Royal Flight - Cameroon 1990
 

In March 1990 Del Tarn and I took a couple of Port Harcourt 212's to Douala to fly Chas & Di around the place. Some pilot chappies came with us.

'JW awaiting fuel at Douala
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...s_51/002-1.jpg

Motley crew ready to depart for the hotel.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...les_51/003.jpg

Enroute to some monkey farm in the boonies.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...les_51/001.jpg

Motley crew with Royal Personage. Unfortunately, Diana had flown back to the UK for the birth of Eugenie (the well known fashion icon) so we only got to fly Chas.
L-R Can't remember, Pat Morar, George Cunningham, Don't know, Del Tarn, HRH, Can't remember (sorry) and Tony Ferris.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...les_51/004.jpg

AB

Port Harcourt red fins, Warri lightening flashes on the nose! Wouldn't it have been easier to remember which registrations were who's?:ok:

That was pretty straightforward; Warri had 'Lima s' S, T & U while PH had 'Juliets' T, U, V & W. We also had a 'QW for a while. Sad or what. PH also had the SFENA-equipped aircraft. Deep joy!

I believe that was Richard Nicklau next to Tony Ferris in the photo of Jug Ears and the crew.


Warri also had QV....all Sperry equipped aircraft until some of the PHC aircraft showed up. Thne Sfena purely sucked!

Yes, that's Richard - now in Malaysia with Westar, I believe.

Nothing wrong with SFENA.......:ok:

As long as it was working! I remember being introduced to SFENA in the Duri IFR 212 PK-HCK. Training Captain explained its function and we engaged Altitude Hold. After we decended through some 300' he agreed that perhaps it was not working properly today.

However when it worked and with some good guidance from the Trainers it made Single Pilot IFR a lot easier.

And of course there was the one-off SFENA fitted in G-AVII for all those CAA single engine IRTs over the years.

All of the original Eket 212's had SFENA and what a jolly fine system it was (NOT) piece of junk that never really worked :ugh:, certainly never in duplex mode. Best thing that ever happend was going over to helipilot.

ns

Seem to remember it was okay as long as the pilot was prepared to release his vice-like grip on the cyclic!

Eket Bell 212s
 

Interesting because it worked in the 5 x Eket Bell 212s that I flew when the Greenies from Hell were on the case (my logbook went for a swim but I recall 5N-AJS, 5N-ALQ & 5N-AOE as 3 of them). I was there when the contract changed to 5 'younger' Bell 212s, including 5N-BHM (ex G-BJJO) & 5N-BHN (ex G-BJJP). Both of these had Sperry Helipilot but the Flight Directors were removed before they arrived in Nigeria - so no Altitude Hold facility as required for Single Pilot IFR.
Exactly that was part of the problem, a lack of understanding leading to the pilot using the system incorrectly.

...they also worked very well in Trinidad when a certain gifted Greenie understood how to pair up the computers, matching their outputs so hard duplex faults would not occur.

It was amazing what a bit of cyclic friction did to the SFENA - just as it said in the manual.

I personally preferred the SFENA to the cheapskate basterdised (by BHL chief accountant) Sperry. If the Sperry had all the stuff it was supposed to have, then I would agree, SFENA was not as good. If BHL had refrained from their "It's not in the contract, they haven't paid for it, take it out attitude" maybe things would have been different.

SFENA managed to get Concorde to fly pretty well....

Sperry worked brilliantly when we used to fly the 212s BJJO and BJJP Single pilot IFR on the North Denes Amoco contract. I never realised they removed bits before the aircraft went to Nigeria, I managed To avoid Nigeria for the most part.

Oh so true!

Recall the Bristow attitude towards installing GPS in the Nigeria based aircraft?

Comments like...."Oh...that Yank DOD thing?" "Too expensive!" "Its not in the contract....who is going to pay for it?

Then....along comes the Nigerian CAA and mandates GPS!

Then...."Well...when it goes U/S we aren't going to repair it!"

