Boeing CH-47 Chinook: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:04, 29 December 2005

Revision as of 13:13, 29 January 2006

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Whilst Britain's [[Royal Air Force]] has many types of helicopters in active service, the Chinook has proven itself one of the most effective.

One particular Chinook, registered ZA718 with the Royal Air Force and known by its original callsign 'Bravo November', has seen action in every major operation the RAF has been deployed to in the helicopter's 25-year service life.

Bravo November started out spearheading the British landings on the [[Falkland Islands]] in [[1982]] and was being transported aboard the container ship Atlantic Conveyor along with three other Chinooks. However, the [[Argentine Air ForceNavy]] chose the [[Atlantic Conveyor]] as a target for their [[Super Etendard]]s armed with deadly [[Exocet]] sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. By a stroke of pure luck, however, Bravo November was airborne on an engineering test flight at the time.

Having survived the destruction of the ship it was being carried on, Bravo November managed to make it to safety on the [[aircraft carrier]] HMS Hermes.

Unfortunately, ZA718 ran into trouble during a night mission transporting guns to the [[Special Air Service|SAS]] when pilot Dick Langworthy, unable to see clearly through a thick snow shower, allowed Bravo November to descend and hit the sea at around 100 knots (139 km/h), throwing up spray and flooding the engine intakes. However, Dick and his copilot managed to get the helicopter back in the air. With the radio damaged and unable to navigate, Bravo November returned to [[San Carlos, Falkland Islands|San Carlos]] and after a quick inspection revealed the impact had caused little more than dents to the fuselage and radio sytems.