The Sussex Pad
 

Just another snippet prompted by the G-GINA AS350 parked on the north side of Shoreham Airport. Tommy Sopwith routinely parked his machine there close to the A 27 perhaps, but I'm posting just to note the sad closing of the Sussex Pad .. a pub that had been my home for a year circa 2001 after my March 2000 horror. Wally Pack's lovely old pub and restaurant now so sorely missed by the usual Shoreham brigade. Anyone know if its still possible to use the adjacent helipad? Dennis K.

Memory suggests Rowland Absolum did own Air Gregory and that Gay flew for it. Didn't they have a Lama at one time ?
I wonder where Gay is now??

lama?
 

Yes, Mr Absolom owned Air Gregory: no, not Lama, an Al II (nearly as good)
:) ~ VFR

They had two Allouettes - G-AVEE and its replacement G-BBJE - there are pictures of these in this thread, including movie apparances in the 'Copter Kids'

Watery Scouts (sprouts) MELF circa 1970
 

With thanks to J.Eacott (Page 105-2095) The resident 'Hawkeye' squadron at Sharjah, TOS were not averse to venturing offshore, without water wings & despite being beyond autorotative distance of the shoreline. With the Scout having the autorotation characteristics of a 'brick built privy' this task was approached with some trepidation! :D



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HMS Tartar (since sold to the Indonesian Navy).




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overwater gear!
 

Nice photos.
I just love the amount of "overwater gear" one is carrying!

Hiller 12E
 

Here is a photo of a Hiller 12E over Yukon, CA circa 1965. It was flown in support of Keno Hill Mine and operated by Klondike Helicopters.

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps69042b87.jpg

Corporate Bell 212 in the 80s: Mack Truck and RCA
 

Just reading the biography of the HAI chairman in 2004 Jim Church. When he worked for Bristows post Vietnam War, he got posted after the North Sea to the new Bristow ops in East Hartford flying Bell 212 for corporate customers.

Thee also mention of the likes of the Radio Corporation of America and Mack Trucke having the 212 for corporate use not sure if its implying they used Bristows for their corporate ops

Came across a photo of Mack Trucks Bell 212 below

http://www.helispot.com/images/33/3334.jpg

Helispot : Photos : ID 3334 : Bell 212/UH1N Twin Huey : N12MT : Mack Trucks

Does anyone know of these two companies and thei flight ops department in the 70s and 80s?

Cheers

Hiller FH1100
 

Here is one for you old Hiller buffs. This was taken on the very North coast of Alaska, near the Canadian border in the early 60's. None of the passengers liked the aircraft because at cruise speed the nose was so low they couldn't see forward. In fact, the pilot occasionally had to strain a little.

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps8cb3c10d.png

Mack Trucks - Bulldog Airlines
 

Mack Trucks established its flight in 1965 soon after the appointment of a proponent of business aviation, Zenon C.R. Hansen, as company President. The flight department was known as Bulldog Airlines (after the company logo) and each aircraft was named “Mack” with the addition of a number signifying its sequence in the fleet. Most of the Bulldog Airlines fleet was fixed wing (2x Beech 18, HS125, Volpar Turboliner, 2x Learjet, Falcon 20, Chieftan, Merlin).

The Rotary wing fleet in a little harder to identify and that is generally from the registrations utilized by Mack. Initially they used registrations N10~1B with the third digit ~ representing the fleet no, then later N~~MT with ~~ being the fleet number. Mack were known to have a JetRanger in addition to the Bell 212, but the rest of what follows is supposition based on the registrations. So we have: N10MT FH-1100, two Bell 212s both using N12MT, N14MT JetRanger, N14MT Gazelle (later became G-BKLS/G-TURP), N12MT S-76.

There are also N1041B & N16MT Bell 47s, and N16MT Robinson R22, but my suspicion is that they are probably not Mack, but quite a fleet all things considered.

