Iran Re-visited
 

Iran re-visited 2

Continuing with Nigel Elliot's Iran pics.

Seismic 4 base camp.
Could you get a beer?????

I guess the pilot's lived in the air-conned trailers and the engineers in the tents, having to collect their own firewood ;)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Seis411-1.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/Seis46-1.jpg



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Low flying................

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...wflying1-1.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...wflying2-1.jpg


Chasing Wild Boar...............

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http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...oaragain-1.jpg


A visiting Schreiner Allouette...........

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...llouette-1.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...louette2-1.jpg


Iran Iraq border post. Iran on the left. Iraq on the right.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...qonright-1.jpg

Great anecdote Hico-p.

Don't remember seeing it before. Only had four ferry flight on the site. Is this one of yours?

FERRY FLIGHT - Wessex 60.
UK TO AUSTRALIA.
8th - 29th June, 1969.

Pilots: Mr A.English and Mr. I.A.E. Clark

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...wessexawxx.jpg

On the 7th June, 1969 Wessex 60, G-AWXX left Redhill Aerodrome for Gatwick Airport to enable customs clearance. The following day it departed on a three week ferry flight to Australia.

After 43 stops enroute it arrived at Broome, Western Australia, on 29th June from where it was flown to Point Sampson. It had covered a distance of 11,164 miles with total flying time of 97 hours 30minutes.

From the envelope images below the routing can be seen as follows:
Redhill, Gatwick, Lyon, Nice, Naples, Brindisi, Athens, Rhodes, Nicosia, Beirut, Das Island, Dubai, Karachi, Ahmadabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon, Mergui, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Palembang, Djakarta, Surabaya, Waingapu, Kupang, Broome and Point Sampson.


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...y1ianclark.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...y2ianclark.jpg

I think the stories of Bristow ferry flights would fill a very interesting book. My introduction to the company was a flight from Redhill to Dubai in a WS55 series 111, (Whirlwind), my Pilot was an ex French Air force pilot who had flown Thunderbolts in Algeria. He would not let me fly, but made me navigate, of which I had no experience. He would pretend to lose his temper with me, and blame me for being lost, whereas he knew exactly where we were. The only Nav. aid we had was a coffee grinder ADF, the knob of which fell off during the first stages of the flight, going over France. My pilot wanted to turn back to Redhill, but I told him I could tune the ADF using a pair of pliers, as I did not have an allen key small enough, this went on for several hundred miles, until at one of the stops, I managed to manufacture a tool to refit the ADF knob.
Anyone who has flown the Whirlwind will remember how uncomfortable the pilots seats are, after a couple of hours my back was killing me. Also I had not then learned the trick of wearing a baseball hat to reduce the discomfort of the heavy headsets that were used then, so my ears were also killing me. It was also very hot.
At Ankara airport in Turkey, a truck court the end of one of our Rotor Blades, as the aircraft was parked, so having been with the company less than a year, I had to import a Main Rotor Blade into Turkey, and immediately export the old one, or pay tax of 100% of the blades worth, I also had to hire a gang of Turkish men to help me change the blade. After that being an ex engine man, I had to do my first main rotor track and adjustment in the middle of Ankara airport. It went OK though.
At one stage of the flight we had to take off with full fuel load, and climb straight to 9000 feet to clear the Iranian mountains, if you want a good example of retreating blade stall, try 9000 feet in an AUW Whirlwind, the old girl would not go more than 60 Knots before a banging and clattering told us to slow down.
On the last stage over the Iranian Gulf, the lower gearbox pressure indication went to zero, I was not too worried, as the transmitters were notably unreliable, but I did clamber down into the cabin, over the sea, and take off the panel, to see if oil was being lost, or anything was getting hot.
One thing you quickly learn from this sort of trip, was if you wanted to work for Bristow in the field you had better learn self reliance.
The five star hotels were good however.

Iran Re-visited
 

Iran re-visited 3

Continuing with Nigel Elliot's collection...........

All around Ahwaz and Abadan........Seismic 7.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis75.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...07/Seis712.jpg


The line

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis76.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis71.jpg



Moving cables up the line.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...07/Seis713.jpg



Moving down the line

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis77.jpg


The hookman kept getting an electric shock from the static...he thought it was me doing it!

