A helicopter enthusiast from Bowerhill was presented with an aviation lifetime achievement award for rebuilding a vintage helicopter shortly before he died this week aged 81.
John Phillips recently received the award from Aviation Heritage UK after Wight Aviation Museum nominated him for his long-standing membership and his work restoring a vintage Saunders-Roe Skeeter helicopter, which he donated to the museum in 2023. John died peacefully at home on 16th November.
Due to ill health, he was unable to travel to receive the award at a gathering held at Rolls-Royce in Derby, but a small delegation from Wight Aviation Museum presented it to him at his home in Bowerhill instead.
Sandra Phillips, John’s wife, said, “It was just wonderful for John to receive the award. It was happy tears all round. We didn’t know anything about it. The helicopter is now on a stand in the museum and it has his name on a plaque, along with his nephew Adrian, who helped him restore the helicopter.”
John acquired the helicopter in 2002 from its previous owner near Bedford. The AOP12 XL765 helicopter was built for the Army Air Corps in 1958 at the Saunders-Roe factory in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, a short distance from where it now resides at the aviation museum.
The aircraft was stored in the Melksham area for more than 20 years, and John kept it as a source of spare parts for his flying helicopter of the same series, of which only two were airworthy.
During its time in storage, John and his nephew Adrian worked on the restoration and acquired many parts to enable it to be rebuilt to static condition. However, due to John’s ill health, the pair reluctantly concluded that a new home must be found for the helicopter.
With the Skeeter’s strong link to the Island, they approached Wight Aviation Museum to ask if it would like to include it in its collection. The museum readily agreed, recognising its significance as one of the few built on the Isle of Wight.
John’s funeral will take place on Monday 8th December at 11am at West Wiltshire Crematorium, Semington.
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