Could this also have been delivered by Geoffers?

http://www.swissandmore.de/battersea/nScan195.jpg

Agusta-Bell 206B G-BCWM arrives at Battersea c. 1977

G-TALY & DoW's Pilot
 

Just stumbled across this forum by accident and spotted this thread with interest. My father is Ken Davies, the former pilot of the Duke of Westminster and one-time pilot of G-TALY. Now retired (but still flying) he was actually employed as a Mechanic and not a Gardener and consequently flew as a private pilot and not as a commercial one. He was originally employed as a mechanic for real. The present Duke's father gave him permission to fly his own light aircraft from a disused airfield on the Eaton Estate and later asked him if he would fly a plane for him if he bought one. The rest is history. I will check with my Dad the next time I see him and get him reading this forum but in the meantime to the best of my recollection the sequence of aircraft (FW & RW) was:-
Piper Cherokee
Piper Apache
Piper Aztec
Enstrom Shark
Bell Jet Ranger (I seem to recall that there may have been 2 of them one after the other with G-TALY being the first)
Twin Squirrel
Hawker Siddley HS125
Cessna Citation (again, I think there were 2 of them)
and that's about when he retired so I'm not sure what came next!
I grew up around the planes and the hangar (where my Dad also kept his own light aircraft of various sorts over the years) so remember them all to varying degrees!
I hope that has refreshed/updated a few memories for a few other people!

Say Hi For Me! Glad to hear he's still around!

phil

More from Ken
 

Thanks for the warm welcome! I will give my dad a ring tonight and see what pictures he can dig out and I'll scan them and get them posted for you all. One extra little snippet that occurs to me, the pictures of G-TALI the twin squirrel at Cranfield posted earlier would probably have been my Dad and me visiting as the Duke was happy for Dad to use her when she wasn't needed for anything else! We went to quite a few Fly-Ins over the years when his own light aircraft were unservicable for one reason or another. So that explains the mystery of why the Duke's machine was there!

Latest Update
 

Having spoken to my Dad he is going to have a rummage and see what pictures of TALY, TALI and anything else of interest that he can find.

I can now confirm that TALY was the only JetRanger that the Duke owned, the other one I remember was hired (presumably to fill the void between TALY and TALI) and that since the departure of TALI and the move to jets, the Duke no longer owns a helicopter :(

I have pointed him in the direction of the forum and hopefully I can get him on-line soon to make contact himself but in the meantime he sends his regards to everyone who remembers him and asked me to say "Geoff, do you remember the flight back from Rome?" which I'm guessing means more to one of you than it does to me! :)

Apologies!! LOL
 

Hey Red Flag
Thx so much for putting me right on the gardener/mechanic issue; comes to all of us with age I am afraid - confusion (to some degree) reigns!

Please remember me to your Dad (I was the Chief Engineer) and it was a pleasure to have him stay one night when G-TALY was being a little difficult anbout compliance with the limits for compressor cases.

And we then woke EVERYONE up at F/O at 6 am with ground runs and a flight test before his departure to Battersea to collect 'Himself'.

Aaaagh, those were the days!:ok:
Best ~ VFR

RedFlag: Please let me add my welcome, to the forum and the thread, as well as my appreciation for having made contact with us.

There are, as you have doubtless seen, several PPRuNers who know your Dad, including VFR440 (above), ANW and GeoffersInConrwall and there are plenty of others who know of him.

My godfather was pilot to John Broome (original developer of Alton Towers) and I suppose we may share some similar experiences in that John Broome was an intensely generous man and similarly offered my godfather the use of his aircraft for personal engagements. I have many and fond memories from this period.

John Broome's first pilot is also on the thread: Paco and, as mentioned earlier on by Earl, the Towers aircraft was situated not far from Eaton Hall at Stretton Hall in Tilston.

I am sponsoring the development of a tribute website which is documenting the history of http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/417...licopters.html and, during the life of this thread, have decided to expand the site to include details of selected corporate and private helicopter operations in the UK from the 70's and 80's and into which your father's story as personal pilot to the Duke would fit nicely! On this matter I have sent you a PM.