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...07/Seis711.jpg


Seiz 7. Iranian marshes near Ahwaz L-R John Hook,Eddie Silcox,Iranian trainee engineer,Nigel Elliot,Tom Davis

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis78.jpg



Seis 7 bar.Ahwaz I think. Me on left (waiting for the fashion police to knock on the door) and Mike Bairstow on the right..not sure of surname. Looks like a bit of cropping needed ! 1977

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis79.jpg


John Hook ...a great guy and a pleasure to fly with.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...07/Seis710.jpg


The trucks!

Now this is a 4WD!

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis73.jpg


My living accomodation Seiz 7

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...207/Seis74.jpg





end

Last heard of Mike Bairstow when he left Bristow and stated a firm up in Brighton, 'little yellow' something or other?, and Eddie Silcox now thats a name from the past, still kicking?

s

Iran Re-visited
 

VR-BGJ crash

Nigel E writes....

I'm not sure what happened here. I think it was an engine failure on take off but not sure what caused it. I was on leave at the time it happened. A few months before this happened I went to London Gatwick Airport with another engineer and we pulled this one and another one out the back of an Alaskan C-130. Mostly our job there was to stop some ham fisted and heavy footed Gatwick loaders from damaging the frames as they tried to move them inside the Hercules. Sad to see it end up like this. As far as I know nobody suffered more than a few bruises thankfully. Maybe other Pruners can fill in the gaps. I can't remember who gave me the pics so I can't take credit for them.


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.

The crash happend becuase at that stage before they carried load masters, basically it was 45 degrees C at 9000 ft and no wind .... just run out of power. I know this because I like many, flew with Jim "Turkey" Ayres who was PIC in the accident. He openly admitted the reason for the crash. Up drafts/down drafts no wind etc was normal.

This crash prompted the arrival of the 212's into Seis 4 as they supposedly had a better safety margin all round.

Loadmasters became the norm after this, so you fixed at night and flew as loadmaster during the day if you were an engineer.

I was with Nigel at Seis 4 but left before the Seis 7 contract began.

In the previous pictures you can see a Llama and a All III, these were Schreiner machines, brought in supposedly because the could put the wire carrying rigs into tighter spaces. That was fine at 7 in the morning but they could not lift them out in the heat of the afternoon when the 212 had to go in and use a longer strop to get them out. In the end the Schreiner machines became the transport for the German labo workers!!

Iran Re-visited
 

Iran re-visited 4

A few miscellaneous pics winding up N.E.s collection......

Moving camp: L-R Capts.Cliff Mitchell, Ken Osbourne and Jim Ayers

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...8E793CHome.jpg


I just dragged this guy's name out of the depths of my memory. Pretty certain he's Jim Sweeney from El Paso Tx. Ex US Marine pilot..H34's and I believe he flew some piston engine fighter as well..maybe a Skyraider or something similar. He was a great character which was common with almost everyone at Bristows. He was an ex Border Patrol pilot who flew up and down the Mexican border looking for illegal aliens...he claimed that's where he met his young mexican wife lol.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...EF41EAHome.jpg


Capn.John Hook at Ahwaz

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...isc/Seis72.jpg


Whiskey........camp dog at Seis 4

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...D7E306Home.jpg


Shiraz on way to airport

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...88CB11Home.jpg


A bit of info for a previous pic
Shut down while the seismic shot is taken. Labo on the right. Flying had to stop over the line when a shot was conducted as the beating of the blades could be picked up by the geophones.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...50FBE0Home.jpg



Finally, a couple of Zagross.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...F635B0Home.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...93A127Home.jpg

.

Going back to Long Range Wessex, G-AVNE was the first and was ferried out to Singapore in 11days in 1970(don't know the exact dates). It was registered in Indonesia on 7th August (PK-HBQ)and later flew in Oz (VH-BHC) ,Malaysia, 9M-ASSand finally Nigeria (5N-AJL).
It's now in the Heli Museum who would love to hear some anecdotes about the ferry flight and later ops.Share them with us or visit the museum for an oral recording for posterity please.
The same applies to anyone flying WS55/3 G-AODA and Widgeon G- AOZE/5M-ABW.

Here is a slightly obscure 7 sec clip of a Whirlwind (I would imagine Bristows) being 'hand-fuelled' (much as Hico described above) in Bahrain using a chamois leather as a filter:

Eddie Silcox (#2110) passed away some six or seven years ago. He was living in Wales (Haverfordwest I believe), his wife Connie returned to her home in Singapore shortly after, they didn't have any children. Eddie was probably the best non-licenced engineer I ever worked with and could put many a licenced guy to shame.