There is also a Hiller YH-32-UH Hornet that was registered as N1041B, however very few of these were made for the US military and I don’t know enough about this type to know if they ended on the civil market, but I doubt it, so its unlikely to be a Mack aircraft.

The badkid's back!
 

Reports of its demise a few pages back were exaggerated.

Not quite ready to fly again but will be soon.


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Enstrom KD
 

How good to see Enstrom G-BDKD looking so good in her new paint job and about to fly again. Just checked my log book to find I carried out her first ever Certificate of Airworthiness test flight as a new import at Shoreham Airport on 10th October 1975. I believe she was the first 28A model to arrive with the new 'vertical console' a la the later 280C 'Shark' models.

Trying to recall her sale but I'm pretty sure it was to that super Mini racer, Nick Cole who traded at Lydd Airport in those days as Business Air Travel. To me the 'Bad Dog' tag was never really appropriate for such a pretty design... I do remember demonstrating here to the Sussex Police later in October 75.

Regards to all Enstrom 28A fanciers! Dennis K.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7327/9...4995cbf9_b.jpg

OO-CWH SE3130 Alouette II for Sabena in Belgian congo many years ago installed blades

British GP
 

Savoia,

I have posted some GP archive in a 'British GP set' on: flickr.com/photos/1helicopterppl

please feel free to brouse & use any photo's here on Rotorheads if you wish

Hi Savoia.
Reg is VH-TXT , a 206B II (1769). Operator is Jayrow Helicopters. It was exported to New Zealand in December 1983 as ZK-HXT. The machine in the background appears to be VH-BLP a 206B III (2441) which crashed after an LTE incident at Lake Eildon in Victoria in March 1983.
Hope Ths Helps

Mystery 'Jetties' at moorabbin
 

Hi Savoia.
Reg is VH-TXT , a 206B II (1769). Operator is Jayrow Helicopters. It was exported to New Zealand in December 1983 as ZK-HXT. The machine in the background appears to be VH-BLP a 206B III (2441) which crashed after an LTE incident at Lake Eildon in Victoria in March 1983.
Hope This Helps

Hiller FH1100 - VH-UTZ
 

Hi Savoia,
a few details on the above.
Helicopter Utilities registered the machine (c/n.19) on 27.12.66.
On May 8th 1969 the aircraft was damaged in a botched auto-rotation practice at Towra Point,New South Wales.It was repaired and subsequently exported to Fiji as DQ-FBZ (as you indicated) on 15 February 1973. It was restored to the register on March 17th 1976. On February 10th 1977 it was again damaged in a landing accident at Hoxton Park, New South Wales when an excessive tail down attitude was adopted to wash off airspeed. It was subsequently struck off the Australian Civil Aircraft Register on December 16th 1977. It's current whereabouts are unknown.

Came across this pic in an article yesterday and thought it could be of interest.

Fashion designer Joe Famolare beside his Gazelle in the US c.1970's -

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...32_634x390.jpg

What do you suppose the white phone on the side of the instrument panel is for? Talking to the pilot? :E

Look up when "car phones" were first used in the USA.

I would say it is a real telephone. Maybe not so successful in flight though!

http://www.electronicfrog.com/blog/w...2/carphone.jpg

My first "mobile" looked like this one -

http://forums.fido.ca/t5/image/serve...v=mpbl-1&px=-1

Reminds me of an aircraft at Air Hanson circa 1988. A crew room conversation amongst engineers resulted in one engineer stating that G-1234 looked good with it's new car phone.
Blanks looks from the avionics engineers followed by an exodus to look at this new device.

Turned out that the owner had just called in the local car phone company who had installed it with no mod(obviously) and more importantly had drilled holes in the structure
(and wiring!!!) wherever they felt like it.

Much fun and expense sorting out the mess

Ahh, that takes me back!
In the UK there was a VHF mobile phone system called 'System 4'
Worked near the VHF marine band.
One of the phones i had (Storno 5000) has a 50W amplifier in it and drew close on 20Amps at 12V when used!
Not surprisingly you had to have the engine running to make a call!

