Fertilising forests by Helicopter
Photograph is courtesy and copyright of Forestry Commission, Forest Research, Roslin, and provided with help from Glen Brearley. FR Photo number No A3053 taken by Jim Atterson.
‘Helicopter coming into land during operation to spread crude Gafsa phosphate in Minard Forest’
Great action shot of the Autair Bell aircraft coming into land so that the side panniers can be hand loaded with fertiliser. It is likely the loading crew would be local forestry workers. Can any of them be named? Does anyone remember this event?
Note that the helicopter lands on to railway sleepers to give it a firm set down base and possibly also to protect the fertiliser spinner heads. The machine keeps the rotors turning and the men had to load the fertiliser from the converted oil drums into the panniers – normally six drums to each side but possibly 5 if with full load of fuel. Total maximum load 6 cwts. A very dusty environment!
Surprisingly the men are all standing very erect as the machine comes in – normally they had to crouch down as the machine landed to avoid any mishap with blade and head! The unground rock phosphate was poured from the half cwt bags through a sieve into the tins to ensure no rocks or other material entered the panniers and caused a blockage. A blockage on one side was a serious event if missed by the pilot – a near certain accident. Registration number is G-ASOL.
See the PDF for a series of eight views of the spreading action over the forest trees including one of the flight line markers with their flags on long poles. The last shot shows the spiral pattern of the spread from the vanes of the spinners just before the airstream and down draught from the blades starts to mix the spread up.
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Groups: Aircraft in Forestry Work, Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Groups of people