Once the crews got used to having GPS...being able to find their way around in the Fog, Mist, Cloud, Rain, and Dust....."that Yank DOD thing" became a necessity!

When Bristow packed up their USA operations their S76s were shipped to the UK. I would pick them up from some Ro Ro in the UK or Europe and ferry them to Redhill to be 'Anglicised'. This involved replacing the Omega AND the DME with Decca. The DME was, apparently, a bind to remove but it was neccessary to avoid have to fix it if it went wrong.

Six months later Norway stipulated that DME had to be carried by aircraft nominating a Norwegian diversion.

EKET 212's
 

The original 3 212's arrived piecemeal fitted with SFENA, we never had the spares, people who understood it including the aircrew. The solution was to fly in Simplex. By the early to mid 80's we spent most of our time replacing looms, connecters etc, and flying a lot of the time without SFENA at all(Fixed Rods) until the helipilot conversions of the Warri aircraft released another pool of spares into the system which certainly helped with serviceability. And all Greenies are " Greenies from hell":ok:

PH 212s
 

"Ober Greenie from Hell" Al Cox kept the SFENAs at PH working very well during all my time there.

One of their problems was the sensitivity in the YAW channel pickup, which worked to our advantage once. During a mission to retrieve remains of people and parts of a crashed BO-105 of the Police I was circling overhead after having winched Al Biles down into the swamp. (Hero of th day) Every few seconds we would get a small kick in yaw, which disappeared when disengaged. After returning Al could find no fault with the SFENA, so a bit more looking and our engineering team found a cracked longeron in the tailboom. Repaired, no more kick.

Ainippe...check your pm's

"During a mission to retrieve remains of people and parts of a crashed BO-105 of the Police I was circling overhead after having winched Al Biles down into the swamp."

I remember it well. That was not a fun afternoon.

http://http://dubaiasitusedtobe.com/...ze/TN29_fs.jpg

Hi I am struggling to upload photos of my Dad's time ( Bill Nicholls) in Bristows during the early sixties until the 90's. He worked in Nigeria during the sixties, Dubai, Das island, Paull in east yorkshire, Aberdeen and on the rigs, Eket in Nigeria, Borneo late Fifties. I have a lot of photos to share with you but am having problems loading them. I have posted a few on Dubaiasitusedtobe.com which can be viewed there but I have more on my hard drive at home....any suggestions would be welcome!:ok:

ZEPHER62
This might help:

http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...-tips-you.html

http://dubaiasitusedtobe.com/images/...ze/TN29_fs.jpg

can anyone see this?

Whirlwind taking off from beach in Dubai circa 1964

http://dubaiasitusedtobe.com/images/...ze/TN25_fs.jpg

Bristow Helicopters in Dubai 1964

Helicopters were new to Dubai in 1964 but traditional forms of transport could still be useful! Here Tim's Father takes a Donkey Ride back to base.


http://dubaiasitusedtobe.com/images/...ze/TN27_fs.jpg

Bristow Helicopters in Dubai 1964

Bristow's Westland Whirlwind is parked at the Helipad facing out to sea. One of British India Shipping Line ships can be seen between the helicopter's floats. The ship will have anchored offshore where people and cargo were discharged and brought ashore to Dubai in barges and small boats.

http://dubaiasitusedtobe.com/images/...lsize/TN60.jpg

Bristow Helicopters 1978

This helicopter crashed at the head of Dubai Creek. Tim's Father was the Helicopter Engineer who dealt with the aftermath.

Photobucket is the way to go!

Quote:

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Posting in Ferranti Helicopters thread about Paddy McCloughlin reminded me of the other machines at Karratha. 212 VH-BEY G reg unknown, 206 VH-BEQ and Puma, reg not vis. Also Dick Jones Eng Mgr.

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/p...ngs/VH-BEY.jpg

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/p...ngs/VH-BEQ.jpg

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/p...gs/pumaunk.jpg

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/p...ngs/djones.jpg

Karratha
 

Bell 212 VH-BEY was ex G-BMVF and the Bell 206 VH-BEQ was never British registered.

