Researching History of Aerospatiale & MBB Helicopters in North America - 1958-1985

[DGP 398]

Another tidbit...Rob Freeman flew the first Puma in Canada...he may have some info...ship was C-GUMP...my buddy George of the jungle was the engineer on that one...he told me they gave him all the books and said you now are a wrench on a Puma.

[Torque Split 18]

 

 

https://us.airbus.com/en/newsroom/stories/2021-02-airbus-helicopters-inc-recognizes-2-employees-with-50-years-of-service

Dunstan recently retired as a Senior Regional Technical Representative, supporting customers on the West Coast. He lives in California.

[Torque Split 18]

Dave Ackroyd was also a tech rep for Aerospat back in the 80's ..  Dont know where he is now though..   

 

[carholme 12]

I remember Dave very well, when he was the engineer for Northern Helicopters in Norman Wells and Gerry Nel was the pilot. That would have been the late 60s or very early 70s.I was the base engineer for Okanagan and Jan Rustad was the base pilot. Oh what fun we had with Ron Jackson of Alpine and all the crews that used to pass through going up or down the river. The greatest gang of people I have ever worked with.

 

Gerry

[DGP 398]

Just was told by an old friend that Gaspar is in France. 

[407driver 24]

Timberland Helicopters out of Courtenay B.C. still had one operating in 2003. Brian Dunn is still around

 

[Janice Macau 3]

When the Allouette first arrived in Canada, in 1958 I believe, my father, Jack Charleson, who was working for Okanagan Helicopters at the time, arranged for my two sisters and me to have a short ride. We had never been in a helicopter before and I think he wanted us to know first hand what all the fuss was about. I was about 12. He told my older sister afterwards that as soon as the helicopter lifted off with his three children aboard he realized that this might have been the most foolish thing he had ever done. He was very glad to see us back safely on the tarmac a few minutes later.