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Post by xbaggy on Feb 1, 2016 18:08:28 GMT 12
Pictures of some helicopters that Don took around the Whirlwide Timaru hangar in the early 1970's. Brantly Whirlwides Hughes 269B model HGZ ex Longbeach Police Department. Close up of the decal on the side of the fuel tank HGZ. Whirlwides 269C HEN. Whirlwides 369C HHK.
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 1, 2016 19:01:30 GMT 12
Dons picture of C180 BMU has lead me to post photos of various fixed wing that Whirlwide owned over the years. They were used as taxis, to shuttle pilots and engineers, transport of spare parts, and maintainance and repair missions. Timaru Hospital used to send whooping cough patients out to Whirlwide and Des McCambridge would take them up in BMU to altitude to relieve their congestion. Behind the tail of BMU is an early Bell47 with a Franklin engine and wooden blades. It sat there for years and I do not know of its eventual demise. BMU was damaged when it was blown over at Kaikoura during the August storm in 1975. We used a hired Tripacer for a while, which was lots of fun. BMU was replaced with C180 BXV afetr a rebuild by Southair Aviation. Photo compliments of Peter Lewis. I hope that he does not mind me posting this as it is the only photo that I know of of BXV. As the company grew like a family we needed a bigger station wagon. C206 WWH ex Mount Cook Airlines floatplane MCH. Rebuilt by Southair after a dunking in fiordland. When Whirlwide started sending machines to the North Island to support the Petrocorp contract. Whirlwide first bought Piper Navajo DCE which was soon replaced with KPL. This was used for crew change shuttles and spares support. These aircraft were flown by the late Tom Middleton.
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 2, 2016 19:34:55 GMT 12
During the 1980's Taranaki was drilled like a Swiss Chesse in the search for oil and gas Whirlwide Helicopters was contracted to Petrocorp to provide support for this operation. The contryside was divided into squares, 50 metres square, and a hole was drilled in each corner. The holes were filled with explosive which were then set off in a set pattern and the resutant shockwaves recorded and anylized for spots to drill exploration wells. Whirlwides operation was based from the Norfolk Road airstrip, on Kevin Wishniski's property just out of Inglewood. Parked up afer a days work. Grid set out bunny hopping 13 rigs under the helicopter. Another piece of rig coming in. Rig set up and drilling. After promising results the big exloration rig was trucked in.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 2, 2016 21:55:40 GMT 12
Is that what they call fracking?
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Post by thomarse on Feb 3, 2016 6:28:49 GMT 12
If it is Dave I'm not aware of any lasting damage it caused.
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Post by delticman on Feb 3, 2016 6:29:00 GMT 12
No, just oil exploration. Later on they used a similar system of laying cables in a grid system. So there was plenty of helicopter work for nearly ten years.
Fracking is something they do to keep gas or oil wells producing. A bit like trying to get all the toothpaste out of a tube.
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Post by ZacYates on Feb 3, 2016 15:06:36 GMT 12
These are all fascinating, great quality pictures! Thanks all for sharing!
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 4, 2016 12:00:10 GMT 12
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 4, 2016 18:19:08 GMT 12
More of some more of my own and Dons photos from around the hangar. First, the remains of the original HDT. These remains sat outside the hangar for many years. This was the first Hughes 500 imported into NZ. Parts were used for many rebuilds, and the registration was resurected for a short time. Another first, This was the first AS350 (Squirrel) imported into NZ. Flown by Ron Small and based out of Lake Tekapo and Glentanner at Mount Cook. 1975 Hughes 269B. Rebuilt by Airwork company, Helicopter Overhauls, for Ian Atkinson ,a farmer from Hamner Springs. Bell 206 Jetranger 3 HMM operated from Timaru flown by Eddie McGregor. Workmate Blair Maconie on a hot summer day carrying out insection on 369C HIY. Based at Kaikoura ,flown by Noel Boyd. You can imagine how OSH would react these days. Service in the field. 50hr Inspection on Rod Browns HEN at Ranfurly on another hot summer day. Chief engineer Keith Mitchell checking the sprag clutch and main rotor transmission oil level.
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Post by oj on Feb 4, 2016 19:23:08 GMT 12
Great stuff. I really enjoyed these photos. Very candid.
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Post by No longer identifiable on Feb 4, 2016 20:53:29 GMT 12
Yep, really good stuff. Brings back memories of Russel Gutschlag flying me and my girlfriend back from Tekapo skifield to the Tekapo pub in a new Hughes 500c in about 1975 or 1976. Was a quicker and nicer trip back than the rest of the guys endured in the old MOW Hydro Survey Landrover.
