257
	Norman Davidson
	1973

Aerial fertilising with BEAS helicopter G-AWFY

Photograph courtesy of Roy Neish who is sitting aboard the helicopter in Clashindarroch Forest about year 1973.
The helicopters spread unground rock phosphate at a rate of 3 hundredweights per acre on trees which were planted on less fertile areas and needed some additional nutrients to get them through to canopy closure after which they usually managed to grow quite or very well. Phosphate was often applied just after planting by hand and if it was judged necessay, often following some foliar analysis, repeat applications were carried out at 3-5 year periods. These had to be done by aerial application although latterly all applications were being done by helicopter as accurate guidance and plotting systems were developed. Companies involved in appling fertiliser to hundreds of thousands of acres of forests from the 1970s were Autair, BEAS, Dollar and PDG. Information on very early applications with two side panniers mounted on a Bell type helicopter piloted by Peter Nutting and others would be welcome.
Picture Added on 06 September 2007.

If you found this interesting, have a look at the following groups of pictures.
Forestry in Action
Northeast Scotland
Other Vehicles and Machines