Among the characters you will discover here are Dennis K, referred to affectionately by my godfather as 'Dennis the Menace' and who has either flown, owned or has some connection with virtually every flying thing mentioned on this thread! Dennis, as you will have read, bought G-TALY from his lordship whereafter she became G-CSKY and which was the aircraft I did my PPL course in. She was a lovely little thing and I would be delighted to see some photos of her in her prime as it were!

There are many other experienced, knowledgeable and interesting persons on this forum and who you are sure to get to know.

Again welcome, and .. happy posting!

S.

Thanks for the welcome (again!)
 

It has been quite an event reading through the accumulated thread and picking up on the references to my Dad, it has brought back a lot of memories of my own. I am going to see my Dad this evening (it's his birthday would you believe so finding this thread has been a bit of an extra birthday present for him!:ok:) and I'll see if he's had a chance to find any pictures for me to scan yet!

Pictures of G-TALY to follow soon!
 

I now have on loan from my Father a wonderful album of photographs & cartoons detailing the collection of G-TALY from Frosinone in March 1979. I will scan the most significant pictures as soon as I can get my scanner set up and working but some of the high points in terms of TALY's history are:-
1. TALY being wheeled off the production line and outside ready for a test flight prior to flying her back to the UK
2. TALY airborne for the first time and on route to Urbe on the outskirts of Rome.
3. TALY outside Alan Mann Helicopters after a 5 day flight across Europe.
4. Before & After pictures of TALY in the hangar for interior & radios to be fitted and colour scheme to be added (there is an interior shot elsewhere in the album of the temporary radio bungeed on top of the panel with a big piece of rubber under it!)
5. TALY being collected by my Dad in her new livery for delivery to her new owner.
There's loads more documenting the whole 5 day journey but not all of it is relevant to TALY herself (several pictures of my Dad and Mr Geoff Newman nursing hangovers seem to feature for some reason :))
I'll get the important ones up ASAP
Cheers

Everything Comes To He Who Waits!
 

OK, as a newbie there is an excelent chance that i will get the process of attaching the images wrong at least once before I get the hang of it so this will either be the first image of G-TALY to appear since the start of the thread (in which case loads more will quickly follow to tell the story of her collection from Italy) or it will be an ignominious failure and a great let down after the noble Earl's build-up, so here goes:-

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/33.jpg

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin....
 

Once upon a time (Tuesday 13th March 1979 to be exact) two intrepid airmen, my father Ken Davies and his trusty sidekick who now goes by the name of Geoffersincornwall (for reasons that may become apparent later) set off to collect G-TALY from the Frosinone, 50 miles south of Rome.

The first image to record this epic and historic journey is one of my father on the commercial flight out:-
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/1.jpg
At this point I feel I should explain that the person now known only as Geoffersofcornwall has added a caption casting slanderous and totally unsubstantiated aspertions about my father's intentions towards an air hostess who is just out of shot. My father has been nursing thoughts of legal action over this and other similar allegations ragarding the same trip for the 31 years since this photograph was taken! :eek:

However, on to the moment you have all been waiting for. The intrepid pair arrive at Frosinone and enter the factory to see this gorgeous creature waiting patiently for them on the end of the production line, still in her virginal white colour scheme:-
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/2.jpg

This is the first known picture of G-TALY before she had even set foot outside into the Italian sunshine. Minutes later and the engineers were wheeling her outside for her test flight prior to handing over the keys:-
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/3.jpg

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/4.jpg

Once again the slanderous pen of Geoffersincornwall was at work here too and the caption reads:-
"A moment of acute embarrassment however, as Ken offers to give the ground crew a hand with the bump start. A quiet word in his ear and after a conference with the engineers we confirm that a starter motor is on the specification"
My father asserts that he knew there was a starter motor fitted all along and that he was just trying to be helpful. However 31 yrs on and he's still sulking! :ooh:

One or two people check out the odd thing or two....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/5.jpg

and then Snr. Mazzeti hands over the keys.
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/6.jpg
At this point my father would like to point out that he is not, as appears, standing in a hole but Snr Mazzeti was quite tall!
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/7.jpg
Snr Buldini, the Chief test Pilot arrived on the official company bicycle (one of the perks of his job apparently...)
And (fanfare please) G-TALY takes to the air for the first time....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/8.jpg

Shortly after that, our dynamic duo set off for Urbe, a small airfield on the outskirts of Rome and G-TALY is finally on her way towards her new home.

End of Part One.