Not quite true. First registered to Bristow Helicopters Limited on 08/08/67 as an Agusta Bell 206A Jet Ranger, became VR-BCR, PK-HBD, VR-BCR, PK-HBZ, VH-BEQ and returned as G-AVSZ (Agusta Bell 206B - still registered). Rotorspot & G-INFO are your friend here.

S76C++
 

All the overseas pics are very interesting, please keep them coming, any chaps in Takoradi, Ghana with any pics of the brand new 76C++'s out your way ? I understand two were del direct from USA ?

Bristow in Battersea
 

I was based in Battersea in 1973 after leaving Shetland. Robin Keith was CP who spent a lot of time wooing McAlpine!! I replaced John Hobday who was hijacked at some time in his career. Roger T was the engineer. Ken Bradley was a good friend and mentor. After the fuel crisis of '73 it was decided to set up a B206 operation in Inverness. Ken delivered the machine in early '74.

Tim Nicholls Pictures
 

Hi there, Dave Ed back again!

Ref posts 1726, 1728 and 1729. Tim Nicholls has asked me to help with posting a lot of his father's old pictures. So after a couple of weeks of prepping the pics to get the best out of them I will endevour to remember how to post them on Pprune:bored:
As the pictures, Tim's Pprune notes and the e-mails became somwhat disjointed, it is likely I will match the wrong notes with a picture so if the Whirlwind actually looks like a 206 you will know why!

So, starting with Tim's original post.........

Hi I am struggling to upload photos of my Dad's time ( Bill Nicholls) in Bristows during the early sixties until the 90's. He worked in Nigeria during the sixties, Dubai, Das island, Paull in east yorkshire, Aberdeen and on the rigs, Eket in Nigeria, Borneo late Fifties. I have a lot of photos to share with you but am having problems loading them. I have posted a few on Dubaiasitusedtobe.com which can be viewed there.



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Dubai1964g.jpg


Bristow Helicopters in Dubai 1964

Helicopters were new to Dubai in 1964 but traditional forms of transport could still be useful! Here Tim's Father takes a Donkey Ride back to base.






http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ubai19648g.jpg


Bristow Helicopters in Dubai 1964

Bristow's Westland Whirlwind is parked at the Helipad facing out to sea. One of British India Shipping Line ships can be seen between the helicopter's floats. The ship will have anchored offshore where people and cargo were discharged and brought ashore to Dubai in barges and small boats.



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...andNic206g.jpg


Tim, Nic and Ahmed next to the Jet Ranger with Gerhard Trosch the pilot taken about 1967/68...he was a canny Austrian guy who became the personal pilot of then Prince Mohammed..I remember him for having a fantastic huge white Mercedes with red leather seats and also he didn't approve of me and Nic reading Victor magazines as they glorified war and were anti- German!!.





http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Whirlwindg.jpg

Possibly on Das Island...the guy in the cockpit is called Filipose. I had a great childhood as a result of Dad's job and many happy memories from our time in Dubai especially.





http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ubai19641g.jpg


This photo is of the Bristow base on Dubai beach close to the mouth of the creek in 1964..as you can see it was a very simple operation before they moved to the Dubai airport site.






http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...lwindkidsg.jpg

Dubai 1964





http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ures/Eketg.jpg

Eket in the seventies.





http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...es/Borneog.jpg

Borneo.





http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...urefinderg.jpg

Bill Nicholls and Mike Johnston probably on the Treasure Finder.

I saw this (ex G-BGWK) sat on the tarmac in Beirut yesterday.

S61N photo link

I flew WK more than any of the other BHL 61s.

.....and a few more from Tim.


