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Bristow Sumburgh - End Of An Era (with Sumburgh Airport History)
After a 36 year presence at Sumburgh Airport in Shetland, Bristow today gave up the lease on the hangar and handed the keys back to the airport owners.
I had the task of handing the place over and having spent a significant part of my Bristow career based there, it was a sad day. There have been lots of good times and a few bad times, and names and some characters that we will never forget. There can't be many Bristow guys (and ex Bristow guys!) who haven't "done time" at Sumburgh over the years, and I bet there are some good photos and stories out there, so please share your memories here. I took a few pics today of how the place now looks... it's a bit run down (a bit like me!) but hasn't changed that much over the years. If these pics work, I will add some more memories later. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....94278bd439.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a5f97a00e0.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b502000436.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7559a163c1.jpg Would the last person to leave Bristow Sumburgh please switch the lights out... Well that'll be me then... EH ! |
Who now?
Please excuse my ignorance, why have Bristow departed from there, has CHC taken over the work or some other company. Thanks, thorpey.
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Bristow lost the HM Coastguard contract to CHC in 2007, and the two S61N (G-BDOC and G-BCLC) moved on to pastures new.
CHC now operate two Coastguard SAR S92 from their own hangar across the apron. Bristow temporarily re-opened Sumburgh to support the Scatsta S92 operation whilst their new hangar was being constructed - as this is now up and running there's no requirement for the hangar at Sumburgh. |
A Bit Of History
The first aircraft Bristow operated at Sumburgh was a Wessex 60 G-ATCA which operated for Mobil in April 1972 for a couple of months.
In July 72, S61N G-AZRF and Wessex G-ASWI were on site for a short period. In March 1973 S61N G-AZDC started the continuous presence at Sumburgh. The south hangar was constructed in 1975, and extended in 1978. At its peak in 1978, Sumburgh was operating 6 S61N, 7 SA330J Puma and 2 S58ET. |
Originally Posted by S61-S92
At its peak in 1978, Sumburgh was operating 6 S61N, 7 SA330J Puma and 2 S58ET
The shed doesn't look all that different to how it was then: it always impressed me the efforts of the blackhand gang to get the machines turned around overnight and back out for the morning :D |
Sad day indeed...:{
I wos there in 1978 and it was brilliant craic, it has never been about the location, but the people who make the fondest memories.. and the Bristow gang was as good as you could get :ok: I had great fun in and out of the Sumburgh club with the likes of Reuben Collins, Ian Hooker (RIP) Steve Armstrong, Magnus Bentley, occasionally putting my life on the line (S58T) with SaSless, Garth Parfitt (RIP mate) and co..:eek: Guess all things come to an end eventually... seem to remember it wasn't long after that they tried to stop us climbing up rig legs in the fog as well :E |
Some Sumburgh Pictures From The Harkives
No Apologies For The Quality - Scanned From Old 5x3 Prints
Credit To the Original Photographer, Some Were Donated To Me Years Ago! https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....89d4d9fb67.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bce9f0d5b7.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e0bb3adeca.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ed52d5df12.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fa7082a0b7.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f15d8b72d2.jpg |
John Eacott :
BEAS had a presence in that shed before the end of that once Wonderful Company in the so called "Buy Out" :{ remember doing a CAA inspection on G-BBBP there 77/78 Mav |
Truly a sad day.
There are some photos of Sumburgh on the "Bristow Photos" thread as well as the skyweaver Shetland base page which includes some interesting text. Some of the Skyweaver photos are reproduced below. http://web.archive.org/web/200409151...shetlands1.jpg http://web.archive.org/web/200409162...es/sumbusy.jpg http://web.archive.org/web/200501160...shetlands2.jpg http://web.archive.org/web/200501160...mburgh1975.jpg http://gi97.photobucket.com/groups/l.../s58maint1.jpg http://web.archive.org/web/200501160...shetlands3.jpg http://gi97.photobucket.com/groups/l...4CHIZ/jod8.jpg http://gi97.photobucket.com/groups/l...titled11-2.jpg Does anyone have any photos of the S61s packed into the hangar in storage, minus their Blades, having been sold to Aerospatiale? They were dragged out on a weekly basis for a ground run. |
'India Juliet'
Is that the very same 'IJ' before she became a SAR bird down south?
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Yep, the very same India Juliet ... which now sits dormant at Bristow Aberdeen after a few months in Gran Canaria operating in a SAR role for Inaer/Helicsa.