Are you till sitting confortably? Then I'll begin Part Two
 

After arriving at Urbe, the idea was to refuel and head along the coast to Genoa. At the time G-TALY was not fitted with a range-extender and she held fuel for 250 miles. It was 230 to Genoa. It was apparently decided to limit the possibility of buttock-clenching moments by jacking TALY up on one side, filling up the tank, closing it and then letting her down again and having enough fuel onboard to make the trip without (to use my fathers normal understated approach to things) crashing and dieing :bored: The following picture give a taste of the pioneer spirit of the two fearless aviators as you can clearly see the temporary radio bungeed to a bit of rubber on top of the panel:-
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...h%201979/9.jpg
Self evidently it worked and they made it Genoa with plenty of fuel in hand only to be grounded by bad weather for the next 24 hrs. The following picture of TALY seen out of a speeding taxi window was actually taken as they arrived to continue the journey after the weather improved and not, as some unscrupulous commentators have suggested, as they tried to make a run for it after deciding the trip would be safer on the ground! :)
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/10.jpg

With the improvement in the weather they set off for the Agusta factory at Casrina Costa near Milan to complete the export formalities before crossing the Alps

It is at this point my father hopes to retaliate for Geoffers' slanderous remarks elsewhere in the record of the journey.

This is my father hard at work at the controls......
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/12.jpg
And here is a younger, debauched, Geoffers apparently nursing a monster hangover from the night before (I am going to slip the word "allegedly" in at this point as I don't want to be caught in the counter-suit!)
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/11.jpg
However the reason for my father's desire for revenge becomes clear when you see the cartoon that accompanies the 2 pictures above and which my father denies catagorically ever happened.....probably....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/13.jpg
And on that note...we reach the End of Part Two,

And so to Part Three
 

Part Three starts with what my father claims is a distortion of the facts.

After leaving Milan they headed to Lugano in Switzerland. At this point the official photographic record of the journey shows Geoffers hard at work first thing in the morning, clearing the ice from TALY prior to the next leg through the Simplon Pass to Geneva.
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/16.jpg
While the following picture.....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/14.jpg
bears the caption "Ken is seen at breakfast the following morning. I'm not saying he is nursing another hangover but he had one hell of a job focusing on the croissant". Once again, this will be presented as evidence when he gets round to sueing for slander!

The fearless nature of our two pioneers (if you look up "fearless" in the theosaurus it gives "mad as a fish" as an alternative) is made clear by the view out of TALY as they tackled the Alps:-
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/18.jpg
They are in a white helicopter, with minimal instruments, no heater and they are flying over snow which, as my father points out not unreasonably, is both cold (no heater) and white (the colour of TALY) and in the event of a forced landing would have resulting in them not being found until global warming eventually cleared the Alps!

They were at 7000ft, attempting to squeeze over the top of the pass but as they followed the valley west, they ran into snow.

In fact, when disaster DID strike, and that it was obvious that they were not going to make to to the small airfield of Sion, they decided that discretion was the better part of valour and landed at a disused military airfield. The following picture documents what happened next. Depending on who's account you believe they either "enlisted the help of a friendly passer-by to locate a telephone" or they "hijacked a passing car and made a dash for the nearest pub", you will have to decide for yourselves...
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/19.jpg
What ever happened, the eventually made it safely to Sion where snow forced them to stay for a while.
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/20.jpg
But they eventually continued (after consuming their own weight in fondu apparently!) and made it to Geneva where they cleared customs.
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/21.jpg
They then completed the next leg to Troyes and put TALY to bed for night. Im going to draw a veil over the night at Troyes, suffice it to say that wild allegations have been made by Geoffers, denied by my father and are best left unrepeated until the legal action :eek:

From Troyes they set off the following morning to Le Touquet where they completed customs formalities once more and then put TALY's load carrying capacity to the test by investigating French cuisine for lunch :)

With lunch over they set off up the coast to Cap Gris Nez before my father's least favourite part of the trip, crossing the channel. No great fan of water as he can't swim, he has been known to wear a wet suit, life-jacket and deploy floats just to cross the Mersey so this was going to be a challenge....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/24.jpg
But then TALY and our heroes caught sight of land....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/25.jpg
and they were almost home.

