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Lol! I've been called worse! Not wanting to disappoint .. the latest offering from Helihub's list: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/__...uly%201981.jpg Barratt Developments Agusta 109A at Battersea on 15th July 1981 S. |
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G-UPVC
Aaah, the unlovely G-UPVC. :oh: The paint scheme was SO objectionable to the Agusta paint team that it took 3 factory visits, and several long-lunches to actually achieve the brilliant orange. Much discussion on this !!! :O My sales team ducked the aggro (fancy that) by going off with the Agusta sales team for mutual back-slapping and congratulations, leaving me in the firing line with the technical boys............... Some things never change.
When we got it back to Fairoaks it went throught the C of A validation, customising etc, flight testing and tart-up for delivery. TRC will remember the next part of this ver well. On the special day all of the Anglian windows hierarchy arrived for acceptance, including the chairman. As Ch Eng I failed (abysmally) to check the internal of the rear cabin, and particularly the double-glazed rear door windows. Someone, in an attempt at silliness and levity, had affixed a small Dymo label to each window inscribed "Double-glazing by Everest". :uhoh: Anglian CEO called our CEO (no sense of humour some chaps). I received a royal-interview. Again. := Bit like Klagenfurt really. Are you reading this S?? I'll be down at the local pub if anyone wants me.....VFR |
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HH: Well done! One sees that GEEVS is wearing the same colours as when she was OTSL below: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/__.../G-OTSL001.jpg I'm not entirely certain who 'TSL' were. I believe Mann's had a couple of 109's which wore the 'jack' somewhere on their frame. Car Auctions may have been another. One see's that VFR installed curtains on TSL/GEEVS - the rear pax view is bad enough in the 109 without curtains but .. there we are! Someone, in an attempt at silliness and levity, had affixed a small Dymo label to each window inscribed "Double-glazing by Everest". Of course Mann's must have sold Anglian their first craft, G-WILL (never did discover why she was so named) an AB 206B III which was delivered in May '79 and sold on to Switzerland in February of '83. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/__...ary%201981.jpg AgustaBell 206B JetRanger III G-WILL at Battersea on 5th February 1981 S. |
S
I don't know who TSL were either, but I'll bet next week's paycheque that TRC does! He hasn't responded so probably away somewhere.....working? that'd be something LOL Yes, Mann's sold G-WILL to Anglian, it was so namedd in honour of the then then Chairman George WILLiams. (UPVC of course refers to the window construction that Anglian pioneered in the early '80s). So now we all know. TRC where are you? - VFR |
TSL was Therma-Stor Ltd, a(nother!) double glazing company, this time in Peterborough. Owner lived in Elstead, Surrey and there was a regular weekday run leaving Fairoaks to arrive Elstead on the dot of 8am to take the boss to the office in Peterborough and return route in the evening. The pilot spent most of each day in a nearby gym, I recall!
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G-OTSL
found this snippet from 1987 about OTSL delivery, an A129?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiganairways/5512331454/ http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5052/...336b54b6_z.jpg WA |
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Wigan: Great Stuff! I think I may have stumbled upon 'another' article which addresses TSL's identity issue! ;) S. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/__...00/129%20c.png |
A 129
Savoia, Grand Article,
I think you would sell more double glazing with the A129 than the A109http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...ies/thumbs.gif WA |
Hello Savoia............!
Victor Frank Reginald here ! And just love the spoof article, loadsa laughs :D Thank you for taking the time to (mis) quote me in such an erudite manner (I really didn't know all those facts about the Mangusta :() - VFR
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/__...AII%20FILM.jpg
Rotorhead Zishelix kindly posted this image on the Nostalgia thread but, I'm keen to discover Mann's thinking behind the acquisition of this craft as an 'Alo II' seems like an interesting departure from their normal run of 109's and 206's. Great though to see the 'am' letters (and the Jack) on the nose! Sav |
AMH bought the Al II exclusively for film work. Aerial Camera Systems - the late Peter Allwork - had recently moved to Fairoaks and it looked like there would be a fair bit of film work coming in.
