPB Aviation at Leavesden for over 20 years (in their paintshop department) and who has been involved in repainting a number of aircraft which have featured on Nostalgia including G-AWOL and G-EORR. Most notably however, Adrian was involved in repainting Tommy Sopwith's Ecureuil G-GINA (the UK's first AS350) and has kindly sent us this photo which he took after completing the job:


Endeavour Aviation's AS350 G-GINA at Leavesden Aerodrome in 1981 after being resprayed by HPB Aviation (Photo: Adrian Batchelor)


Sir Thomas Sopwith (Tommy's father): Who lived to be 101 and built over 18,000 aircraft during the First World War including the iconic 'Camel'


Tommy Sopwith in 1958 winning a Rally with a Sunbeam Rapier (I think)


Besides racing cars and flying helicopters, Tommy was a keen competitor in power boat races:


Tommy Sopwith's 'Avenger' powerboat which he raced throughout the 70's and wearing his '007' numbers

In 1968 Tommy won the Cowes boat race with his craft 'Telstar'. The favourite had been Charles Gardner's 'Surfury' (one of the fastest boats in Britain at the time) but ..

“As we approached Torquay I had seen a helicopter flying low back toward the Isle of Wight, I assumed there was a race boat there and that it was likely Sopwith. I didn’t want to believe it, but there was a nasty feeling at the back of my neck….!”


Tommy Sopwith and the crew of 'Telstar' at the Winners' Berth of the 1968 Cowes boat race. Charles Gardner arrives in his craft 'Surfury' "stunned" to find Sopwith had arrived before him and relegating him and the crew of 'Surfury' to that of runners up

Tommy's smaller craft, Telstar, had won over Surfury through a choice of tactics in which Sopwith stole victory under the noses of Gardner and his crew by selecting a calmer inland course.


Charlie Gardner's Surfury racing (and winning) in the previous years' Cowes event (1967)

Present in the shot above is a float-equipped Alouette II and which, one surmises, is none other than G-AVEE (aka F-BNKZ) and which we discussed on page 46.

The Alouette had been hired by the BBC to provide aerial shots of the race which was commentated on by the late great Raymond Baxter.


Raymond Baxter seen here in front of a SEPECAT Jaguar at RAF Laarbruch in 1976 and who provided commentary for the Cowes boat race

Oddly, the late Raymond Baxter bears an uncanny resemblance to my doctor!

More Sopwith Files on pages 33 & 35.

Savoia

Manhattan's West 30th Street Heliport as seen in its opening year of 1956. Present on the pad are rotorcraft from the New York Airways (NYA) fleet, namely a Piasecki 44B and a Sikorsky S55. NYA ran passenger, mail and small/mid-size freight services between West 30th and the aiports of JFK, La Guardia, Newark and Teterboro and to heliports in New York City (Pan Am building), White Plains and Stamford


An NYA Piasecki 44B makes its descent into West 30th (Manhattan Heliport) c. 1957


An NYA S55 over the 'Apple' c. 1958

chopper2004

Just seen Bodie climb into an Alan Mann Alouette II in this episode now ITV4, where hes undercover as an assasin

wiganairways

Came across this advert from 1985, also a couple of other snippets, how the prices have changed.




Wiggy

vfr440

A main gearbox offered Nil TSO from 15,000 hr O/H? My how things have changed - VFR

Hofmeister

Following on from post 1253 about the Scout in Northern Ireland, the attached YouTube clip (language and content a little fruity in places) from the film Who Dares Wins (1982) shows at least 3 Scout AH1 being used for a SAS raid. Unsurprisingly, the film credits its military advisers as "anonymous" but I wonder whether there are any "Rotorheads" who can shed some light on the making of the helicopter scenes. I was quite surprised to see 6 people carried in one or two of the scenes (Pilot, Observer and 4 Troopers)! It must have been a squeeze and quite a weight to lift!!

A30yoyo

G-AVII Southend max enlargement


and G-AXAY Stansted July 1970






I was hoping that G-AXAY was an Agusta-Bell to match the Pininfarina Austin and Michelotti Triumph Herald in the car park but it's a plain old Bell JetRanger according to G-INFO and destroyed in 1975

Savoia

Chopper 2004: You'll find more about Mann's uniquely named Alouette II 'G-FILM' on the Mann thread, specifically pages 2, 4 and 9.

Wiggy: Great to read these old ads! I have a photographer winging some further photos of AWOL towards us so, hopefully soon we shall have some additional angles on the absent 206 Always With Oil Leak!