The VR-BGJ accident (#2111) was, as Ainippe suggests, a classic PA/DA situation. Turkey (Jim) was a great pilot and character (ex-Air America and you would have no trouble watching the movie and visualizing Jim) he would have made a successful landing but because he had a little forward speed on touch-down he got a skid hooked on one of the many rocks (see photos) and this flipped him over. Thankfully no-one was seriously injured. By the way - the wreckage was just left there, anyone want to go get it?

The helicopter had only been in-country some six weeks before the accident. It was purchased (used - from Canada I believe) by Bristow, assembled and painted at Redhill and flown to Tehran by Colin Kelly (pilot) and Mike McCormack (engineer). It may have been one of the shortest lived helicopters in the Bristow fleet.

The loadmaster wearing the white helmet leaning out of helicopters in the photos is probably John Elston (spelling?), he bought his own helmet while on one of his 'time-off's' in the UK.

Thanks for that Saint Jack.Sorry to hear about Eddie... I agree totally with your comments about him...he was a great engineer.

Colin Kelly is now a B777 pilot I believe somewhere in Asia...I last spoke to him when he worked for Air New Zealand back in '94 and I was posted to Auckland to fly for the same.

I'm still in touch with John Elston...it is indeed the helmet he owned but the loadmaster is me...he swapped the helmet with me for a set of wrenches and a pair of wire twisters when he left Iran :-) He visits New Zealand every now and then and I hope to get together for a beer with him soon.

Cheers

NE

Bell 204
 

A rare reasonable quality pic of a Bristow 204......How many were there? Were they bought new?

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...00/Bell204.jpg

Well there was one at least at Piarco in Trinidad Dave in the mid '70s and I think it may have been this one before it went onto the Trini register

Further to my last.... looks like it became 9Y-TEA which IIRC was at Piarco in 1976...ROTORSPOT - Complete Civil Rotorcraft Register of Trinidad & Tobago

VR-BGJ
 

Just found this pic in a cupboard! Too big to scan so took it's pic.
I was actually looking for a pic of Phil Kemp working on a 61 tail rotor in Kerteh I took many years ago but failed to find it. Long time ago Phil!

I would hazard a guess this was taken at Redhill after a mod programme prior to it working in Iran. Looks like the old Chelton Homer antennae and Spilsbury and Tindal HF. The guy looking out from the cabin looks a bit like George Arnold......avionic supervisor Redhill. Front crew anyone?
I could be totally wrong but one thing's for sure, it was taken before the Iran accident!


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...100/VR-BGJ.jpg

Someone standing next to that very rare breed of helicopter, a North American (I assume Bristow's) Gazelle :)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...pe+Gazelle.png

Zis: I think there is a strong case for suspecting this to be a Bristow Gazelle because:

If you find a photo of Phil Kemp actually "Working".....frame it! it would certainly be a keepsake!;)

I would like to see that (those?) pictures too... :)

They would destroy your reputation!

Did you not receive and Evaluation that read "Excellent Worker when cornered!"?

Tom Buckelew?
 

The pilot in VR-BGJ in post# 2121 looks a lot like Tom Buckelew.

heli 1
If my memory for registrations serves me correctly, G-AODA was the last 55 to fly with Bristows, she was flying for British Aerospace (or whatever they are called now), on development of the Brimstone Missile, and was cleared by the CAA for operations below 500 ft.
She came straight back from the desert somewhere, and went straight on that operation, without a major check, so there was some criticism from BA engineers in the hanger where she was parked, I got her flown back to Redhill to have some of the loose rivets knocked in over a weekends work.
There was a strange hierarchy at B/Aerospace where there were about five different canteens, and you used the one according to your pay grade, so after a morning doing a check one, up to my neck in grease, oil and exhaust grime, I would have to have lunch with the lower middle mangers.

Phil kemp
 

Could be Phil.............;)

Shenzen "work" party 1994...

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...le/cliveh1.jpg

Phil Kemp
 

Definitely not Phil...............

1962 Trinidadian Bristow Hiller and...........
.......only John Odlin knows......he provided the pics ;)

I am presuming it's the same girl......no doubt a few hundred Rotorheads will work it out from the serial number of the Hiller:)


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...girlinpink.jpg


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...eople/jod5.jpg

Far too much nudity in last two posts

G-AODA
 

.......and here she is Dave.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...sandietank.jpg

Will the new birds wind up as corroded as the 212's did?

Malaysia
 

Malaysia - Kerteh

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...alaysiamap.jpg

Posted some of these pics before without the info so this will add context.
I spent over six years at Kerteh, the first period was a three month " transitional" leave relief as the operation was relocated from Terengannu.
I actually arrived back in UK a year and a half later!!

