Fison Airwork 1959
 

I worked for Fison Airwork in Puerto Armuelles Panama, Palmar Sur Costa Rica and Piedras Blancas, and Valverde Mao and Walterio Dominicana. If anyone else worked there let's hear from you?

Subaru - Message sent

you will probably remember my father Don Strange?

I worked with your Dad on Das Island in 1967-68, a mutual love hate relationship!
Tony

So are you who Don called the bean in Puerto Armuelles?

I know you did lol

Original colour is usually still there . . . if you can tweak it . :ok:

( If anyone has old helo shots they want corrected send me a PM. )

it's free :O

https://i11.servimg.com/u/f11/11/94/64/62/a210.jpg

Yes I knew Don Strange very well having worked with him in Puerto Armuelles and he was certainly a great person to have known, I don't remember your mother's name and Don referred to you and we all knew you as the bean!

Dear all,

I would so appreciate some help from anyone on this thread!
My late dad worked for Fison Airwork as an engineer and spent some time working on Hillers out in Costa Rica (and I suspect other far away locations - banana spraying?). I have many slightly faded photos of his time there but can't identify where they were taken or any of the people in them.

If anyone new Vic King from this time I would love to hear from you....

Thanks
Richard

I wonder if Curly Truslove is still about he might have some answers as I know he worked on the early Hillers. He was still working for Bond at Bourn when I was there ( AG manager).
Another of the old engineers saw him a few years back in the Cambridge area.
Can't be many left from that period now.

Is the Hiller in the photo G-AMDO ? Do you have any more photos of the helis operated there ?

Helipixman

Hi Helipixman,

Try half way down page 58 in the Bristow photos thread. Hillers and bananas. I think a lot of my info for that post came from pilot John Odlin.

https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/28...photos-58.html

Cheers,
Dave Ed

Thanks for the reply. I remember Curly was a very close colleague of my dads and they continued to work together on the Hillers when they moved on from Fison Airwork to work with Dave Bond at Management Aviation. Vic was Chief Engineer there and eventually became the Technical Director. I'll dig out a couple of dads photos in Costa Rica and hopefully I can post them here in hopes of stimulating more interest and some leads.
Cheers
Richard King

Curly had some really interesting old photos of spraying in the middle east, open cockpit Hiller 12's with the overhead collective.

I remember that your father died not long after retirement, we were all sorry to hear about it.

Thank you, yes very sad, got his engraved decanter and a month later gone :( April 88
A long time has now passed and because his generation are getting on I need to try to find people who can help piece together some of his pre Management Aviation days.
You were at MA back then? what sort of work were you involved with? Did they ever clear Vic's famous shed full of broken Hillers, He was never one to throw anything away bless him!
Perhaps send me a personal message if it is more appropriate.
Cheers
Richard

Many thanks, interesting photos

The black shed!!!!



Friend of mine found Vic cursing in the black shed.
Some buggers knicked it, I cant find it.
What are you looking for Vic?
Some adhesive.
Ok I will give you a hand.
After half an hour.
When did you put it in here Vic?
About two years ago!!!.
???????

The black shed was cleared when the last two Hillers were sold off to John Holborn Helicopters 1986.
Prior to that they had employed somebody with a strimmer to clear years of undergrowth around the shed.
What do you want me to do with those two big boxes?
What boxes?
Two brand knew Hiller canopies that had disappeared into the jungle.

It was at about this time that somebody was tasked with collecting and burning all the redundant packing cases.
Bloody good fire, when the smoke had cleared the remains of two Allison starter generators were found in the ashes burnt to a crisp!!!!

Ha ha :) yes, that's dad alright!!
Thank you for sharing those memories. Those old packing cases turned up everywhere, we even had one in the garden converted into a shed!
Do please keep an ear open for anyone else that remembers dad and put them in touch. I'll send you my email address via a PM.
Cheers
Richard

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a917e6c4f9.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3e828a28d5.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....61109fb12e.jpg
Interesting thread I came across while looking through a dear old friends photo albums. For some time he was a farmer in Scampton and these pics are in his album. It would seem to be Management Aviation written on the side so perhaps someone might recognise the folk in the pics. He also has some pics where the pilot took his wife up for a jolly.

I think the pilot is Robin Cross-Upcott (spelling?)
The photos date from summer 1986 at the latest probably a lot earlier than that.
The CAA have G-AVKX as crashed 9/7/1980 which makes sense as the last recorded hours for the aircraft are 31/12/1979
The first aircraft is configured for load lifting not spraying. Probably either G-BBLA-BBLE one of several in that registration block.

I last saw Robin about 1990 ferrying a Hiller 12E at Humberside.
Nice guy ex WW2 Spitfire pilot.