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It is also the same Oscar Charlie before becoming the first LN450 equiped S61 and a Shetland celebrity in it's own right.
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I have lots more pictures still to come, including of course, dear old Oscar Charlie!
Tail-Take-Off - We are working on getting pics of the 10 S61 in Storage line-up! If anyone has pictures of Bristow Sumburgh please post them, or pass them on to me and I can scan and return them. Send me a pm Harky |
The Bristow machines and the British Airways machines used to be lined up either side of the taxiway in front of their respective hangers. I remember my briefing from Dave Cramp when I first started operating there.
"If it's tight taxi closer to their line so that if you have a blade strike you take out one of theirs too." One abiding memory. My very first civilian pilot-in-command flight. Allocated a flight, briefed the co-pilot, was presented with and signed the tech log, went out to my S330J, climbed into the cockpit and discovered that there were NO radios or nav aids in it. Just holes in the centre pedestal. Coming back late one evening from the basin. Usual stuff, pitch black, lousy viz, VFR at 300 feet. Had to hold because of a Trotter trying to land with the crosswind. We were circling on the coast just where Bristow rented a house. (Boddom?) and the radalt kept lighting up on the 200ft bug. Eventually the Trotter gave up and diverted somewhere. He was cleared to call Scottish and off he went. That was it. There was no answer when I called the tower or approach, nor could Bristow Ops get one. I had been forgotten about so I stumbled off towards the airfield and fortunately the cloudbase and viz perked up. We used the north/south runway and as we were half way down finals we could see these lights going on progressively up the stairwell of Air Traffic. A breathless voice came up with our callsign, we called finals and were cleared to land. Should have complained about it really but in those days who cared. |
Where is Phil Kemp when we need him?, he will have a pictures of the 10 61s.
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And A Few More ! Remember These ?
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Why, I'm right here sitting in the ferry line up for Bowen Island in Vancouver reading this thread! :ok:
What a sad day, truly the end of an era - and the location where so many of us started our careers and made friendships that have lasted a lifetime. It is pretty amazing to see it come to an end. I am actually quite shocked to see this news and the pictures. I do indeed have many pictures of the 10 S61's that we picked up there and shipped out to the States. Unfortunately I don't have any with me to scan right now - if I had read this a couple of hours ago, I would have taken them out of the office with me, as I am going to be in Sumburgh next weekend. I just saw one of them (ex G-BDKI) 2 weeks ago, flying at the Sikorsky factory with a beautiful glass cockpit installed! Some of the best pictures that were taken of that programme were by Malcolm Bradbury who worked in the tower - he had some superb images of all the goings on at LSI. I have so many great memories of all the people that I was so fortunate to work with over the years there - of course a large number of them are still around and I get to see them every now and then. I'll be at Helitech next week, so do stop by the Vector booth and say hi if any of the old Sumburgh crew are there. The rest I'll see in Shetland at the weekend. I might even buy the beer. |
Hi Phil hope to catch you for beer next weekend.
cheers nessboy. |
Many a happy day spent as a boy hanging around Sumburgh in the late 70s. Went on to fly offshore with the opposition for ten years, now driving the B777 in the desert for my sins..........
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_MFLwguG4A-g/SX...20Sumburgh.jpg http://lh5.ggpht.com/_MFLwguG4A-g/SX...rgh%201977.jpg http://lh5.ggpht.com/_MFLwguG4A-g/SX...rgh%201977.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/_MFLwguG4A-g/SX...rgh%201977.jpg http://lh4.ggpht.com/_MFLwguG4A-g/SX...ater%20Ldg.jpg http://lh5.ggpht.com/_MFLwguG4A-g/SX...ead%201977.jpg |
Great Pics Plank Cap, would love to see these a bit bigger (800 pixels across the top max).
I can just picture all the Sumburgh "old boys" with their noses pressed against the computer screen trying to read the registrations :) Not many now without the old spectacles in the top pocket :8 |
The New Girls
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Another Selection
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https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ef5943113f.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....25ba08c3c4.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9334144807.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....98f9c4da7f.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2da70a872f.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2b9cbb34fe.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2186809200.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0bef61d0e6.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....db8cadd44c.jpg |
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4ad254df2a.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....328d8ae405.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d62bc24c95.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....dd941fdb11.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b727df35d8.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3fa5f2000a.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....30baed56c9.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b44e702011.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b6bfd77c76.jpg |
All I can say is that I am Loving the Pictures.