Second period was married accompanied with Jan and it was during this posting our son was born in Kuantan :)

Kerteh could be really busy and one morning, for a brief time while a 412 was on a flight test, we had 14 aircraft airborne out of 14.

Around 1980 a new airport was built in the state of Terengganu which would mainly serve the off-shore installations, one hours flying time from the East coast.
In 1981 Bristows/Malaysian Helicopter Services re-located their main operations from Terengganu airport to Kerteh. It is unclear when the aircraft changed from Bristow to M.H.S. ownership but as can be seen from the pictures all the aircraft were in M.H.S. colours except for 9M-SSK which was soon to return to U.K.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...eh/Kerteh4.jpg

The fleet was growing all the time and soon outgrew its new home, so a new hanger was added in front of the fuel tanks in the picture plus new hard-standings to accommodate the six new S76Cs. It became pretty busy with 8 X S76, 6 X S61 and a couple of Bell 412s.


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...eh/Kerteh3.jpg



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...eh/Kerteh2.jpg
The brown hut is the engineers' crew room and also contained the line-office.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...eh/Kerteh1.jpg


Some names for the pics below. Forgive my spelling and the ones I've forgotten and I won't even attempt the wives!

Chas Ducat, John Church, Gordon Dumphie, Craig ***, Adrian ***, Clive Golding, Ian Macgregor, Sean Parker,Dave Thompson, Phil Turner...

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ubhash_big.jpg


A n Cs scrubbed up well!

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...l_3men_big.jpg


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...all_3p_big.jpg


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...priver_big.jpg
Anchor being a Malaysian beer! Jan took the pic Graig and Dawn on the oars. There is an engine but too shallow to use it. Monitor lizards on the banks of the river up to 2 metres long!

Not seen very often on Prune...........wives. Apparently a few of the guys had them. Had to be patient and understanding bunch and willing to travel.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...kerteh_big.jpg

9M-SSK was an ex-BCal S-61 (G-BIHH) which was registerd in Malasia from Sept 1988 to Sept 1992. I think it was just leased to MHS.

G-AODA
 

Is the vehicle towing her, a Landrover 1 to series 3 conversion?

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...dhillgaoda.jpg

Do you relate to your aircraft as it or she/her. Quite often, after my 412s have had a hard working day with no snags I'll tap them on the nose and say "well done girl". You become quite attached to machines you have worked with for ten years plus.

Bristow calendar 1983
 

Whilst many of us were swanning around the world on cushy overseas postings, the real work was being done on the North Sea.....

FIRST NORTH SEA OIL

The following letter was e-mailed to me by Hugh Martin and it was issued to all locally based staff in 1975 following the first North Sea oil to be produced.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...toilletter.jpg

So, moving on to 1983......

Beryl Field (Mobil)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...7892f253f3.jpg


ALI BABA (Sun Oil)

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Forties Field (British Petroleum)
I still have nightmares about getting this "one off" 212 ready for North Sea Ops :bored:

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1045.jpg


WESTERN PACESETTER 2 (Tricentrol)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1046.jpg


Brae Field (Marathon)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1047.jpg


Ninian (Chevron Petroleum (UK) Ltd)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1048.jpg


Tartan Field (Texaco)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1049.jpg


SEDNETH 701 (Phillips Petroleum)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1050.jpg


North West Hutton Field (AMOCO)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1051.jpg


Beatrice Field (Britoil)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1052.jpg


Brent Field (Shell Expro)
She did get around a bit!! Perhaps the were a couple of BALZ's!

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_1053.jpg


Murchison Field (CONOCO)

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...a5b56d28a2.jpg




.

Wow! What a great historical document and what great nostalgic pictures! Amazing all round! :D

Why was the 212 G-BJZS a one off Dave? I'm intrigued.

BJZS
 

TTO,

ZS was a one off buy from ??? that needed full North Sea mods and as I mentioned many posts ago the 212 mods really got out of hand ....there were hundreds of them!!!.
It was a tight schedule as per normal and we had about 16+ avionic engineers working 24/7 including night shifts.
On the evening/night shift prior to first flight I had listed 135 items we needed to finish off, there were loads of us...........takeaways were ordered. Unbelievably by the early hours of the first flight day we were actually getting there. Then disaster.
The battery was connected to enable functional checks however the battery bus panel down by the pilot's feet was not secured yet.
The battery circuit breakers made contact with the airframe and the battery bus feeder wires started to discharge the battery. Within seconds the wires went into melt down. The avionic staff were having a well earned break at the time. Seeing smoke pouring from the center console a sheety jettisoned a fire extinguisher into the fire zone.....what a mess!!
Every wire that the two battery bus feeders wires had touched was also damaged and needed to be replaced and as Bell wiring under the console was generally one big tangled twisted mass that was a lot of wires.