At Gatwick, TALY touched her skids to English soil for the first time while import formalities were carried out...
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/26.jpg
and then off to Fairoaks for kitting out...
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/27.jpg
and that brings us to the End of Part Three.

And finally....
 

TALY sits in the hangar while engineers fit the heater and radios.
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/28.jpg
and then gets a new colour scheme....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/29.jpg
Is it just me or does one of the engineers appear to be doing something unmentionable to her with a hose?! :eek:
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/33.jpg

And then she gets fitted out with a shiny new black leather interior...
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/30.jpg
....and my father arrives to take her back to her new home.....
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...%201979/31.jpg
....little knowing that 31 years later the story would be re-told online as the result of the accidental discovery of a forum thread by his son!

Oh and just to finish off properly....."and they all lived happily ever after".

The End.

More thread drift?
 

I have followed this thread with great interest, as I am sure many others have as well - thank you to all who have made it such a fascinating read.

My (very) tenuous connection to Ken Davies was that my PPL(H) was conducted by one of his old friends at Barton. During XC Navex trips across the Cheshire countryside and onto Hawarden, I'd hear intriguing stories about their past exploits involving a variety of aircraft!

I'm afraid I cannot add any further to the G-TALY story but I do have something else to offer...

Having grown up in Glasgow, I was interested to see photographs from Scotland that demonstrated B206s in a variety of guises. My brother and father were gifted a helicopter trip in the late 1980s from the Clyde Heliport - I am not sure who the operator was, but my father tells me during the trip, the pilot had to do an "Eye in the Sky" report for Radio Clyde, further suggesting it was one of the B206s. I asked him to send me any pictures he had and the result should be shown below...

http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/z...asgow_heli.jpg

Clearly this is not a B206! Tracking the reg through G-INFO, it appears that this was an Alton Towers aircraft at the time (1987-1990). Why it was in Glasgow doing traffic reports and pleasure flights, I cannot say, but thought it might provide another interesting thread drift of nostalgia.

Reference Peter Cadbury
 

As well as Peter Cadbury operating Jet Ranger G-CHOC , if memory recalls I think he operated a Squirrel G-JANY as well

Rgds

Mr Chopper:8

Complete!
 

Hey Red Flag
Just FANTASTIC and thank you (and your Dad) very much indeed. Really appreciated. I shall go an get another large glass of red wine and review the pics one more time :ok: ~ VFR

Well, the eye in the sky guy was "Captain George" Muir, who is no longer with us. JLBZ looks like it's on a racecourse - Scotland is certainly not its usual place, unless it was on British Tourist Board business, as JLB was a member.

Are you sure it's the right photo? I imagine Rod Wood would have been the pilot.

Phil

The photo of GJLBZ looks like it was taken at the Glasgow City Heliport at the SECC. 'Captain George' Muir (RIP) was almost certainly flying the IRON BRU Bell 206 (the registration escapes me now) for the 'eye in the sky' traffic report.

Another coincidental connection to this thread is that shortly after that was taken Geoffersincornwall was the CP of the Strathclyde Police operation at the SECC and he knew George very well as Clyde Helicopters operated both the Police Bo105 and the Bell 206.

The photo of the 222 is indeed taken at Clyde heliport. I was selling quarry products for a living in 1988 and supplied Joe McGachy (Clyde Helicopter's MD) with the concrete that the helicopter it is sitting on ! (I remember selling it for a very good price in return for some free flying)
I got to know the Clyde guys very well and flew with them numerous times before Mr Bond bought them over.
Their Jetrangers were:
G-EYEI
G-BOUY/GOBP/OBRU
G-BRDL
They also had LongRanger G-STVI that was painted in Scottish Television colours (now G-EYRE), a Twin Squirrel G-CHLA and a Bo105 G-SPOL.
The 222 must have been visiting, to my knowledge they never operated it.
I have a number of photos taken around that time that I will dig them out and scan them.
Tarman

Re. 222 in Glasgow
 

I too was puzzled by the photo sent to me. I was fully expecting it to be one of the 206s. I can confirm it is definitely at the Clyde Heliport, as attested to by Tarman.

As this was taken in 1988, my father can't be sure this was the actual helicopter, but he assures me that there were two pilots and six passengers on board for the flight.