The system was switched off in the early 80's when cellular took over.
How technology moves on.
The Storno was about £5000 to buy, most people rented.

Those were days... "Hallo, Operator"? :)

http://s9.postimg.org/vciptat9n/Cabin_phone.jpg

Bag Phones
 

Those old bag phones worked too well for the cell phone companies, I think. They had teriffic range. I (illegally in the US) used one in our airplane now and then and you could call almost anywhere at any time. The small ones don't have the output to get too far.:O

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3765/9...94e5313b_b.jpg

La République de l'aviation Alouette II est au Yacht Club de Montréal, Quebec, l'année 1958

I've been reading Pete Townsend's autobiography lately, and there's a small piece where he mentions that during a band meeting Roger Daltry flew in on a "twin engined Jet Ranger" [sic] which he claimed he had just bought? It was circa 1973 I suppose? Did he ever own one, or as I suspect, just a charter?

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BEA Agusta-Bell 206A JetRanger G-AWGU (aka the 'Jock Strap') as seen at Wooton Bridge on the Isle of Wight on 30th August 1969

Most likely distinct from the occasion to which you refer but .. as per the above; Roger Daltry flew aboard BEA's G-AWGU on the above given date on a charter for Track Records to attend the Isle of Wight Festival.

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Roger Daltry
 

In 1977 I was offered a job with a helicopter company based at Brands Hatch run by a very pleasant ex-Army chap who I believe went on to play a part in the European Helicopter outfit at Denham. The 206 he ran at Brands was reputedly owned by Roger Daltry.

G. :ok:

I heard that after I left the UK (in the 1980's) a company was set-up called 'Brands Hatch Helicopters' but .. the company which existed there in the 1970's was called Shawline and operated 206's and 47's (if I remember correctly).

Thank you all - the Track Records charter was too early to be the one he owned (although that does get a brief mention in the book), must be the Brands Hatch one, the book mentions it took him to a meeting at their studios and then back to his house in West Sussex.

Apparently he bought it from the money he made from the film Lisztomania, which was released in 1975, so that ties in nicely with the Brands Hatch theory.

Not sure if it is this particular 206 but didn't CB Helicopters have a management contract with Daltry and had his 206 on their AOC when they first started their charter service out of what was then Battersea Heliport?

Shawline was Mike Barratt......super bloke.Where is he now I wonder?

Housekeeping
 

Some responses to past posts:

Chopper 2004: Your shot of the Mac Trucks (aka Bulldog Airways) 212 depicts something of a rarity for while VIP 212's were plentiful in the military and government .. civilian VIP 212's were less common. It would be wonderful to track down some additional images of "Mack XII" as well as the JetRanger. Shall post some military VIP 212's in the days ahead.

Gaseous: Great to see your progress with the 'Bad Kid' (G-BDKD). Please keep us informed about her big day .. when she finally gets to go flying again!

1helicopterppl: Thank you for the link to your photo album, some great shots there. :ok: Perhaps Brilliant Stuff could use one of more of them for his monthly calendar? Will use what I can for this thread .. perhaps a couple of the S61's (in particular the Irish Helicopters ship) and maybe one of the Dauphins.

JetRangerJunkie: Thank you for your posts regarding the 206's at Moorabbin as well as details on the Helicopter Utilities FH1100, much appreciated.

RV: Thank God one doesn't have to walk around with those massive car battery 'mobile' phones anymore. I remember David Sale's no.2 lugging such a contraption about Hayes Heliport when they were flying P&O's 365N.

ericferret: G-1234 .. ah yes, remember it well! ;) You'll have to give me a hint of the craft in question next time our paths cross!