VFR: Go on then (for the benefit of 'us' who can't remember) what's the new TBO?

Hofmeister: Been a while since I saw that movie (like 30 years ago .. when it was released) but I still remember it. Until such time as a knowledgeable Army driver pops-in what I can say is that I am reasonably confident that the Scout's 1050shp Rolls-Royce Nimbus could manage six soldiers in the back. As you know the Scout was a little lighter than the Wasp (the latter with its wheeled undercarriage, 'roof' floats and sometimes sporting reasonably weighty missiles).

The only flying scene I recall as being 'dud' (as it were) was the part where the SAS boys are dangling beneath the Scout and being lined-up for 'ramming' through the windows! But great fun to watch, lol!

As you probably know, the film's producer, Euan Lloyd, (he of 'Wild Geese' fame) was 'inspired' to create 'Who Dares Wins' by the events of the 1980 Iranian Embassy seige in London having resided not far from the scene of the action and having watched (as many did) the events unfold on TV. Much (if not all) of the aerial footage from the Iranian Embassy seige was filmed with a Heli-Tele fitted to an ex-Ferranti MBB Bo105 (G-BFYA) which was on contract to Metpol.


Ex-Ferranti Bo105C G-BFYA on contrat to Metpol and seen here at Battersea in 1980

Yoyo: Lovely pictures, well done! Images of G-AXAY evaded us for some time until PPRuNer Helipixman came to the rescue and now we have these fine shots also. Sadly, and as you say, AXAY came to grief in 1974 and which you can read about here. You can read more about AXAY on pages 6, 10 and 11 of the Mann Thread.

Can anyone identify the Bristow jock driving AVII at Southend in 1970?

Tony Wheeler has recently sent me the following images and which includes, to begin with, another rare 206; G-AXGO:


Agusta-Bell 206A G-AXGO at Redhill on 16th August 1970 (Photo: Tony Wheeler)

AXGO was Bought by Stuart Smith & Co. in 1969 and seen above probably on a maintenance visit to Bristows. AXGO was later sold on to Charles Hughesdon (Tradewinds) in 1975. As with AXAY this craft also came a cropper, in 1978. The accident summary here.

Another photo from Tony:


Agusta-Bell 47J2 G-ASNV at Coventry Airport on 10th April 1964 (Photo: Tony Wheeler)

ASNV is seen above just a few months after her acquisition by Turriff Construction of Brentford, Middlesex and if you are thinking "Turriff, I've heard that name before" then you would be right as we featured a Brantly 305 on page 19 of this thread which was owned by the same firm.

'NV' was later purchased by the Port of Bristol Authority (1966) and then by the South Western Electricity Board (SWEB) in 1970. Her pilot (with both of these organisations) was PPRuNer Speechless Two (through whom I discovered PPRuNe!).

vfr440

Well S
It went to 2400hrs and I think it is now at 3000hrs. Perhaps more, any engineer with the very latest data at his fingertips will doubtless correct me

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a 15k hrs O/H period though. Unbustable and a cost per hour that was miniscule - VFR

FH1100 Pilot

In my 206B, SN 1736, transmission PN 206-040-002-25 overhaul interval is 4500 hours. Maybe not 15,000 hours, but not bad!

Savoia

Both of these craft have featured in our previous discussions - 'KX' more so on the Ferranti Thread. Unfortunately the images are not so clear and are lacking in detail when it comes to dates and locations and for which I apologise:



G-BAKX was a 1971 206B manufactured by Bell. After several owners (incuding one car sales firm) she was bought by Genavco (the company used to register Mohammed Al Fayed's aviation assets in the 70's). The sale to Genavco was arranged by my godfather who went on to manage this aircraft under the auspices of Ferranti Helicopters who revamped her with a Ferranti interior and high-gloss paint. I saw this craft several times in Ferranti's hangar at the Beehive as a youngster.

In August 1978 'KX' was bought by another car sales company .. Castle Motors of Trebrown in Liskeard, Cornwall. Castle Motors was owned by a chap called Roy Flood and this (to the best of my knowledge) was his first aircraft. Roy's helicopter interests would later morph into the now well known Castle Air operation.

A year later and the craft was sold to the Republic of Ireland where she was purchased by then leading Dublin laywer Brendan O'Mahony. One of Brendan's first 'safety pilots' was a chap called Mark Trumble (who I think had been freelancing with Castle Motors). Mark and I would later appear together as witnesses in a case involving Irish Helicopters which you can read about in post 729 of this thread.