It was around the time of the Glasgow Garden Festival which was staged on the river bank opposite the Heliport. The flight was a gift - my brother and I each got to choose what we most wanted (at that time!). Aged 7, I choose to go on the Coca-Cola Roller Coaster...

http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/z...sdw/roller.jpg

My brother chose the flight. Not only was I a little disgruntled that he'd had the foresight and imagination to choose a better adventure than me, I never actually made it onto the roller coaster - the day I was due to go I injured my thumb in a car door!

Perhaps missing out on flying at that tender age worked on me subconsciously, as now 22yr later I'm the one flying helicopters!

Apologies for the over indulgent reminiscence...

Simon

Joe McGachy was Chief Engineer for Burnthills before he went over to Clyde. He rebuilt a beatiful stampe while he was there. I believe he has a hotel somewhere now.

I never did land at the heliport, despite being at the airfield for over four years, which is why I didn't recognise it.

Phil

Clyde Heliport
 

a good selection of what Clyde had, and photo's of the Late Great Captain George Muir are on my flickr site, www.flickr.com/photos/wiganairways/, and view the Clyde Helicopter set, also a photo of Joe McGachy pulling out LR G-STVI onto the pad, also one time Castle Air pilot Geoff Newman flying JR G-BOUY and John Mulvaney about to lift off in Bo105 G-BFYA, going back to Cardiff after being the Police chopper for the first year, before G-SPOL was delivered, more visitors to the helipad was a 365 G-POAV - I think that is the reg. -, and Army Gazzelle's used to pop in, as well as Bond 365's. :ok:


Captain George | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

:confused: tried to add photo here, but wouldn't move.

Redflag, Thank You.

As this is my first post let me start by saying hello. I have been a member here for a while, but have never contributed, feeling it's not really my place to. I am not a pilot, but since a child I have been compelled to gaze skyward whenever I heard the sound of rotors cutting through the air, and this magic has never really left me. However, as this is a post about nostalgia I feel that I can share my memories.

I grew up and still live in Chester in the north west of England and most of the time, as a boy, when I looked up to see who was flying by it was usually what I know now to be G-TALLY, or another star of this thread G-JLBI. It was John Broomes craft that I saw most often as it must have visited somewhere near to our house on a reasonably regular basis, I would suppose at weekends. One of the two girls who lived in the house opposite to ours was at school with John Broomes children and I remember being extremely jealous when she was one of a very select few invited to a birthday party, at where else but Alton Towers, chauffeured of course in G-JLBI.

It was TALY that I remember liking best tho, a real beauty, and I really do remember not seeing her for a long time and wondering to myself if she had been replaced by the squirrel that would occasionally fly past. That squirrel never really did have the same appeal to me. Now I know that must have been TALI.

Thanks for all the great photos in this thread. I just love the original paint jobs and the skids with emergency pop outs on those old 206s and for me they have never looked better.

I will end my trip down memory lane with a couple of photos. Firstly G-JLBI, I know not where or when. Secondly, excuse the state of the old polaroid, a helicopter not yet mentioned in this thread G-BBBM. I remember my Dad coming home from work, bunging my brother and I into the car to drive back to a nearby hotel he had passed on his way home where this was parked up. I'm the taller of the two chaps in the photo, I think my face says it all...

All the best, Simon.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/...a7c39911_z.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4116/...75b0018a_z.jpg

.
Simo8: I am glad that you have decided to contribute to the thread. While there are several 'non pilot' forums on PPRuNe you are most welcome here too! Yes, helicopters are marvellous contraptions and also quite addictive.

I flew JLBI with my godfather many times and I think young William (John Broome's son) used to have his birthday party every year at Alton because I recall us running a shuttle service from the 'Broomested' in Tilston to the Towers with Will's friends and I think we did this more than once. Although I never went there, my godfather regularly dropped off young Will's at school in JLBI.

JLBI's paint scheme was always a bit commercial with the Alton and 'Trentham Gardens' (another one of the Broome estates) logos featuring prominently. This could not be compared to the more elegant colours of the Duke's aircraft in its white and navy blue with gold accents.

The 206's with the first generation emergency 'pop-out' floats did have a solid and rather pleasing look about them and both TALY and JLBI wore these in the beginning. Certainly flying with the pop-outs gave a kind of lateral stability but, the speed (although mainly weight) penalty often meant that putting on 'shorts' (short skids) was the preference for private operations and indeed this is what happened to both TALY and JLBI. In fact, one of the first things my godfather did when he joined Broome, was to change JLBI from pop-out to shorts - not least of all because he added a Decca DANAC and Schermuly flare system to what was an already heavy aircraft.