MB/FC1: Certainly seems as if Daltrey may have owned a 206 from the comments which have emerged. Re: CB Helicopters .. a couple of their former craft have featured previously on this thread, namely the ex-Ferranti managed G-BBBM which was bought by Michael Coombs in 1984 (who I think in turn leased the a/c to CB) as well as Tommy Sopwith's former steed G-BASE which was registered to the CB Group in 1990 (although to the best of my knowledge, Beaman had been leasing this from Hanson's for some time prior to this).

Found an article on the internet which makes interesting reading from 1983:

"Carl Beaman's company is in the best tradition of calculated business gambles and private enterprise. When he left the Fleet Air Arm in 1969 he couldn't face the prospect of joining all his contemporaries who were heading for the Far East and the North Sea as privately employed pilots.

With his wife Annette he saw the potential in taking over management of other people's helicopters and flying them at a profit to owner and manager alike. The first step on his way to turning CB Helicopters into a £500,000 turnover limited company was when Roger Daltry – lead singer with The Who – offered Carl his own Bell Jet-Ranger.

It was Daltry's helicopter that we were flying in as we passed Central London's only other heliport, a large floating barge near the City water-front, 1,000 feet below us.

"It suited Daltry because he wasn't able to maximise the potential of his helicopter on his own. He knows that our pilots are all highly trained ex-servicemen who would fly it safely and properly. He takes a percentage of the business we do with his machine and we, in turn, maintain it and make it available to him when he needs it. Our private customers range from members of the Royal Family to politicians and entertainers."


Full article here: CHRISTOPHER A LONG - Straight Up! Helicopters

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I.../CN+logo+s.png

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...ncent%2529.jpg
Canadian Coast Guard Bell 206B JetRanger II C-GCHC at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Ontario, Canada in September 1978 (Photo: Gary Vincent)

For another great shot of a CCG 206 (on fixed floats) see page 93.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V...212+Logo+s.png

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...Force+UH1N.jpg
Hellenic Air Force VIP Agusta-Bell 212 landing on a Grecian wharf c. 1980's

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S...C76+Logo+s.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s...qemin%2529.jpg
KLM S76-A PH-NZO as seen at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on 11th June 1986. S61N PH-NZG in the background. (Photo: Stephen Duqemin)

Bond bought a 76 or two from KLM & shipped them to OZ for the Woodside contract. Their basic weight was so high normal payloads couldn't be carried. So they were given the Jenny Craig treatment & had 50-75 kgs of unwanted electrical looms & numerous coats of paint scraped off!:ok:

Ciao Nigel! Good to see you on the thread again! :ok:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O...+Reay%2529.png
RAF SA341D Gazelle HT3 XW898 as seen at RAF Church Fenton on 4th July 1976. (Photo: Glenn Reay)

Crouched afore the steed was Capt. Phil Stinson, USAF, (presumably on an exchange) just prior to his participation in a four-aircraft display which had been visiting from RAF Ternhill (that once bastion of QHI's).

On the day this photograph was taken, the US was celebrating 200 years of independence and in recognition of this the RAF crews had affixed two American decals to the starboard door of Capt. Stinson's Gazelle. Above these was stenciled in black letters 'Capt. Phil Stinson, USAF'.

Always such nice chaps the RAF!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w...+Pole%2529.jpg
Royal Navy SA341C Gazelle HT2 XZ938 (CU45) as seen at Redhill Aerodrome on 25th September 1991 (Photo: Martin Pole)

The HT2 was the Royal Navy’s primary trainer and is seen here fitted with a hoist.

When student pilots reached the search and rescue portion of their course, two Gazelles from 705 Squadron were fitted with these hoists in readiness for the impending SAR training.

The training involved recovering a life buoy from the airfield and, once mastered, two further ‘wet’ sorties were carried-out just off the coast, again using a life buoy.

XZ938 became instructional airframe 9304M for the RAF in 2001 and was finally disposed of in 2003.

Charles Hughesdons' Helicopter Garden Party 1958
 

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