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 5, 2016 10:46:17 GMT 12
Some more of my pictures from the Petrocorp days The late Dennis Eggerton flying 369D HOJ. Our rented crew accomodation even came with built in helipad. HNS on a pilot comfort stop and morning cuppa. HNS on water carting duties. The water was mixed with powder and pumped down the drill holes to lubricate and clear the drill bit. Another helicopter delivery. Another view of the big rig being set up.The derrick is yet to be stood up. From the one site, multiple holes could be drilled in any direction (offset drilling) looking for the actual oil and gas. If fractured rock was encountered, they would lose all the drilling mud. the answer was to pump concrete into the hole and redrill once it was set. Drillers working on the big rig. WWH parked outside Norfolk Road Aero Club after delivering an urgently needed C20 turbine from Timaru.
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 5, 2016 12:43:17 GMT 12
Another assortment of my own and Don Kennedys photos of helicopters and aircraft from around the hangars. Hiller 12E HEP belonging to Alpine Helicopters visiting Timaru. Going by reflectors on the blade tips, it looks as if it was getting some blade tracking adjustments. Hiller 12E HES. I think outside Aerotech hangar at Timaru. Looks like Blair Maconie on Helicopter and Bruce Robertson from Avtech shielding his eyes. More field repairs. Neville Cox nearest camera. HEN carrying out a lifting job. Another early right hand drive A model. Hughes269A HEX. Hooking up an early model fertilizer/seeding bucket to Hughes 269C HHF. These early buckets were powered by a Wankel rotary motor to turn the spinner. Lots of fun they were, NOT! Another regular visitor to the area. Handy to be able to carry your transport with you. Arrived at work one Saturday morning to find this immaculate Corby Starlet on the tarmac. It was built by the late Cyril Cawthorne, in his workshop not far from the Timaru Airport. Here it is awaiting its initial test flight flown by the late Tom Middleton.
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Post by baz62 on Feb 5, 2016 13:11:09 GMT 12
If I'm not mistaken this is owned by Murray Vincent and lives at Rangiora. Pretty sure it's this one.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 5, 2016 14:08:04 GMT 12
Very cool to see these old photos and I especially love the one of the Mini Moke on the DC-3 ramp.
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Post by chinapilot on Feb 5, 2016 16:12:46 GMT 12
Great photos - remember Mel Cain and also two very good friends who flew for him, Tony Jones and Simon Oliver.
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Post by starr on Feb 6, 2016 7:24:59 GMT 12
The photo of the DC3 loading vehicle. I take it that it is AWP. The ramps are the same as the ones designed for AZL by James. They worked very successfully.
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 6, 2016 19:41:39 GMT 12
What an excellent job you guys at Ferrymead are making on your helicopter restorations. A real credit to you people. I see in the picture of the Hiller cockpit, that there is a Hiller FH 1100 in the background. A real bonus as they were a very rare helicopter in NZ. Here are some pictures of the whizzy roundy grunting bits that make up a helicopter. Every 1200 hours the Hiller 12E was compltely disassembled, paint stripped, inspected, crack checked, repainted and reassemmled. Blair Maconie working on the back end of a Hiller basic body. Every aircraft has its "hellhole" in the case of the Hiller it was the fuel tank bay. The Lycoming motor is mounted above the bay and oil leakage, spillage from maintainance etc, eventually found its way inside. In those days to clean it was to grit your teeth, plenty of rags, gallons of Britolite (white spirits),and the ability not to pass out. Wouldnt OSH love this. Blair taking the plunge. Instrument console Hughes 269. Instrument console Bell 47-G4 Lycoming powerplant of Bell. Bell Jetranger magic bits. From the rear, oil tank and cooler, Allison 250 C20 turbine, engine air intake and partical seperator, main transmission and main rotor, hydraulic actuators for flight controls.
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 7, 2016 11:25:30 GMT 12
An Assortment of one of Bells finest products around Whirlwides Timaru hangar. Bell 206 Jetranger 2 and 3's. Ron Small with HPO. Ron was based at Lake Tekapo and Glentanner park at Mount Cook flying tourists and heliskiing. HPO was later replaced with Squirrel HWW. In the red black and white is Eddie Mcgregors Timaru based HMM. The blue machine is Ashburton based Ken Kingsburys HKD. HKD after a repaint. A gaggle of Jetrangers. Front on view of HMM. One of the seven ex Okenagan Helicopters Jetrangers imported by Whirlwide HSG.
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Post by xbaggy on Feb 8, 2016 20:46:29 GMT 12
Hope the members are not to bored with all the helicopter photos. I will give it a rest for a while. A couple of lifting jobs. Ken Kingsbury in Bell47 HBD lifting a refrigeration unit into the Pukeuri freezing works at Oamaru. The next 2 pictures have been posted before on another thread but I thought that I would refresh them here. Eddie Mcgregor in Hughes 500C HJH carting concrete blocks into a building site in Timaru. Eddie once again doing a scoop net demonstration at Caroline Bay in Timaru.
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