Regarding BBBM, I would be keen for any more details of this photo, perhaps the name of the hotel and the date, as BBBM was one of the aircraft managed by http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/417...licopters.html and I am collecting images of all the aircraft associated with their operations.

Thanks again for your contribution.

WiganAirways: BFYA was a former http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/417...licopters.html aircraft so has a connection to me through that avenue and POAV, if I'm not mistaken, is an aircraft with which regular thread contributor Earl was connected.

MrChopper: Thanks for the details on JANY, what a wonderful piece of information this is! Jane (Mead) was of course Peter's last (and 3rd) wife who once said of him: "There are always difficulties living with an old sod like Peter" but, she is the one who remained with him till the end and after whom the AS350B (below) is named.

I am still keenly searching for images of G-CHOC which, just like TALY, was a pretty thing with an interesting owner. I know of one occasion my godfather recounted when PTC (Peter the Cad) was ground running CHOC, became cold and turned on the heater (old style with starboard mounted exhaust) while the engineer was leaning into the engine bay. The story goes that he and PTC had a 'heated' exchange over the engineer's burnt duffle coat!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U...osiezny%29.jpg
Peter Cadbury's AS350B Ecureuil G-JANY at Cranfield on 5th September 1981 (Photo: Alan Mosiezny)

Peter Cadbury's Squirrel with golden Pegasus motif just visible on the door. On G-CHOC this motif was located near the baggage compartment as previously mentioned by Earl. TALY also had a golden motif, a wheatsheaf, taken from the centre part of the Duke's coat of arms and mounted on TALY's tail.

HelisDW: Thanks for the photo of JLBZ which forms part of Earl's 'Midland's Three' comprising of the former transports of the Duke, John Broome (Alton Towers) and James Bamford (JCB Excavators). All three were located fairly near to each other, all started out as 206's and were up-graded to twins.

RedFlag: What can I say? I really didn't expect to see evidence of TALY's 'birth and delivery' as it were and I had no idea that the journey we would take in seeking to discover more about this aircraft would result in so many interesting twists and turns. I am indeed thrilled that there is a pictorial (and illustrated) record of TALY's earliest days. The past is always fascinating and, more often than not, helps put the present in perspective.

Thanks for making this effort and thanks to your Dad also.

Krgds

S.

Well, since you mentioned the Bamfords, here's the late great Chalky White in one of the 109s at Brooklands:


http://www.electrocution.com/Scan17.jpg

Wigan airways,

Thanks for posting those photos which were a trip down memory lane. I must correct you one one small point however. It wasn't John Mulvaney who returned G-BFYA to Veritair at Cardiff - it was me. John (where are you?) must have been doing a ground run or something when you took the photo.

Funny story actually - Joe McGaghy (bless him), the owner of Clyde Helicopters - sent a few friends around to the hangar at SECC to repaint G-BYFA in the Vertair colour scheme at the end of the Police contract lease (must have been around June 1990). They were not professional aircraft spray painters and did a less than satisfactory job. In fact it looked shocking close up and the Welsh Dragon on the tail looked more like Father Christmas.

I was told to fly it down to Cardiff one Sunday and was not looking forward to the reception I expected when Vertair saw what we had done to their Bo105. Myself and Sgt Eddie Haggarty flew it down to Cardiff via a very scenic route through the Lake District - having a close inspection of a few summits (we were both keen hillwalkers), refuel and lunch at Blackpool and eventually landing at Cardiff heliport in the afternoon.

I was very happy and somewhat relieved to discover that the Veritair office was all shut up and there was no one to witness the sorry looking state of their prodigal helicopter. We ended up leaving it parked at the heliport, put the keys through the letter box, climbed over the fence to get out, caught a taxi to the station and a train back to Glasgow.

Never did find out what Mr Verity thought of the paint job!

