Hi Sickamore

I was one of the Wessex pilots on Albion who had to look for you guys!
Do you remember the very sad Wessex accident near Kuching that killed 4 a few weeks later?
Would you be 6'5"?!!

Hi Sycamore

Reading your profile, I see you can't be big Sgt Mike. He told me he was flying the Whirlwind that had the tail rotor come off and although they could replace the missing parts on site, the steepness of the hill was too great for rotor engagement and so it was slung off by the Belvedere, a great machine! They certainly took up a lot of space on Albion's flight deck.:O

West African flying
 

Not much, but the best I've been able to get. I'm the short guy. Usually I'm in the helicopter, not taking pictures of it.

Many thanks to John Eacott for the hosting services.

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...%20Cockpit.jpg
Ross at the controls

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...and%20Wade.jpg
myself and my coey Damian

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...on%20final.jpg
our main destination

Photos
 

Nigel, I think it may be a bit of Oldtimer`s creeping in; Big M W had a total hyd failure in a WW and flew it back, probably no more difficult for him than flying a Sycamore. His tour was earlier than mine so I can`t say whether he had a t/r failure, but I`m sure scuttle-butt would have been around.The pics were taken by the ground-crew who had been winched up by the Eng.O who had supervised our engine change earlier in the day.I was last to leave, of course. It was on a pimple, so not easily repaired; The BOI offered $100 to any local who could find any bits... the whole t/r was recovered in about a week,and showed a clear fatigue fracture on the t/r blade spindle.
I recall having a wx trip to/from A, but I seem to think it was with a Lt Cdr., although when I first came on Pprune and saw one of your posts, there was a faint tinkling bell--- maybe it was the door!!
It was a WW that crashed E of K. ; The pilot was on his last days of tour, so was the nav, and they volunteered to take a couple of engineers to a u/s cab . The a/c had just done an airtest,after servicing, and the spindle-nut on the lateral jack came off, followed by a dive into the jungle.Assumed it hadn`t been locked properly.

more photos
 

Here`s a few from a miss-spent middling age, last of the present crop...

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...%20VC-10-1.jpg

Taken from the RHS in a C-130 and I don`t remember if I was poling or just instructing.
READY position, about 30-50yds behind the drogue, stabilised, increase power a bit.
Then the co starts the "mouth-music"to give corrections, flying up the line of the drogue.


http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...dding%20-3.jpg
"And now ,Bloggs, you can see if you are really smooth, you get in first-time".
Don`t look at the basket, otherwise------.
Sometimes with FJet guys, who invariably look, we would say
"We`ll just reel-in a `mo, and put some hair around it".
That got them all excited, and usually ended with them backing-off to try again!:p


http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...nset%20GW1.jpg
Sunset over the Saudi wastelands, in GW1; sometimes we saw the following sunrise too.


http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...%20display.jpg
Warmed-up and ready to do a display in a Harvard.

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/.../Gladiator.jpg
One of the most beautiful biplanes ever built, which I had the pleasure and privilege of flying at air-displays.
900hp, handles well, except on runways, but then, it wasn`t meant to, and especially on a fine summers day,
like sex in the afternoon..only lasts longer!!

Sorry, haven`t any Jetbox pics as there are plenty on here, so thats all for now, hope you enjoy..

Sycamore:ok:

Here's a few more shots from the Mountains of Western Canada.

An L3 up at 8,000 ft in June..

http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/...6L3_C-GALL.jpg

Servicing a Mountain Hut, at 9,500', above Lk Louise AB

http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/...bbott_Pass.jpg

And one final shot of a 350B2 on Fires this August....

http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/...huck_350B2.jpg

Hi Sycamore

The Lt Cdr would have been Pete Deller or Geoff Andrews. Big MW said he was the pilot of 2 of those Whirlwinds that came down and in the back of the one on the beach. Sounds like he exagerated!
The Wessex 5 came down in a swamp near Stass while crew changing Ghurkas for , I think, 19 RAR troops. Fortunately there were no troops on board, just 2 pilots, 1 crewman and 1 Middy seaman on flight experience. About 500 yards from landing, one engine had a massive runaway up which caused the a/c to pitch up at which point a main blade twisted off and crashed upside down into the swamp killing all 4. That was the first Wessex 5 fatality. I remember it well as I started the Wessex for the crew which made me realise how lucky I had been.
Incidently big MW emigrated to Oz in about 1968 and I've no idea where he is now.

Sycamore,

You spent too much time with the light blues: "nav" ??????

Looker, or at worst "O", but nav!!!! :yuk: :rolleyes: ;)

Spent a bit of time on detachment to Albie One coming back from the FE, the photo recalled those darn HF thingies that were sometimes "forgotten" during night ops. Really, really annoying to come in from the port quarter and just catch a glimpse of the aerials fully upright :eek:

John, thanks again for the hosting; yes we had to put up with Navs... good idea was to always turn up at the bar 5 mins after the nav, so he`d be in the chair...:ouch:

Royal Marines Gazelle cold weather trials Bardufoss, Norway January 1977. We were told that, 'Gazelle skids give adequate anti-sink in snow', so we tried it out. Skid pads were then fitted, and trialled successfully!

http://mysite.freeserve.com/rotarybo...6-picture1.jpg

...hand baggage only please, and it all fitted in.

http://mysite.freeserve.com/rotarybo...6-picture2.jpg

Which famous person have you flown?

