The Rotary Nostalgia Thread
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Dorset
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ahh, that takes me back!
In the UK there was a VHF mobile phone system called 'System 4'
Worked near the VHF marine band.
One of the phones i had (Storno 5000) has a 50W amplifier in it and drew close on 20Amps at 12V when used!
Not surprisingly you had to have the engine running to make a call!
The system was switched off in the early 80's when cellular took over.
How technology moves on.
The Storno was about £5000 to buy, most people rented.
In the UK there was a VHF mobile phone system called 'System 4'
Worked near the VHF marine band.
One of the phones i had (Storno 5000) has a 50W amplifier in it and drew close on 20Amps at 12V when used!
Not surprisingly you had to have the engine running to make a call!
The system was switched off in the early 80's when cellular took over.
How technology moves on.
The Storno was about £5000 to buy, most people rented.
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Utah
Age: 84
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bag Phones
Those old bag phones worked too well for the cell phone companies, I think. They had teriffic range. I (illegally in the US) used one in our airplane now and then and you could call almost anywhere at any time. The small ones don't have the output to get too far.
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: in a world of my own
Posts: 235
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've been reading Pete Townsend's autobiography lately, and there's a small piece where he mentions that during a band meeting Roger Daltry flew in on a "twin engined Jet Ranger" [sic] which he claimed he had just bought? It was circa 1973 I suppose? Did he ever own one, or as I suspect, just a charter?
Thread Starter
BEA Agusta-Bell 206A JetRanger G-AWGU (aka the 'Jock Strap') as seen at Wooton Bridge on the Isle of Wight on 30th August 1969
Most likely distinct from the occasion to which you refer but .. as per the above; Roger Daltry flew aboard BEA's G-AWGU on the above given date on a charter for Track Records to attend the Isle of Wight Festival.
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Cornwall
Age: 75
Posts: 1,307
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Roger Daltry
In 1977 I was offered a job with a helicopter company based at Brands Hatch run by a very pleasant ex-Army chap who I believe went on to play a part in the European Helicopter outfit at Denham. The 206 he ran at Brands was reputedly owned by Roger Daltry.
G.
G.
Thread Starter
I heard that after I left the UK (in the 1980's) a company was set-up called 'Brands Hatch Helicopters' but .. the company which existed there in the 1970's was called Shawline and operated 206's and 47's (if I remember correctly).
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: in a world of my own
Posts: 235
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thank you all - the Track Records charter was too early to be the one he owned (although that does get a brief mention in the book), must be the Brands Hatch one, the book mentions it took him to a meeting at their studios and then back to his house in West Sussex.
Apparently he bought it from the money he made from the film Lisztomania, which was released in 1975, so that ties in nicely with the Brands Hatch theory.
Apparently he bought it from the money he made from the film Lisztomania, which was released in 1975, so that ties in nicely with the Brands Hatch theory.
Last edited by Monkey Boy; 9th Aug 2013 at 08:33.
Not sure if it is this particular 206 but didn't CB Helicopters have a management contract with Daltry and had his 206 on their AOC when they first started their charter service out of what was then Battersea Heliport?
Thread Starter
Housekeeping
Some responses to past posts:
Chopper 2004: Your shot of the Mac Trucks (aka Bulldog Airways) 212 depicts something of a rarity for while VIP 212's were plentiful in the military and government .. civilian VIP 212's were less common. It would be wonderful to track down some additional images of "Mack XII" as well as the JetRanger. Shall post some military VIP 212's in the days ahead.
Gaseous: Great to see your progress with the 'Bad Kid' (G-BDKD). Please keep us informed about her big day .. when she finally gets to go flying again!
1helicopterppl: Thank you for the link to your photo album, some great shots there. Perhaps Brilliant Stuff could use one of more of them for his monthly calendar? Will use what I can for this thread .. perhaps a couple of the S61's (in particular the Irish Helicopters ship) and maybe one of the Dauphins.
JetRangerJunkie: Thank you for your posts regarding the 206's at Moorabbin as well as details on the Helicopter Utilities FH1100, much appreciated.
RV: Thank God one doesn't have to walk around with those massive car battery 'mobile' phones anymore. I remember David Sale's no.2 lugging such a contraption about Hayes Heliport when they were flying P&O's 365N.
ericferret: G-1234 .. ah yes, remember it well!
You'll have to give me a hint of the craft in question next time our paths cross!
MB/FC1: Certainly seems as if Daltrey may have owned a 206 from the comments which have emerged. Re: CB Helicopters .. a couple of their former craft have featured previously on this thread, namely the ex-Ferranti managed G-BBBM which was bought by Michael Coombs in 1984 (who I think in turn leased the a/c to CB) as well as Tommy Sopwith's former steed G-BASE which was registered to the CB Group in 1990 (although to the best of my knowledge, Beaman had been leasing this from Hanson's for some time prior to this).
Chopper 2004: Your shot of the Mac Trucks (aka Bulldog Airways) 212 depicts something of a rarity for while VIP 212's were plentiful in the military and government .. civilian VIP 212's were less common. It would be wonderful to track down some additional images of "Mack XII" as well as the JetRanger. Shall post some military VIP 212's in the days ahead.
Gaseous: Great to see your progress with the 'Bad Kid' (G-BDKD). Please keep us informed about her big day .. when she finally gets to go flying again!
1helicopterppl: Thank you for the link to your photo album, some great shots there.
Perhaps Brilliant Stuff could use one of more of them for his monthly calendar? Will use what I can for this thread .. perhaps a couple of the S61's (in particular the Irish Helicopters ship) and maybe one of the Dauphins. JetRangerJunkie: Thank you for your posts regarding the 206's at Moorabbin as well as details on the Helicopter Utilities FH1100, much appreciated.