After Trumble, my godfather stepped-in as safety pilot for Brendan and was therefore reunited with 'KX' (now renamed EI-BHI). The Colonel had met Brendan through Vincent O' Brien and the two of them had hit it off and which was fortuitous in that this resulted in many wonderful hours spent in Eire flying this aircraft.

'KX' sported a white circle on her fuselage which encased the letter 'F' and which most assumed stood for Ferranti but which in fact was for 'Fayed'. (In the 70's Mohammed Al Fayed was more commonly known as simply Mohammed Fayed). After her sale to Roy Flood the 'F' maintained its relevance and I think he retained the letter. When eventually Brendan bought her he had the 'F' painted out but the circle remained.

My first time to fly 'KX' was from the Irish Helicopters hangar at Westpoint, Dublin Airport to Brendan's home in Leixlip (a short journey of less than 10 minutes). When we arrived Brendan came out and explained that before shutting down we should pick-up some oysters which he planned to consume with his pint of Guiness later that evening.

So we headed for Galway where we were to collect two or three dozen oysters from a pub opposite an inlet where fishing boats were moored. Upon landing (on the road!) the pub owner came out carrying several circular polystyrene packages filled with oysters imbedded in crushed ice .. then we were off back to Dublin where the 'air freighted goods' were duly consumed (by Brendan, the Colonel, a young Savoia and some of Brendan's friends at his local) along with copious quantities of the black stuff. Not to be left out I would drink coca-cola with a 'Guiness top'!

This episode reminds me of another occasion (also in Ireland) when Vincent O'Brien's wife had failed to obtain some 35mm film for her camera in the local town of Cashel (Tipperary) and which wasn't hard to believe given that there weren't that many shops in Cashel in the late 70's early 80's. It was late in the day and the following morning she had an 'important' photo assignment (she was a keen photographer) so we were dispatched to Shannon airport to seek-out 35mm film which, eventually the Colonel found in one of the duty free shops after having convinced the teller he was about to board a flight .. which, in fact, he was!



These two shots are of Castle's LongRanger G-LRII a 1979 LongRanger II (hence the registration) bought by 'Castle Motors' in August of '79 and quite possibly their second aircraft after 'KX'. Castle Air (as they then became) held on to LRII until 1986.



My thanks to the crew at Castle Air for these photos, specifically Angela Wells and Ross Bunyard their newly appointed MD.

.

DennisK

Ahhh .... how these names and heli reggies keep cropping up on this wonderful post. The 'Flight' advert for the sale of G-AWOL was placed by my good self in Oct 1985 on joining the sales division of Harold Bamberg's 'Eagle' company at Coworth Park. That beautiful old mansion once owned by Lord Derby and neighbour to Fort Belvedere where the abdication was signed. It may not be generally known that Harold Bamberg was the 'B' in the airline BKS which operated post war, later becoming British Eagle. The other two being Keegan and Stevens.

An how I recall my super dealings with that effervescent Irish Lawyer, Brendan O'Mahoney who in the mid 1970s came to Shoreham to fly and I think bought Enstrom 28A G-BASB or possibly G-BAHU. My warm regards to you Sir ... if you are out there. Dennis Kenyon.

DennisK

Oh and while on the 'nostalgia' kick and the Emerald Isle, anyone have much to do with Enstrom G-ECHO, a 280C Shark which was sold to the owner of Echo Hall in Spa. The Spa itself has an intriguing history which should be looked up on Google. The owner, one Harvey Bicker, now very much a political figure over there, was a real gentleman who took to the heli controls as an absolute natural. His lovely lady wife Elizabeth was a classical concert pianist who played for me one day in the music room . I still have the vynil LP she recorded ... "Flights of Fancy."

For our Irish PPruners ... if anyone knows the likes of Kevin Rafferty, Luke Carberry, the Johns, Quinn and Morgan. Chris Jones, James Murray and of course that wonderful quarryman, Pat O'Carroll down at Tralee ... then please ask them to log on here for a few words. Dennis K

B222

Dennis,

Brendan is still around and the Enstrom was G-BAHU which became
EI-BDF. I think BDF was either owned by or sold to Barry Sheene. My good friend Colin Sayers (RIP) came over to Ireland to teach Brendan to fly and ended up staying becoming chief piot with Irish Airwork and then to Irish Helicopters. Brendan then graduated to G-BAKX,EI-BHI, and the replaced that with an Agusta 109 EI-BUX.