The TV newsreader Angela Rippon when she was a Plymouth Independent newspaper reporter. She visited 45 Commando RM in Aden in Aug 1966.
http://mysite.freeserve.com/rotarybo...6-picture3.jpg
45 Commando Air Troop's Bell 47 Sioux AH 1 at Habilayn Airfield.

EX-BOOTY,I guess you were told that by the Army ! Now,if you`d only asked the Light Blues we`d have told you!

We`d used the Canadian ski`s on the Gazelle for a while during trials and the only mod they needed was an extension around the front to prevent digging-in if you ran-on, or did a running t/o..
Did you perchance know Cameron(-47 driver), or, heaven forbid, Ca**&%ll,?

PS Didn`t know Rod Taylor was a Marine ?Look at those gloves, obviosly not done a proper pre-flight, and why isn`t she wearing flying boots, or were you going to fit those later? Why do Marines wear AAC Wings-- Don`t you have your own ?

Sycamore
You have got it in one; briefed by the Army! We NEVER trusted them after that! ;)

Being Royal Marines we had a pair of gloves for the pre-flight and another pair for flying; especially if we were going to help our passengers strap in. :cool:

If you mean Porky Cameron, ............ oh yes, very much so. Not so sure about the other one, but is he something you sing at Xmas? :D

Never mind the flying boots for Angela. That's all we got to see of those famous legs, and we were there for 12 months unaccompanied!

Those Royal Marines trained by the Army wear Army wings, and those trained by the Navy wear Navy wings. When I joined the RAF, guess what?

I guess you had better stick another of your photos on here or we'll be in trouble. :cool:

Just trying to get a free subscription :O
I'm not the pilot but I think that are interesting pictures.
All pictures taken by myself.

Chinook asymmetrical-airfoil in LELL ,(Spanish Army)
http://idd02np2.eresmas.net/chinook-...4/P9190948.jpg

Last year demo-flight, no more bambi buckets now
http://idd02np2.eresmas.net/lell-15-...0/PC150110.JPG

all changed to isolair tanks systems (the girl is learning to fly helicopters in the same school as me :E
http://idd02np2.eresmas.net/eli-800.JPG

Regards.
Aser

One of my favorites...

Lighthouse inspection in the North Sea...

http://www.hanseatic-helicopter.de/g...329/Soog22.jpg

Research rig in the North Sea...

http://www.hanseatic-helicopter.de/g...R_10686/F3.jpg

Generation "next" ...

http://www.hanseatic-helicopter.de/g..._10102/HH2.jpg

H-1 Pictures
 

Here are a few photos of the new H-1 Upgrades aircraft in flight test.
The first is a good shot of the AH-1Z and its rotor system from above. (Note as has been mentioned in several posts to this site by Nick Lappos, as with many other helicopters in development, the tail configuration has changed- the endplates on the horizontal stabiliser are no longer on the aircraft.)

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...AH_1Z_Top2.jpg

Here is a shot from testing of the emergency jettison system. (Note- endplates gone from tail.)

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...1ZJettison.jpg

Here is a shot of the UH-1Y testing its emergency jettison system.

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...20Tank%201.jpg

Final shot is just a nose-on look at the AH-1Z.

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...e/Z1_Flyby.JPG

Gregg, great photos, but can you show the jettison in auto?

Does the shaft extension on the t/rotor mean you are trying both sides/ reason behind the chage/ direction of rotation??

Does the Low Speed ASI allow you to come to a hover on instruments/ do you also use Doppler/GPS g/speed?

Do you have baffles in the exhausts to prevent a hot-spot?
I notice you have a small ventral on both a/c; is that a "before", or "after" or "likely" ?
Thanks, Syc.

All stores were jettisoned in autos as well as level flight.

"Shaft extension" on tail rotor is only an instrumentation slip ring for flight test data. No changing sides for the tail rotor!

Low airspeed sensor is the aircraft's primary air data system. However, the low speed information is primarily intended for weapon system data, not instrument flight.

Ventral fin is now gone- sorry no newer pictures yet.

h- 1 uprades?
 

useing that bayonett, when you've run out of ammo looks tricky!;)

RM Gazelle over Dartmoor, Devon. 1976. Fighter Evasion Tactics training sortie. He won 3-2! :uhoh:


http://mysite.freeserve.com/rotarybo...7-picture1.jpg

Few more pics to enjoy from RAAF Hornets in OZ to Faram Helicopters B3 spraying, also Heli Sikas AS350 out doing some ag work and last but not least the Hurricane peeling away.


http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...siehornets.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...msprayturn.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...elisika350.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...ertedhurri.jpg

CH 47D in Action In Australia
 

Here are a couple of photo's of my life prior to being temporarily desk bound :(.


http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...7%20Mirage.JPG



http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/...7%20Sunset.JPG


I would like to thank John Eacott for hosting these photo's for me.

Nipper