Barney Swinton-Bland
In answer to the query, I first met Barney when he was a Wing Commander flying Whirlwind Mk. 10s in Singapore and Borneo in about 1965.
I met him again, and worked with him at Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where he was flying the Wessex 60. He shared a house on the Shell estate with Pip Smith, and they were affectionately known as the odd couple.

After he finished flying, Barney worked in the logistic department at Redhill, being responsible for the S76 major components.
The last I heard of him was when my wife met him in a car park near his flat in Horley, he wasn't very happy being retired, and we heard he had passed away shortly afterwards.
Barney was one of the early Helicopter Pilots, and a great guy.

XONBOY
I have been waiting for ages to reply to you but my messages were always deleted, I have now uninstalled IE9B so I hope that was the culprit if anyone else has the same problem.

Your Dad was my radio engineer at Trengganu late '69 on the Whirlwinds, the S61's were coming and space was needed for another hangar, one day we heard gunshots and found the surveyor shooting his pistol at a snake under a bush. Paddy said that's no good and grabbed a large stick and beat the poisonous snake to death.

I was vey saddened to hear of his early death, I helped him get his aircraft licences by giving him jobs for his worksheets.
Best Regards.

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:ok:

Hello there
 

Thanks for the post. I sent you an email (doesnt seem to be in the sent box??)
Let me know if you don't get it. Would like to chat re snakes etc.

Africa
 

Like the Nigerian pics, keep them coming, how about the new 139's ?

Anybody have any pics from Takoradi , Ghana ?

Some interesting Bristow's birds here Search Results

.
Zishelix: Knowing your love of Gazelles and seeing as you are on the Bristow thread; thought you might enjoy this:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/__...%20Bristow.jpg
PPRuNed from a post featured in the early pages of this thread. A 'Bristow' Gazelle (surely a thing of rarity) at Sabine Pass in the Gulf of Mexico.

S.

Thanks a lot, Savoia! Somehow I failed to spot this pic in the thread :uhoh:
Does any of you gents might recall the reg of this Gazelle?

Btw, I'll scan tomorrow a b/w print of an AAC's AH.1 with "Bristow" inscription (looks a sticker) on her tail boom. Allegedly, the helicopter was used during late 1970 or early '80 for civil pilots training. Anyone able to shed some light on this? Thanks in advance :)

Bristow Gazelle
 

Bristow operated Six SA 341G Gazelle as part of BOHI in Sabine Pass, Houma and Abbeville circa 1979/80

They were

N3593B S/N 1059
N18842 S/N 1107
N47315 S/N 1278
N49506 S/N 1293
N90002Z S/N 1527
N90003A S/N 1566

Thank you, Sir :ok: I was aware the Bristow Helicopters Ltd. use to operate these Gazelles for ferrying the ship pilots out of TX shoreline back in the early 1980s. What I still missing is a photo (beside the above small & dull one) of any of them ;)
Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated!

As promised, here you are the previously mentioned scan:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/__...Collection.jpg
The machine was probably XZ318

Some cracking pics! Will have to fetch out the old External HD and get some of my collection on some time.

I look forward... please just don't let us wait too long, Sir :)

Barney Swinton-Bland
 

Hi guys,

I've been looking through the forums and have seen Barney Swinton-Bland's name mentioned. He was my grandfather and sadly passed away shortly after i was born (august 1994). Unfortunently I have never spoken to him, but i have only heard stories about him. If anyone could pass some information on it would be great. All i know about him was he flew out of odiham as the CO of the Puma test squadron there. From what i have been told he left the RAF as a Group Captain having been awarded an OBE.

Any information or stories about him would be greatly appreciated.

Brett Swinton-Bland (His Grandson)

The machine was probably XZ318
 

For Zishelix

If I remember rightly, about that time 2 Bristows QHI's from BRW at Middle Wallop had entered into the Helimeet competition and decided quite rightly they worked for Bristows so it was just a stick on.

Thanks on your kind explanation, Mostafa! :ok:

Heli - Pipeline crash - Redhill repair
 

Redhill - By Ian G. Hall

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_h...0/EPSON028.JPG

This is a photo of the aircraft that landed on the pipeline undergoing repairs at Redhill Colin Scott in photo

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_h...0/EPSON012.JPG


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Floatation Trials - Phill Charman, Mike Cogan, Keith Davidson, Alan Brown, Bill Petrie


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MU2

http://www.aviationwa.org.au/Article...8_Wirraway.jpg
Wessex VH-SJD airlifted CAC Wirraway A20-688 from Perth Airport (from a spot near the current Maroomba Airlines Terminal) to the RAAF Association estate at Bull Creek (later the site for the Aviation Heritage Museum).

214ST G-BKFN now C-GDYZ (S/N 28109)
 

Thought any of you Bristow folks would like to see what G-BKFN is up to now.
I am one of the engineers that looks after her now. We move maintenance staff around to NORAD DEW Line Radar sites in Canada's Arctic.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...Z/P9110606.jpg

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MLHeliwrench

FN had a "colourful" history on the North Sea (or rather in it). See Speechless Two's British Caledonian photos earlier in this thread.

Nigeria - Warri: 1981
 

Many more to post. - Ian G. Hall
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Vernon Shoebridge & Ian G. Hall


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_h...0/s512/164.JPG

Fred Knott & Vernon Shoebridge

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_h...0/s640/168.JPG

Pete Cassells, Ian G. Hall,


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_h...512/img023.jpg

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Pete Cassells

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_h...5w/s512/41.JPG