771 squadron aircraft - 'additional markings'.

[Red Hound]

I was able to attend 824 Squadron's family day today and fly in a Merlin.

Sea King XV673/27 was outside the hangar. I noticed a reference to the Drum England rescue of August 1985 when Simon le Bon of Duran Duran and others were rescued from the capsized hull. This was in black low down on the fuselage and I had never noticed this before. Initially I wondered if this was the aircraft involved but the squadron converted to Sea King after this, in 1987-1988. I assume it is there as significant rescue and wondered if any other rescues are commemorated in this way on their other aircraft.

[Nick.M]

Every cab is marked with a significant rescue that its been involved in on the sponson. These markings were applied for the SAR 60 commemoration.

[Red Hound]

Thanks for the information. Having seen the markings today I was curious as to its significance. Now intrigued as to what other rescues are commemorated in this way.

[Aircraftpaulcornwall]

Hi Nick.M & Red Hound,
That is very interesting - I had no idea until now that special 'commemorations' were given to various helos for their assorted rescue missions --Paul

[Malfatron Malkovic]

Thanks for the information. Having seen the markings today I was curious as to its significance. Now intrigued as to what other rescues are commemorated in this way.

In addition to the legends carried on sponson and keel, a large SAR 60th badge was worn on port and starboard cheeks.
This is to my knowledge, how they were marked.
ZA166/CU-16 (also, i believe,ZA166 is the only one of our cabs to still wear ace of clubs on it's belly)
"Yacht Sine SEORRA 30th August 1992"


XV670/17
"Boscastle floods 16th August 2004"


ZA137/20
"Mullion Harbour 6th August 1987"


ZA167/22
"MV Lovat 25th January 1975"


XV647/28
"MSC Napoli 18th January 2007"


The trawler Trevessa was also commemorated on one of the cabs, which one i can not recollect, possibly XV661/26, which has inherited the sponsons from the now stripped for spares ZA167.


Of our other rescue cabs active over the past year (XV648/18, XV666/21 and XZ920/24) i don't think they wore any special marks.

Some additional "Sea Kings news" which may be of interest:
As from tomorrow, the Merlin Maintenance facility will have a Sea King line, so expect to see the occasional Junglie passing through.

[hedgerowops]

That's a nice set of shot's Malf,all to soon they will be a distant memory
Chris

[Malfatron Malkovic]

Thank's, Chris. And yes,west Cornwall will be a sadder place without them!

[Nick.M]

[/quote]Some additional "Sea Kings news" which may be of interest:
As from tomorrow, the Merlin Maintenance facility will have a Sea King line, so expect to see the occasional Junglie passing through.[/quote]

Is this in addition to the SK maintenance facility a VLN Malf?

[Malfatron Malkovic]

It's a maintenance line that has relocated from Fleetlands, Nick, so i guess so.

[Seafire 47]

An excellent collection from the foremost Sea King photographer in Cornwall,good effort my friend.

[buzzer]

Fantastic set there sir. And a lovely insite in to there history
wonder if and crab cabs will run through depth for maintenance if that's the case??

[Malfatron Malkovic]

Fantastic set there sir. And a lovely insite in to there history
wonder if and crab cabs will run through depth for maintenance if that's the case??

Thank's, Pete. And,yes, i daresay we will see crab cabs dropping by.

The trawler Trevessa was also commemorated on one of the cabs, which one i can not recollect, possibly XV661/26, which has inherited the sponsons from the now stripped for spares ZA167.


Of our other rescue cabs active over the past year (XV648/18, XV666/21 and XZ920/24) i don't think they wore any special marks.

On looking through my old snaps, i now see that the trawler Trevessa was commemorated on XV648/18.

I first looked at this snap, which i took before the marks were applied.

Here's XV673/27 at Air Day 2013.


Which leaves XV666/21 and XZ920/24 that were unmarked with significant rescues.
I may as well include snaps of them anyway, for the sake of completeness.

[Michaelmas]

A very interesting thread. Now I wonder if, when they are withdrawn, whether these sponsons can be saved? Surely 771 Squadron should be remembered for the fantastic work that they have done, and, if a complete airframe can't be saved, this might be another way of doing so. Just the ramblings of an old fool. What do you all think?

[Red Hound]

There was a discussion on here last year about preserving at least one of the rescue Sea Kings expressing, the hope that the Classic Air Force at Newquay do so. Preserving the marked sponsoons would be a good way of commemorating and remembering the work of 771 around Cornwall and beyond. Is one marked with the Boscastle rescue? If so then Boscastle would be a fitting place to display it. There must be other suitable locations for others too. I Don,t know if the museum in Helston has any displays on Culdrose that could be added too. If not one could be made part of a display. It's 70 years since Culdrose was started so it's definitely part of the local history.

[defender 110]

well done malf fantastic photos and a great bit of imformation

[Malfatron Malkovic]

An excellent collection from the foremost Sea King photographer in Cornwall,good effort my friend.

Fantastic set there sir. And a lovely insite in to there history
wonder if and crab cabs will run through depth for maintenance if that's the case??

well done malf fantastic photos and a great bit of imformation

Thank's for the appreciation chaps! Now, there's a gallon of booze (redeemable in October!) for the first who can tell me where the 'outside' snaps (ie. the cabs coded '16', '22', '26'. '21', '24' and the second image of '18') were snapped.

[Aircraftpaulcornwall]

Hi Malf,
What an absolutely excellent set of pics mate - all so very detailed as well.
I would like to echo the comments on here about the eventual demise of 771 Sqn and these wonderful old helicopters - we shall
indeed certainly miss seeing these going over and around and about.
Their work over these very many years has been superb (as has also the HMS Gannet ones too!).
I also am hoping that at least one of these can be saved for posterity - if possible at the Newquay museum or somewhere else
equally as appropriate!
Once again, very well done in keeping these helicopters alive, - in photo form at least!! --Paul

[DaveG]

Thank's for the appreciation chaps! Now, there's a gallon of booze (redeemable in October!) for the first who can tell me where the 'outside' snaps (ie. the cabs coded '16', '22', '26'. '21', '24' and the second image of '18') were snapped.

What! I'd die of thirst before I got all those correct, lol You beer is safe Malf.... or is that the plan
Will try.... okay - Cornwall ! beer please, now don't tell me I'm wrong just to get out giving that beer away, not my fault you did not specify you wanted "exact" location

[C24]

Hi M M,
Thank you for the snaps and info. Always a good read.
Best regards fm Charlie