P.S What was that wonderful (expensive) restaurant called next to Clyde Heliport in your photos? I had my 32nd birthday dinner there - the first time I ever spent over £100 on a dinner for two - a Kings Ransom in those days. Wonderful summer that...:)

BFYA
 

Epiphany,

Thanks for the correction, maybe John was taking YA up for a test, or maybe trying to dry the paint, I saw a photo of YA on another web site and was in this livery, but no floats, so I take it the paint stayed on.
I made a model of a Sea King in RAF search and rescue colours for Joes son, even down to the single yellow rotor blade, also a JR for George with the reg. G-MUIR, crimson with silver stripes, remember George was also a disc jockey on Clyde 2, with his progamme 'Come fly with me', memories.
Wonder where Jim Bruce the engineer is, did he go to Bond at the takeover, or onto pastures new?

The restaurant was named The Pump House, havn't been at the heliport in years, not the free and easy days of Clyde. :)

RedFlag has mentioned that the DoW owned an Enstrom.

Here is another Enstrom G-BBRS an F28A which was registered to Spooner Aviation in April 1975 and then sold to John Crewdson in July of the same year (according to CAA records).

This helicopter seems to have been on trials (or contract) to the Met.

http://cdn-www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/aviati.../9/0676907.jpg

Enstrom F28A G-BBRS registered to Helicopter Hire of Southend-on-Sea seen here on trials/contract to the London Metropolitan Police at Battersea Heliport 5th July 1977

Enstrom Shark
 

In reply to Earl's post, I can confirm that the sequence of aircraft (FW & RW) operated by the DoW during the late 70's early 80's were (I will add the regs later when I have had a chance to check them):-
1. Piper Cherokee
2. Piper Apache
3. Piper Twin Commanche (not an Aztec as I previously thought, that one was hired)
These three were all operated by the present DoW's father but used by the current DoW when he was Earl Grosvenor. The Apache was the one that my father made the forced landing in after a twin engine failure in Northern Ireland. As a former RAF glider instructor he made a pretty miraculous landing and everyone walked away unhurt (except my father who cut his nose on the control column!) The newspapers of the time had a great picture of the Apache standing on it's nose in a field after the nose leg sank into the boggy ground !
4. Enstrom Shark
Bought by the current DoW when he was still the Earl. Used as the "proof of concept" that RW was the way forward! and then we get to the "known history" with:-
5. Jet Ranger G-TALY
6. Twin Squirrel G-TALI
then there was a return to FW with:-
7. HS 125
8 & 9. Cessna Citations
My father has promised to dig out some pictures of TALI and I'll ask him to root out some of the Enstrom too while he's at it! :)

G-BBBM
 

Savoia, Re. G-BBBM the hotel in question is the Mollington Banastre Chester, I still can't drive past without a quick glance to see if it's back! As for the date, well that would have to be a guess I'm afraid. I did have a look at the polaroid, but alas no date scrawled on the back. I should think 78 or 79 and for some reason, no more than a hunch, I think it may have been quite close to my birthday in late October. Hope that helps.

Simon

More Tittle-Tattle
 

Okay for E of R ... Yes, Enstrom G-BBRS (28a) was leased to John Crewdson and Gill Aldam's Helicopter Hire initially for the Met Police contract and as I have noted here earlier ... Air Pictorial posted a front cover pic of the heli on Police Service. I was tasked by John Crewdson to do a few days 'demo flying' of the type out of Battersea. I also used Enstrom G-BENO on that task alongside demos to the Police at Kidlington and Glascow. Around early 1993 ish I taught John Crewdson's son Nick to fly rotary. As many will understand the non turbo 28a did struggle a bit with three up, but was good in an emergency as David Voy will testify when he suffered an engine malfunction lifting off from Battersea and promptly landed it back on the pad. I think he later also pulled off a successful auto to a railway siding while over London.

I can'r recall from memnory whethewr m y company Spooner Aviation sold the Enstrom to his lordship, but we did sell an F28a to his colleague Lord (Spenny) Compton of Castle Ashby. My first firm knowledge of Lord Grosvenor was when buying the 206 G-TALY (later G-GSKY) when I also flew with Ken Davies in the company Twin Commanche. Spooner were also the Piper dealer in those days.

