Early 1980's MSV Tharos - bolted alongside the original Piper Alpha.

SP-IFR with SFENA Ministab and Dixie Newton as Engineer. Graeme Moir took the picture - both of them excellent engineers.

Pilots - Graham Morley (AKA Banana Boots), Mike Trotter and Upland Goose

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/...sertFox001.jpg
"Desert Fox" was a sound machine.
After a casevac one night, I was returning to Tharos on my own and was told by Scottish Info. that, for brief period, I was the only aircraft movement in UK airspace.

For once, with my family tucked up in bed in Aboyne, I thought "what the hell am I doing here". SP-IFR flying can be lonely at 3am. A few years later the skies would be swarming with postal flights in the middle of the night.UG:ok:

Hey Rosh

I notice on the night take-off that the co-pilot's ASI was unlit - was that in the ADD's list?

Nice pictures, especially the Avanti undercarriage legs - and you guys said it was a hardship posting in Libya!

Keep smiling - Bangladesh next.:hmm:UG

I would suggest it is the same reason as the captain's altimeter seems to be unlit. They are masked by the radalt warning light.

Of course any other helicopter operator would wonder what we are talking about, not knowing Bristow's unique instrument layout; though it would appear completely sensible to a 'captain in the LHS' fixed wing driver.

UG,

They must have been practicing some 'Partial-Panel' IF!!

..... or as Fareastdriver says, the unlit instruments may be being masked by the Radalt Warning Light.

As for the Avanti undercarriage, and Libya being a hardship posting ..... that was the only time we caught glimpse of a landing gear quite like that during a fairly long stay there. As quickly as they arrived, they retracted and departed to somewhere a little more hospitable, leaving us sipping on Libyan coffee.

Bangladesh next!?? Are you sure you don't mean the Bahamas?

Still smiling.

Ah, the fun days on the Tharos! All those names bring back fond memories of the good old days on the North Sea (and the Ivy House)! I saw Graeme Moir in Jakarta just last year, after I hadn't seen him since 1986; when he headed South and I went to the States.

The Ivy House with the down stairs bar with exactly one Abba Cassette....and the best cooking in the County....staggering distance from the Pub at the bottom of the hill.

Old Timers
 

And Dixie Newton can still be found sunbathing between jobs in his budgie Smugglers on the ramp at Port Harcourt NAF Base!

and what of the Dixie Chicks????

Excuse my ignorance, is this an official Bristow badge? BRISTOW HELICOPTERS.WIRE EMBROIDERED PILOTS CAP BADGE. | eBay

When I joined in 1980, I seem to recollect that the centre disc on the cap badge was embroidered with the "Jet Ranger" silhouette (not sure if it had an original name) when we drew our uniform from the BCal stores in Gatwick. Later the disc was an enamel version of the same and sometime at the end of the last century the "Bob the Builder" logo appeared. So in short - yes it could be.

My "formal cap" badge was enamel TOD and I got my cap at the same time as you. Not sure when the embroidered ones came into being.

Looks decidely dodgy to me! Mine had the enamel centre too...

I wore my enamel badged cap, once, for the graduation photographs.

Once upon a time Alan Bristow bollocked one of his pilots in the Middle East for flying in shorts and trainers.

"Why aren't you rearing the uniform you were issued with?"

To be safe when I flew him around in the Redhill S76 I used to wear my headphones clamped over the top of my uniform peaked cap.

Just been up a ladder. August 1978; enamel badge.

TOD.....you joined a lot sooner than the 80's young lad!

You might as well have been company issue!:E

That wasn't a Jet Ranger on the old Bristow badge,it was a compilation of the aircraft the company operated designed by one of the boys who also did the Company calenders which were collectors items in their day.His name escapes me but he was ex-Navy and Smudge jumps to mind.

Wasn't it Tugg?

I thought the only person to wear his uniform cap with his headset was the infamous Peter Royston and then only because he had followed a children`s TV hero Gary Halliday and thought it looked cool. The fashion in those distant days, long before immersion suits and even Uvic jackets, was full uniform, jacket et al and black polo necked sweater.

Cap Badge
 

I still have my nice enamel version of the cap badge issued in 1975.

G :)

Gordon Mitchel (mahatma coat) used to wear his all the time in Sumburgh. I seem to remember old Dave Tink wearing his from time to time.

Dougal Douglas wore his occasionally too!

Your right Droopy,Tugg rings a bell!!!

I saved my Bristow wings with the ceramic center from my days in Abu Dhabi. Not much call for the BC uniform in the middle east. A few years ago I sewed the wings on a jacket given by Transocean marking the world record water depth they drilled (10011 ft). We supported the rig with an ST. Makes a good flight jacket.

I am often asked by the young wippersnappers "what kind of wings are those?"

I had to fly GTIGP from Tanguu to Shenzhen one winter. Believe me, on my travels though various airports in China the Bristow Uniform and company hat could move mountains.