Keep em coming. |
... And A Few More
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a617580ed5.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f1d7fafef3.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a30114e734.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1f1a20b164.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0cf1d77078.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f1db1b4eae.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3272f0f74a.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0e91bf0957.jpg |
Some things haven't changed!
G-TIGJ is still on the islands - albeit 45 miles north...just for now!
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G-TIGJ
Yes, Golf Juliet is an old girl now
... in fact only last week, I saw her sitting in the hangar dribbling :) and being tended to by a Welsh & Australian Nursing Team ;) |
Sad days indeed!
Worked in Ops with Ian Hooker (RIP) and an Australian lady in 1978, having come up from Teesside after working with the S58's on the Ekofisk. Noticed earlier post advising Garth Parfitt is no longer with us - can someone pm me details - I did some marvellous flying with him.
Other chaps I remember are Gordon Woods, Al Streeter, Roger Fisher, Graham Davies and old Tom(forgotten his second name), last 2 being Ops. I have a few pics of Sumburgh too - will post after I've scanned them. Most memorable flight ever was flying through the valley on Hoy, then around the Old Man in SA330 G-BFNF on my delivery flight from ABZ to LSI! |
This really has brought back some memories, some sad, some happy.. some very happy.:D There are just too many names and characters to go through, Engineering, Aircrew and Ops!! Lots of people no longer with us and RIP to them.
I thought Sumburgh would go on forever but it seems not.:confused: uuoret... The aussie lady was big Steph and Tom was maybe Tom McCarthy, a real gentleman and also now no longer with us. Harky... thanks for posting the pictures, it looks really sad in that hangar, just how did we get all those aircraft in?? I'll bet there are a few "ghosts" wandering around there and on their way up to the Club! 3D |
Never forget the Portapub! :ok:
Now that was great fun at the tower as the Silver Wings club; then at the back of the British Airways hangar. Cheap beer and you could hardly get in the door on a busy night! |
Let's not forget the "Colditz" where the interior walls did not always reach the exterior walls.....leaving little to the imagination about what was going on in the adjoining rooms. Some interesting stories to be told I reckon!
Phil.....was there ever a "slow" night at the club??? |
uuoret
Al Streeter now lives in Cyprus. There is a of photo of him on the Bristow Photos thread here & his biog is here. Roger Fisher left BHL to join BIA & when they wound up he moved to British Midland. He & his wife, Alva, Moved to South Africa upon his retirement a few years ago. There are a number of Sumburgh faces on the Bristow photos Thread. |
Sad to hear that it is all closed down, lots of great memories of Sumburgh, plus a few hazy ones.
Don't think that getting into the Portapub was a problem, getting out of it was on a few occasions, what I liked about it, that apart from Bristow and BAH, you also got the local characters in as well so it made for a great atmosphere, don't think the new club was ever as good, offcourse there was a lot more people around then, mind you the Bristow bar in the hotel had some great nights. Nessboy. You probably spend a fair bit of time now on standby next door, maybe you should use it to organize a reunion, think about it when you have a beer with Phil at the weekend. |
Bristow Sumburgh SAR Pics Courtesy of Quarry Boy
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1794f7e29f.jpg
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Wow, a glass cockpit. OC was purely steam driven when I flew it.
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How very sad to see, Shetland lost something when Oscar Charlie went, now the total closure too, it seems that everything that was Shetland is dissapearing, and there's still worse to come!
I had a fantastic flight in Oscar Charlie arranged by Norman Leask a few years ago, he and Simon Butler flew me over places I would never have seen, I will never forget that flight, Norman or O.C., infact I have a greyhound named after Oscar Charlie. Thanks again Norman. I'm glad I moved off a few years ago, sad to see the heart being ripped out of the isles, so much going on (wrong) Regards to every-one, Terry |
Ah well... out with the old.. in with the new!:ok:
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Many happy days spent in Sumburgh on the old S61 in 1980-82. Normally living in Hardbreaks (no 9 was the transit itinerant house for us Aberdeen detatchees)
Lived with Eddie Ford and David Stephens on one 2 week hitch, I think I still have a headache nearly 30 years later! I also remember flying with Michel Z to "ze Sistle" for BNOC What was M'hat M'coat's real name, Gordon.? Happy days |
M'Hat, M'Coat.... Gordon Mitchell, must be nearly old by now :}
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