In the perod 1988 to 1991 or so, I was one of Clyde Helicopters TREs and routinely visited the Clyde Helipad to carry out their Schedule 9 checks (as they were known as in those days) being line & base checks. On those trips, my log shows I flew B206, G-STVI, G-EYEI and with George Muir, John Mulvaney, Ian MacCallum and Ian Georgeson. As an intiguing side note ... it was on a training trip across Lock Lomond with Ian McCallum that from around 1000 feet, Ian called out "there's a sheep in trouble down there." All I could see were hundreds of sheep below. We dropped down to fifty feet and then landed in the rough pasture and as I took control Ian jumped out and ran across to the stranded sheep which I could now see was trapped belly up in a gulley. I watched with fascination as he struggled with about 1 cwt of very wet sheep to get it out of the gulley and back on its feet. By this time he was plastered almost head to foot with the animal's excreta having perhaps been trapped there for a couple of days. As he climbed aboard I learned at first hand how bad is the smell of large quantities of sheep poo in the confines of a Bell 206 front cabin!

More Tittle Tattle ... at that time I seem to recall Graham Pryke was a Clyde company pilot and flying a B 206, he lost an engine in snow while on police surveillance over Glascow. Sadly the policeman lost his life but Graham survived albeit later there was much legal to-ing and fro-ing regarding the wearing of a safety helmets on utility work. MD Joe McGahey was a good friend and customer of my new firm Starline Helicopters based at Biggin Hill. It was Starline that followed my first company Skyline at Booker.

I'd better stop rab itting but some pruners are v interested I can see.

Dennis Kenyon.

Heli Hire
 

Oh and while on the registrations department. Helicopter Hire also operated a third Enstrom 28A being G-BCOT, serial 199. Want another yarn.. David Voy was unfortunate to make a test flight at night following some overhaul work on the M.R head. He couldn't know that the three push pull rods enclosed in the mast were connected 120 degrees out of phase. Try working out a controldsequence that would then work. David did damned well to get it down in one piece albeit with heavy skid and resultant damage.

Dennis K

OH & Oh ... a third bit of gossip. Peter Cadbury's lovely lady Jane was earlier my good friend Humphry Mead's wife. I got to know Humphry when he bought his Enstrom from us and learned to fly at Spooner Aviation. G-BBRS was for my boss Bertram Roy Spooner. Will any of this make the pages of Hallo?

Dennis K

DK,

I knew John Crewdson had a pilot son, but I thought that was Johnny?

Never met Nick if you are correct.....

I was flying G-BAKT for Gleneagles in 1988 out of Edinburgh. It had a blue metallic paint scheme with gold accent as I remember. I have a pic somewhere if it's of any relevance to this thread!!!

Great thread by the way, keeps us old farts in "memory lane" :ok:

DennisK,

Your mention of Graham Pryke's unfortunate accident reminded me that the day of the accident I was at home watching the Ceefax news on TV. I was due to be at the Clyde Helicopters base in a couple of days for an interview with Joe McGaghy for a Police line pilot job.

I was surprised to see a story 'Police helicopter crashes in Glasgow'. I picked up the phone and called Clyde and spoke with the lady in the office, said how sorry I was to hear of the accident and did they still want me to come up for interview in view of this?

She said 'What accident?'. It has apparently only just been reported by local media and even Clyde had not heard about it at that stage.

After the inquest into the death of the Police observer (who died from a head injury), the wearing of helmets and fireproof clothing was consequently made mandatory. You may see from the earlier photos that the Police observers are only wearing shirts and headsets.

DoW Enstrom
 

DennisK,
You seem to have had more to do with the Enstrom than you recall! :)

I rang my Dad yesterday to ask him to look out some pics of the Enstrom but he was out and while leaving a message with my Mum she recounted a story of her own relating to the Enstrom that might be of interest to you. Apparently my Dad brought a fellow Enstrom pilot home for lunch one day and said pilot repaid the good deed by taking my Mum and my younger sister for a flight in the Enstrom. My Mum was apparently so terrified that she spent the entire flight gripping the pilot's knee, much to my sister's embarassment!:eek:

I have checked the facts with my Dad and apparently the pilot in question was a certain DennisK! Surely you don't forget an incident like that in hurry?! :O

Really Dennis - How many times must I tell you about performing aerobatics with first time passengers on board! :}

Ref :- Peter Cadbury
 

Hi All:ok:

Am I right in assuming that Peter Cadbury is somehow related to the Chocolate company in Birmingham , maybe this would explain why
having G-CHOC is derived from ?

Rgds

Mr Chopper