RV: Thank God one doesn't have to walk around with those massive car battery 'mobile' phones anymore. I remember David Sale's no.2 lugging such a contraption about Hayes Heliport when they were flying P&O's 365N.
ericferret: G-1234 .. ah yes, remember it well!
You'll have to give me a hint of the craft in question next time our paths cross!MB/FC1: Certainly seems as if Daltrey may have owned a 206 from the comments which have emerged. Re: CB Helicopters .. a couple of their former craft have featured previously on this thread, namely the ex-Ferranti managed G-BBBM which was bought by Michael Coombs in 1984 (who I think in turn leased the a/c to CB) as well as Tommy Sopwith's former steed G-BASE which was registered to the CB Group in 1990 (although to the best of my knowledge, Beaman had been leasing this from Hanson's for some time prior to this).
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: in a world of my own
Posts: 235
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Found an article on the internet which makes interesting reading from 1983:
"Carl Beaman's company is in the best tradition of calculated business gambles and private enterprise. When he left the Fleet Air Arm in 1969 he couldn't face the prospect of joining all his contemporaries who were heading for the Far East and the North Sea as privately employed pilots.
With his wife Annette he saw the potential in taking over management of other people's helicopters and flying them at a profit to owner and manager alike. The first step on his way to turning CB Helicopters into a £500,000 turnover limited company was when Roger Daltry – lead singer with The Who – offered Carl his own Bell Jet-Ranger.
It was Daltry's helicopter that we were flying in as we passed Central London's only other heliport, a large floating barge near the City water-front, 1,000 feet below us.
"It suited Daltry because he wasn't able to maximise the potential of his helicopter on his own. He knows that our pilots are all highly trained ex-servicemen who would fly it safely and properly. He takes a percentage of the business we do with his machine and we, in turn, maintain it and make it available to him when he needs it. Our private customers range from members of the Royal Family to politicians and entertainers."
Full article here: CHRISTOPHER A LONG - Straight Up! Helicopters
"Carl Beaman's company is in the best tradition of calculated business gambles and private enterprise. When he left the Fleet Air Arm in 1969 he couldn't face the prospect of joining all his contemporaries who were heading for the Far East and the North Sea as privately employed pilots.
With his wife Annette he saw the potential in taking over management of other people's helicopters and flying them at a profit to owner and manager alike. The first step on his way to turning CB Helicopters into a £500,000 turnover limited company was when Roger Daltry – lead singer with The Who – offered Carl his own Bell Jet-Ranger.
It was Daltry's helicopter that we were flying in as we passed Central London's only other heliport, a large floating barge near the City water-front, 1,000 feet below us.
"It suited Daltry because he wasn't able to maximise the potential of his helicopter on his own. He knows that our pilots are all highly trained ex-servicemen who would fly it safely and properly. He takes a percentage of the business we do with his machine and we, in turn, maintain it and make it available to him when he needs it. Our private customers range from members of the Royal Family to politicians and entertainers."
Full article here: CHRISTOPHER A LONG - Straight Up! Helicopters
Thread Starter
Canadian Coast Guard Bell 206B JetRanger II C-GCHC at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Ontario, Canada in September 1978 (Photo: Gary Vincent)
For another great shot of a CCG 206 (on fixed floats) see page 93.
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Gold Coast, Queensland
Posts: 943
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bond bought a 76 or two from KLM & shipped them to OZ for the Woodside contract. Their basic weight was so high normal payloads couldn't be carried. So they were given the Jenny Craig treatment & had 50-75 kgs of unwanted electrical looms & numerous coats of paint scraped off!
Thread Starter
Ciao Nigel! Good to see you on the thread again!
RAF SA341D Gazelle HT3 XW898 as seen at RAF Church Fenton on 4th July 1976. (Photo: Glenn Reay)
Crouched afore the steed was Capt. Phil Stinson, USAF, (presumably on an exchange) just prior to his participation in a four-aircraft display which had been visiting from RAF Ternhill (that once bastion of QHI's).
On the day this photograph was taken, the US was celebrating 200 years of independence and in recognition of this the RAF crews had affixed two American decals to the starboard door of Capt. Stinson's Gazelle. Above these was stenciled in black letters 'Capt. Phil Stinson, USAF'.
Always such nice chaps the RAF!
RAF SA341D Gazelle HT3 XW898 as seen at RAF Church Fenton on 4th July 1976. (Photo: Glenn Reay)
Crouched afore the steed was Capt. Phil Stinson, USAF, (presumably on an exchange) just prior to his participation in a four-aircraft display which had been visiting from RAF Ternhill (that once bastion of QHI's).
On the day this photograph was taken, the US was celebrating 200 years of independence and in recognition of this the RAF crews had affixed two American decals to the starboard door of Capt. Stinson's Gazelle. Above these was stenciled in black letters 'Capt. Phil Stinson, USAF'.
Always such nice chaps the RAF!
Thread Starter
Royal Navy SA341C Gazelle HT2 XZ938 (CU45) as seen at Redhill Aerodrome on 25th September 1991 (Photo: Martin Pole)
The HT2 was the Royal Navy’s primary trainer and is seen here fitted with a hoist.
When student pilots reached the search and rescue portion of their course, two Gazelles from 705 Squadron were fitted with these hoists in readiness for the impending SAR training.
The training involved recovering a life buoy from the airfield and, once mastered, two further ‘wet’ sorties were carried-out just off the coast, again using a life buoy.
XZ938 became instructional airframe 9304M for the RAF in 2001 and was finally disposed of in 2003.
