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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1319.PDF
9 September 1955 433 ROTOR-BORNE LIFEBOATS Helicopters for Search and Rescue: an Accident while Demonstrating ONE of the first of a chain of helicopter units beingestablished by the Air Ministry for search andrescue duties throughout the British Isles is No. 22 Squadron of Coastal Command, equipped withWestland Whirlwind HAR.2 machines and based at Thorney Island. A press demonstration of the squad-ron's work, given in the English Channel last week, was marred by an accident to one of the Whirlwinds, whichsuffered engine failure, ditched in the sea, and sank. There was no injury to either occupant of the aircraft. Flight's representative aboard an accompanyingR.A.F. launch gives the following account of the squad- ron's operations and eye-witness report of the accident.Formed in February of this year, No. 22 Squadron is the second R.A.F. helicopter squadron engaged onsearch and rescue duties, the first being No. 275, a Fighter Command unit based at Thornaby, CountyDurham, and operating Bristol Sycamore Mk 14s. From Thorney Island, the Whirlwinds have as their maintask the rescue of aircrew in difficulties (either ashore or afloat); in addition, much rescue work has beencarried out this summer for civilian holiday-makers. Commanded by S/L. Paul C. Bowry, 22 Squadronhas a unit at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, in addition to the main section at Thorney Island where crew train-ing and periodic servicing of both airframes and P. and W. Wasp R-1340 engines are carried out. In thenear future, a third unit will be stationed at Valley, Anglesey. The squadron's helicopters, together withR.A.F. marine launches and other units, are controlled in emergency operations by the R.A.F. Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Plymouth, and at least one machine at each base is at readiness from dawn to dusk each day. The demonstrations of search and rescue techniques madeby 22 Squadron and other units on August 30th took place in the English Channel, some 8 miles south of Selsey Bill, in warmsummer weather and with a calm sea. A typical example of rescue co-ordination was first given, in which a Coastal Com-mand Shackleton II flew over, spotted a dinghy containing five men, and reported this by radio to the Rescue Co-ordinationCentre at Plymouth. The normal rescue procedure followed. A "flash" (toppriority) telephone message was sent from Plymouth to Thorney Island, calling for the assistance of the standby Whirlwind. Alsoavailable and controlled from Plymouth in such emergencies are R.N. and R.A.F. marine craft, civilian lifeboats, and other ser-vices; on this occasion, the presence of two 68ft launches and a smaller tender only a few yards away from the dinghy in distresswas, for purposes of plot, tactfully ignored. Having informed Plymouth, the Shackleton dropped a smokemarker near the dinghy, and continued to circle around it. After a short delay, a bright airborne lemon appeared in the distanceand, approaching, rapidly turned into Whirlwind XJ 434, flown by F/L. Keith V. Panter, D.S.O. The helicopter's colourscheme was a gaudy yellow, with RESCUE in black on the tail-boom fairing. Hovering above the dinghy, it proceeded to dip into it with what looked like a hangman's noose, and to lift andswallow each of the occupants in turn. The double-lift method, in which a crewman is lowered toaffix the strop around an injured or unconscious man, and both are then winched up together, was also shown.An immersion-suited B.B.C. man, suitably immersed, was the victim.The rescue techniques shown so far had been equally applic- able to both Service and civilian emergencies. A developmentof particular significance in the case of ditched aircraft crews— the use of Ultra Electric's SARAH (Search and Rescue andHoming) equipment—was next demonstrated. Another of the squadron's Whirlwinds, XJ 436, flown byS/L. Bowry, was homed from its base at Thorney Island on to Two remarkable photographs of the accident described on this page by "Flight" representative aboard launch 2749. In the upper picture, the tail boom is just beginning to break under the down-loads of the impact. a pilot who, complete with SARAH beacon, was adrift in a one-man dinghy. The signal-transmission radius of the SARAH beacon is statedto be 75 miles, and the current equipment incorporates two-way voice communication. The system is felt to be particularly valu-able in that, once the beacon is switched on, continuous trans- mission and individual identification are provided; and nodependence is placed on visual search. Receivers can be carried by aeroplanes, helicopters and marine craft. The Navy-developed scoop net, which forms another part ofthe equipment of 22 Squadron, was next used by XJ 436 to capture—at the third attempt—yet another floating victim. The final demonstration was to be the winching up, from thedeck of our launch, of an Evening News reporter securely trussed in a Neil Robertson stretcher. After hovering over the launch,S/L. Bowry flew the Whirlwind to one side while final prepara- tions were made on deck. Coming round and in again betweenour launch and another some 50 yd away, the helicopter was moving slowly forward at a height of about 30ft when its enginespluttered and cut, and the machine fell into the water. In a mist of sudden spray, the Whirlwind tilted over on itsstarboard side, its rotors thrashing the surface. A crack tore across the word "RESCUE," and the tail boom twisted jerkily. Inslow, lurching movements the machine sank over on its side, and we were relieved to see that pilot and navigator (Fit. Sgt. GrantScoegins) had managed to escape from cockpit and cabin respec- tively and, with Mae Wests inflated, were floating alongside. Within two minutes of the initial power failure, the two menhad been picked up by the attendant tender; one minute later the machine had disappeared, leaving only small yellow fragmentspowdering the surface of the Channel. From a distance of about 30ft, we had had an uncomfortablyclose view of the accident. While it provided an extremely unfortunate finale to the day's demonstrations, it served as areminder that engines are still liable to occasional failure (at the most awkward times); and that, nerhaos, B.E A. were notto be blamed for excessive caution in fitting floats for passenger- carrying services over the Thames. K.T.O.
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