I don't know if anyone posted anything about this before but (moderator) please merge it if necessary.
Once again the guys from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, England did another superb job in rescuing the crew of the freighter 'Napoli' adrift and sinking off the Cornish coast durng the recent storms.
The PO Diver is to be applauded and commended for his bravery and daring in winching down to the liferaft in horrendous conditions and then spending 90 minutes individually attaching sick and exhausted crewmen to the winch so they could be hauled to safety aboard the Sea King helicopter. A Camborne man too - well done!!
And then the commander who kept the aircraft accuarately positioned above the life raft that was rising and falling beneath him. The reports I read say that two lines were broken because the raft fell away into a trough below the helicopter.
My family and I lived for many years in Cornwall and I was privileged to know some of the people from Culdrose and to share the occasional pint with them. They were not always Brits. I remember a particulary difficult rescue from inside Hells Mouth and below the cliff top with only a couple of feet clearance for the rotor tips. The Commander on that mission was an American on secondment. What a bunch of excellent guys.

Echo your sentiments.
Nice one Jay.
Will the new Civvy SAR set up be able to field as many assests and provide that amount of Pax uplift come 2012.
I think not.

Particularly brave for an aircrewman with a nose that large to expose it to such high winds. An unstable load if ever there was one!
Still, I suppose it came into its own as a wave piercer once in the oggin.

Yet again I agree.
Apparently the original Form "R" stated that "the divers beak was used as a wind break to allow a large Merchant vessel to close the life raft"
Survivors have stated that reports of a large shark approaching were in fact downgraded to Jay backstroking !!!

I, too, have a large 'ooter. Is it a Westcountry thing I wonder. Take no notice of the p1$$ taking Jay. You did a great job!! But then the p1$$ taking is all part of the real regard you are held in within such an exemplary service as the RN.

I too watched the event on the Box last night and agree; hoist BZ.
Leaving aside SAR by Contractor, how would the Air Force have executed such a recovery? This is genuine interest and not an inter-Service wind-up.

This looks fun

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/fac...et.asp?id=1239

My only knowledge of the rescue is from the information above, but to answer the question of how the RAF would have carried out the job is.... in exactly the same way! Just substitute Navy diver for winchman....

Well done all.

ARINC - as featured in Goldfinger as I recall.

The technique was also used on land in SE Asia during WW2. Christ knows what the ruddy G-force was like for the poor bloke being picked up!

ask anyone in the Martin Baker club. I bet they could have an idea!

4U2NV. Thank you for your most informative reply. I didn't recall any of the training films showing Air Force Winchmen entering the water and leaving the strop. I was aware that we have SAR Divers in the Naval SAR Units but I wasn't aware that Air Force Winchmen were trained in that skill. Does that put them in Specialist Pay (D) Category 2?

"ARINC - as featured in Goldfinger as I recall.

The technique was also used on land in SE Asia during WW2. Christ knows what the ruddy G-force was like for the poor bloke being picked up!"

Was it not Thunderball (along with the vulcan)?

Fulton video - one of the guys has a smile on his face and it doesn't look so abrupt from land. I can imagine that being plucked out of water is more abrupt!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PErEsNhDmo8

the navy no longer has SAR divers, they were chopped to save money.

Assuming that RN Winchmen can't now be put into the water out of the strop, how would a rescue such as the one we are discussing be executed?

Either I'm too stupid to ask a good question or the question was too good to get an answer.

that was an awful long time ago , if its the incident at lamorna cove ( penlee lifeboat) then it was russ smith ( usn), ken doherty ( p2), steve marlowe ( obs ) and martin kennie ( acmn ) , from all the reports i read how they didnt go the way of the lifeboat and the union star is miraculous....

I believe the subject of this Thread is "RNAS Culdrose - MV Napoli rescue ". That was 18 Jan 07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6278295.stm

GBZ - we would have winched the winchman to the lifeboat, possibly using a hi-line.

Just as well we're not talking about dogrobber's incident, eh?!