BOLKOW NEWSLETTER - Phil Swain
Since this is a December newsletter may I wish you all a Happy Christmas! Let’s hope our Christmas stockings will contain something aviation minded such as a Coloured GPS, a glass cockpit kit etc! Anyway, I hope you get what you want.
May your New Year be safe and accident free and as Gunther says “always a turning prop!”
Welcome to Mark Kaye who has joined the group owning Bolkow 208c (No.204) G-ATXZ. If I remember correctly this aircraft is kept at Tatenhill. Tatenhill is well worth a visit – great airfield and extremely pleasant staff. Mark is a professional photographer who has offered his services to the club, free of charge. Thankyou Mark!
Thankyou and welcome to Tim and Nick Ravine, also Elizabeth who e-mailed me. They are now the proud owners of Bolkow 208c G-ATSI.
G-ATSI is on a 2 year EASA certificate and Tim and Nick would appreciate some info on friendly engineers to either work on or sign for work done. Can someone help please? The aircraft is now kept at Sywell after being hangared at Shipdam in Norfolk for over 30 years. Contact can be made on Tel. No: 01604 720023 or 01604 770191. They suggest that Sywell would be a suitable venue for a fly-in. I agree. Lets hope we get some suitable weather.
Colin Hampson, Dereks’s son, is using his talent to produce a web page www.bolkowsquadron.blogspot.com. Here we can post details of meetings, fly-ins, photographs, trip reports, wanted adds, information etc and anything else to do with Bolkows. The site already has some interesting articles and photographs of members aircraft. Contact Colin through colihamp@gmail.com.
Stewart Buckingham now owns Bolkow 208c D-EEAH (lucky man. It’s a very nice aeroplane!) and keeps it at Boscome down. He has certainly put it to good use since he got it having flown it around the Isle of Man and Ireland and then joined two dozen other aircraft and flew it in the “Around Ireland Air Rally”. That was in 2005. This year he teamed up with 13 aircraft and entered the “Around France Air Rally”. Trips to Germany for its annual Cof A and a weekend in Calais demonstrated that he is an intrepid aviator with a very capable aircraft. In 2007 he is joining the “Around Germany Air Rally” and taking D-EEAH back to Laupheim on the 40th anniversary of her first flight in 1967. Phew! I think we should watch this space!
Stewarts friend who accompanied him in the Ireland rally was obviously impressed with the Bolkow’s performance that he is now scanning the adverts in case one comes onto the market.
Nigel Everett sent me the following e-mail regarding Bolkow Junior
G-ATSX.
“I am one of four group owners of G-ATSX. When we bought her about two years ago she had a C of A and was in working order. However, in a regrettable fit of zeal, we decided to strip her down and rebuild her. We disassembled her and stripped the paint, finding the bodywork largely free of corrosion. We were then held up, partly by the need of someone to repair the damaged trim tab and partly by running out of steam. With the superb help of wonderful Gunther I managed to arrange for him to get the trim tab fixed in Germany and we now have it back, complete with paperwork. This winter, either I shall get the chaps to work and finish the project ( might need a large whip Nigel! Ed) or next summer we shall have a complete box of bits for sale (shame! Ed))
There were five of us in the group originally, but one has already died. I did suggest a Tontine arrangement, whereby title to the Bolkow (complete or box of bits? Ed) would pass entirely to whoever outlived the rest, but they did not take to that. I think that we may have to pass a rule that no one else may die until the project is complete.”
As editor of the newsletter I am in the process of compiling a members list which I hope will include telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. This to enable any Bolkow group member to get directly in touch with any other group member. As soon as it is completed I will e-mail you all. If I find I don’t have your details I will contact you. If you don’t want your details put into the list, please let me know. (philipswain@talktalk.net)
A contact list is always useful if you want any hints or advice from other members.
Sad about the PFA Rally. It was a good opportunity to meet up as we have done in previous years. We’ll have to arrange our own BOLKOW RALLY
The Bolkow Club is open to all aviators who own Bolkow aeroplanes i.e. 207’s, 208’s and 209’s etc
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This is what I started with:
Clive Morris (G-AVKR)
My work follows the history of these ships that has been published, as well as by one of the pilots of the era. Further, my neighbor was a relief pilot at that time, flying KC96s and DC7s into Biafra with food and flying out with wartime orphan children. Biafran history has been fascinating for me, considering that the country existed only 3 years.
The conversion is not merely a transplant, and has required some engineering solutions. The 125 hp should be ideal. I had studied the 3300 Jabiru, which would have been a better choice actually, but they were not delivering at the time and I had to make my decision.