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...aullWessex.jpg

Wessex 60 taken at Paull airfield in 1977 the ground crew are Terry West and Jim Wilmott and the pilot is Bill Holmes.




http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ullairshow.jpg

G-ASWI taken at the Paull airshow of 1977/78.




http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/PaullS61.jpg

S-61 which landed at Paull...my Dad is in this shot.




http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...sexengines.jpg

Engine layout of the Wessex.




http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...BillandNic.jpg

Dad and brother Nick at Dyce airport about 1991




http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/Dyce1991.jpg

Dyce airport about 1991




http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...WessexATSC.jpg

G-ATSC having returned from an offshore gas rig off the East Yorkshire coast.



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Eastington.jpg

Dad with G-AWOX at Easington gas terminal in about 1978/79. G-AWOX I believe replaced G-ATSC and G-ASWI which both had accidents if I am right.



http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...nWhirlwind.jpg

Nigerian Whirlwind

BALZ
 

Working now with chaps in Canada, said they had an HUMS equipped 212.

Turned out to be G-BALZ, 30548.

Now working for Coldstream Helicopters, pics can be found here:

http://www.coldstreamhelicopters.com.../CSH_WEB_2.pdf

And here:

Coldstream Helicopters

Long way from Mog, Bangladesh, Brents and whereever else, but is in good hands working hard and looking good

G-BCLC
 

Found another one, this time in Montana..

Ex Stornaway and Sumburgh SAR back machine, G-BCLC.

Now a Shortsky, with Carson Blades, doing Forestry Fire Fighting.

Not got a good picture as yet, will get some when I got up to audit them

Flying for Bliings Flying Services - BFS - some dodgy photos here, but can see the North Sea Mods we stuck in it..

Billings Flying Service

Kosovo
 

From Sikorsky S61N (UN) Photos Page 1 G-BBHM in Kosovo.

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/..._un_1_of_4.jpg

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/..._un_2_of_4.jpg

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/..._un_3_of_4.jpg

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/..._un_4_of_4.jpg

WOW!! I like those photos!!
do U know where they was made? I'm courius because I'm working there now... based in Pristina Airpost...

Cheers
Daniele

hi phil,doyou remember yves le roy;...it is me!!!!!regards;yves:rolleyes:

Yves le Roy, I certainly remember you, we worked together at Padang then met again a few years later in Tehran. Glad to see you're still on the website.

Benghazi, Libya 2009
 

Libya during more stable times.


Arrival in Tripoli from Malta, enroute to Benghazi. The Libyan's were planning for a new airport building on the scale of Dubai International, being built in the background.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/Libya25.jpg



The Hangar at Benghazi airport.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...lan/Libya2.jpg




Benghazi.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/Libya24.jpg




Team Mascot. (Frank's best friend)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...lan/Libya3.jpg




Returning to Benghazi Airport.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...lan/Libya1.jpg

Tripoli, Libya 2009
 

Operating from Tripoli Mitiga Airforce base.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...n/Libya4-1.jpg




Keeping out of the way of the Migs.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...lan/Libya6.jpg




Watching an African Champions League Match in Tripoli.
Football seems to cross all cultural / religious boundaries.
(Having said that, I wouldn't like to have been wearing a Tunisian shirt while watching the match)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...n/Libya5-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/Libya11.jpg



Departing Tripoli Mitiga Airport

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/Libya15.jpg




Libya's only dive boat! A few wrecks to see, above and below the surface.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5.../Libya15-1.jpg




Heading West, along the coast towards Tripoli.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/Libya14.jpg




I didn't have enough Safety Focus cards for this one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/Libya16.jpg

Thanks for the memories Rosh although it has changed a lot since I was there in 64'

It was a bit of a family hang out so to speak, my dad was there in 51' flying the old "meatbox" and again in the late 70's (before it became politically incorrect) , then I showed up when it was RAF Idris (64),( learned that both whisky sours and climbing coconut trees at the same time can be dangerous to your health!!!)

One thing I remember was that just diving off the coast you could see so many artifacts just laying on the bottom, and nobody really cared about them.

Now I'm the Bristow artifact, although not quite laying on the bottom yet.