Funnily enough, I think I still have my BUA badge. (For those who don't remember, Bristows was reputed to be British United Airways (Helicopters) in the early days)

Now that really dates me

John

The Bristow/British Caledonian uniform caused a minor diplomatic incident in Abu Dhabi back in the mid 70's. Seems a new Bristow pilot decided to wear his brand new uniform when he flew to Abu Dhabi from England.

Upon entering the terminal, Customs and Immigration waved him on through believing that he was part of the British Airways crew. When Bristow submitted his passport to obtain a work visa, it was discovered there was no entry stamp - therefore he had entered the country illegally. Well needless to say, there was quite a kerfuffle.

There is that lovely story (how true it is I don't know) but it would have been maybe late 60's / early70's at North Denes when apparently the Old Man was doing one of his "pep" talks and a certain Archie Yates is reputed to have said during question time whether the BUA bit of the Bristows stood for Bristows Underpaid Aviators. He was fired on the spot but rehired the following days.

Like most of these stories, I can't vouch for it being true as I didn't arrive at North Denes on the Wessex until 1971 but these things sometimes have a ring of truth about them

John

If that was the australian Archie Yates, then it's very likely to be true!:ok:

If that was ex-RN (820 Whirlwinds) John (Archie) Yates then he is now living in Norfolk. A mutual ex-RN friend said in an email recently:

Hi Nigel & C16

I believe it was John Yates, Ex RN but who knows where these stories come from???

John

When I joined Bristows in October 1969 we were still heavily involved with BUA and the Old Man spent about 4 days a week in their offices.
Uniforms didn't feature much in those days,it was hard enough getting the boys to wear shoes!!

Wasn't there some guy whose job (or part of it) was too go round re-hiring the people the old man fired the previous day?

That was Jack Wooley for the engineers,can;t remember who did the pilots. He was Engineering Director and a great bloke.

I joined Bristow in spring 1968 and AB was the chairman of BUA then, seem to remember he wanted all the BUA pilots on contracts and was offering GBP5000.00 a year!!! Didn't happen.

The 'dress' for overseas postings was khaki shirt, trousers, 'suitable' footware, (pilots), the various interpretations of those dress instructions had to be seen to be believed! I was issued a cap but no other part of a uniform and the cap had the BUA badge on it, the cap was never worn and I think the hangar dog got it in AUH!

For the pilots, I think it was Alistair Gordon who was the re-hirer and yes, Parabellum, I will go with you on your obs, it was only the cap (with badge) that we got issued with. My flying gear in Morocco in '68 was t shirt, shorts and flip flops - oh yes and the orange Mae West!!

If my memory serves me well, when I was working in Morocco, on my first posting with BHL, we were working 3 weeks on and one week off (the week off included the travelling time) and were paid the princely sum of £1800 a year. Doesn't sound much but was double what I was earning as a Lt with flying pay in the FAA!!!

John

But a couple of years later marriage allowance was abolished and the singlys got as much as their married brethren.

All those years ago.....
 

05 Sep. As I was driving to work this morning it occurred to me that thirty-eight years ago this day, Jack Moss and I jumped into a newly-refurbished, zero-houred Whirlwind, G-BAMH, and flew to Abu Dhabi. The route was Gatwick – Toussus Le Noble – Lyon – Nice (U/S for an oil leak – no, really) – Pisa – Rome – Naples – Brindisi – Corfu – Athens – Rhodes – Cyprus – Beirut – Damascus – Badanah (arrested by the Saudi’s for spying) – Qaisumah – Bahrein (two days to get over the ice in the ‘Miranda’ we had in Badanah) – Abu Dhabi. The trip took 14 days with night stops in Lyon, Nice, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Corfu, Athens, Nicosia, Beirut, Damascus, Badanah and Bahrein. We had some incredibly long over-water sectors wearing only lifejackets with no flotgear on the aircraft and a 10-man raft & survival pack in the passenger cabin. The plan being that I would go into the cabin and chuck out the liferaft while Jack held the aircraft off the water. Yeah, right.
Jack was appalled to discover I couldn’t fly a helicopter and said there was no way he was going to fly it all the way to AUH. He had me following him through on the cyclic before we reached Ashford and on pedals after Toussus. Somewhere between Pisa and Rome I had all three and apart from landing and take-off, we shared the flying from there on in. Great trip; fantastic character; probably moved on by now but, Cheers Jack, wherever you are.
I just wish I’d taken some pictures.

Must have been a rough trip Alan, nightstopping in all those grim places!:ok:

Grim trip
 

It was awful! Scarred for life.

The more I think about it, the worse it gets. I have a lasting memory of the Lyon - Nice sector; looking down at the traffic hurtling past two thousand feet below as we flogged down the Rhone valley. The Whirlwind was not the fastest of machines.