ALAN BRISTOW


Founder of one of the world’s largest helicopter operations.


Born Sep. 3, 1923, in Balham, South London, England, Alan Bristow later moved to Bermuda, where his father managed the Royal Naval Dockyard, and then to Portsmouth, England. As World War II began, he joined the British India Steam Navigation Co. as a deck officer cadet at the age of 16. In 1943, after having been aboard two ships sunk by


Japanese and German forces, Bristow enlisted with the Fleet Air Arm—the naval aviation component of the UK Royal Navy—to train as a pilot. Te following


set up his own business, Air Whaling Ltd., which used helicopters to spot whales in the Antarctic region. While in French Indochina in the late 1940s, trying


to persuade the French Air Force to buy Hiller helicopters for air ambulance work, Bristow rescued a group of French soldiers under mortar fire using one of his own helicopters. For his bravery, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He formed Bristow Helicopters Ltd. in 1955 after


Bristow Helicopters Sikorsky S-92 | © Lockheed Martin Corporation. All rights reserved.


year, he was sent to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, where he learned to fly the Sikorsky R-4, the first large-scale mass-produced helicopter. In 1946, he became the first British pilot to land a helicopter on the deck of a naval frigate at sea. Bristow was hired as the first helicopter test pilot


for Westland Aircraft in 1947. He flew and later sold helicopters for the company and used his earnings to


receiving a Shell Oil Co. contract to supply helicopter crews to support rigs in the Persian Gulf. Over the next 30 years, Bristow expanded his business worldwide, providing services in the North Sea, Middle East, South America, Africa, Asia, India, Bermuda, Trinidad, Australia, and New Zealand. Bristow Helicopters grew to become one of the largest civilian helicopter companies in the world. In addition to supporting offshore energy production, Bristow Helicopters offers a wide range of services to governments and civil clients, including search and rescue, training, maintenance and repair, and multimission operations and support. During his lifetime, Bristow received many awards and honors, including the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1966 for his contributions to aviation and the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Silver Medal. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1967. Bristow died on Apr. 26, 2009, at age 85.


SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE ROTOR 147


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