The Al II was chosen for a number of reasons - large flat floor, large door opening, it could fly as fast sideways as it could forwards - and there were several approved mods for various camera installations in existence. I spent many a happy day with FILM bodging it up on locations around the place - P2 air switch intermittent so starting the engine with a paper clip, bleeding the oleos before first flight every day, regularly removing the m/r dampers to self-bleed overnight, etc.... One memorable occasion was at Butlers Wharf on the Thames during filming for 'The Professionals' (:eek:). One of the m/r dampers had lost most of its oil on the previous 10 minute sortie (it happened from time to time, never worked out where it went - no sign of oil anywhere on the blades, etc). I got someone to get me a syringe or something to nick some oil out of the hyd reservoir as a get-you-home fix. He came back having visited the local chemist shop with an enema pump thing which worked a treat. All of the above snags were permanently fixed prior to going to Yugoslavia for the film mentioned above, and it ran like a sewing machine. We were often told that it was the smoothest Al II that anyone had ever flown in. .... (and the Jack) on the nose |
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Peter Allwork - Good Lord! Now there's a name I've not heard in almost 30 years! .. it could fly as fast sideways as it could forwards .. .. left Fairoaks by road for Yug. While on Alo II's and filming. The event which led to the demise of John Crewdson (am not familiar with the a/c reg) was (as far as I recall) attributed to the wrong grease being pumped into the main rotor - was that in fact the case? Sav |
... the wrong grease being pumped into the main rotor Economic I'm sure but what a shame to miss out on what could have been a decent ferry flight |
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Having trawled the list of early UK Alo's was able to identify Crewdson's ship as G-AWAP. A summary of the accident report reads: "The report concludes that the accident was caused by the disengagement of the main rotor head retention bolt, with consequent detachment of the rotor, due to corrosion of the engaging threads between it and the mast. Contributory factors were the application of a different aeronautical grease from the one specified for use during assembly of the rotor head, the presence of a sulphate contaminant from an unknown source, the omission of a main rotor head inspection which had become due 207 hours prior to the accident, low aircraft utilisation which resulted in long periods of time between successive inspections and an extension of the overhaul period of the main rotor mast assembly." Pages 5-8 of the report offer a more detailed account of the various anomalies. Sav |
Standing by to be corrected, but I think it was the wrong anti-seize compound/thread lubricant applied to the m/r hub nut threads. I think it reacted with the xmsn oil vapour and attacked the threads causing them to fail. Taken from griffin-helicopters: The helicopter was engaged in filming work & the wreckage was found on 23 May. The A/C was in transit from Grobnik A/D to a private landing site at O'Malley's field near Boljun. The A/C appears to have struck three lowest wires of a 6-wire telephone system strung between poles on either side of a valley. One of the wires was found to be wrapped around the rotor head. The helicopter impacted with a rocky outcrop & came to rest on the valley floor. The wires would not have been visible against a dark backgrond. CAA closure: See YUGOSLAV CAA accident report dated BELGRADE JUNE 82. NO FURTHER CAA ACTION. |
elro
I think you've got your wires crossed.
The hub nut problem that I referred to was in answer to Savoia's question in post 33. I was very closely associated with G-FILM's accident (almost too closely) having been replaced by Andy Anderson, who died in the accident, only the day before. |
TRC and elro
Of the very sad event, I recall only that the route normally followed to location was changed and the fatal wires were not marked on any map, neither did they have any polystyrene balls or similar strung on them.
As a closure, which I shall remember until it is my turn to go upstairs (or down), whilst TRC did an excellent job at the time he wasn't licensed on the AlII. Andy and I were. Both of us also held licences on the A109. We had this fabulous film job on one hand, and the Pope's visit on the other.(with both our operational A109s G-HWBK and G-OAMH flying aerial photos; one for BBC, the other for ITV - now THAT's a win-win situation, and I think it was Nigel who masterminded that deal :ok:) In the event Andy and I tossed a coin for who was to go to Yug, and who would do the Pope's visit. I didn't win, despite extensive AlII experience gained in Canada previously. I've often wondered, if the coin had landed the other way up............................. It was one of the saddest moments that I can recall; we have all lost good friends and colleagues over the years. This, for me, was about the most poignant. And only goes to show that the day may be called, but the number on the bullet wasn't yours. RIP fellas, I miss you still ~ VFR |
G-FILM with NPT at the controls with a Continental camera mount installed, and a forward-looking camera through an aperture in the the co-pilot's footwell. Yugoslavia 1982.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...o1/FILM001.jpg and with a Stampe mock-up cockpit - in which I made a flight.. Looks like the late PM in the pilot's seat. http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j212/teeo1/FILM.jpg |
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Great stuff TRC! :ok: You preempted my query regarding the square 'hole' in the lower perspex and which, I had guessed, was for the purpose you mentioned. Can you recall any other major film productions G-FILM was involved in? Brgds Sav |
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