That is why the battery bus panels are now hinged at the bottom.

After working sooooo many hours that night I then had to break the news to Jean Dennel...............He took it remarkably well starting his response with.................."I had a dream.................!!!!!!"

Ah, BJZS ... I can still smell the smoke (as can Smokey Smith I bet!)
;)

I was there that night, did my first ever (and only) ghoster, but I knocked off just before the fireworks.

Somewhere, I have a picture of Dave Ed waving BJZS off, in fact it appeared in the wonderful Redhill Avionics publication "ITK", if you recall that Dave ;) Nuff said about that

ITK - PR's (Einstein) creation if I remember. I used to crave my copy of ITK. It was hilarious. Where is PR these days? Have known him for 35 years.

In the know
 

"In The Know"

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...K/SCAN0010.jpg

"In The Know" was a monthly newsletter that came about at Bristows Aberdeen base during 1988 to 1990. It was edited by an engineer, Paul Richardson on a (state of the art) Amstrad PC 1512 and printed on a dot matrix (remember them?) printer.

Paul had been in Bristows since 1977, and knew how it ticked. The first two ITK's were written at Redhill by Eoin Harcus in the early 1980's and were a light hearted (and a little 'blue') look at the goings-on in the hangar. Paul borrowed the title as it fitted in so well with the Bristow Aberdeen regime at the time.

At Aberdeen there were a number of engineers 'griping' over various things, and the highlight for Paul was when the catering firm refused to change the 'pineapples with everything' policy in the sandwich machine. This was the impetus for ITK issue 3 (the first Aberdeen ITK). It was clear that the Bristow operation at Aberdeen had a wealth of other subjects, anecdotes and inter-department bickering that could be tastefully written into a monthly newsletter. The single-sheet ITK was born again!

Careful articles were needed to include hot subjects like lack of grease guns, the introduction of 12 hour shift patterns, canteen food, the discrepancies between flying staff conditions and engineers. It was clear from the start that management were not happy about their portrayal in ITK, as it highlighted problems all too clearly, without mentioning their names. After just a few issues, stories were being relayed, anecdotes and little bits of 'info' were all fed to be included in ITK, even poems about the hangar doors being left wide open in the winter. Nobody was safe, if 'they' wouldn't listen, then ITK would tell everybody else.

ITK seemed to be filling a hole in the market. Non-engineers were asking for copies, flying staff, Redhill management, overseas staff, in fact the popularity was spreading fast. Too fast for some people. No matter that the subjects covered in ITK were 'trivia' and not concerning BHL as a whole, it seemed to raise a smile on otherwise uninformed staff. It was clear that ITK would have to stop (according to the bosses).

A few heated discussions took place between Paul and the management. Once he was blamed for the repair costs being too high on the aircraft jacks (mentioned in ITK). Nothing changed. But the final straw came when ITK pointed out one too many things and a meeting was called. It was decided that ITK had to go, after all that time the management had finally won. Paul was sure that somebody would pick up the challenge, but nobody came forward. Some operations have printed small numbers of similar newsletters, but kept the distribution on a small (safe) scale.

Keep your ear to the ground, you never know when ITK will rise again!

PR

And NO, I am not putting all the ones I have in my procession on-line!! de.

Question
 

I can only imagine the reception ITK got with certain members of management!

It seemed more than a few could not "take" a joke....despite being one themselves!

I wish I had kept the Memo that I issued while serving as the "Acting Chief Pilot (Unpaid) and Chief Engineer (Acting and unpaid) at the Papa Charlie Operation in Iran.

John Black took great exception to the tone of my Memo wherein I called for all assigned Staff to work as one in achieving our Operational Goals and Commitments.

That I was the only person present, had an Alouette and Jet Ranger all to myself, and flew both of the machines into scheduled maintenance while waiting for the rest of the Crew to return from Bandar Abbas.....seemed to escape Black.

I guess he was still a bit sensitive to such things as when crewed we routinely re-arranged the White Washed Rocks surrounding the Wind Sock pole.....from "Papa Charlie" to things like "Here for the Beer" and " Uckers ya F@ckers"....which caused him to suffer Apoplexy and kick the rocks all over eastern Iran.