More in hope than optimism - on 30th September '71 one of the visiting Lightnings at Akrotiri had to 'bang out' in Epi Bay ... standard back end fire, apparently. The pilot was recovered by 1563 Flt S&R Whirlwind and deposited at PMH. I was on the wire for that pickup but cannot recall ever knowing who the 'victim' was. Very unlikely, but might anyone have the identity - just idle curiosity
That, oddly was the only sea recovery of military aircrew I ever had to do (oddly, because that, theoretically, was our raison d'etre!!) I was also bollocked by the Big Cheese for sinking the dinghy, not bringing it back with us ... having an inflated dinghy in a single engined , small cabin with an injured survivor for the over water return transit didn't seem too clever to me ... I'm claiming octogenarian privilege for irrelevant queries!
