You must have all heard the old joke: - how do you find out if an aircrewman is a SAR Diver? Don't worry he will tell you straight away!!!
The last rescue by a SAR diver on AIR was indeed Simon Le Bon. So in the last 20 odd years they have done ............?
The sooner navy get rid of these ego maniacs the better, and then they can put the saved money into better kit!!
It is only Culdrose that have SAR Divers the other Navy SAR Base at Prestwick which is over 20% busier than Culdrose doesn't seem to need them!!
The history of the SAR diver was to be sat in a helo next to an aircraft-carrier waiting for a fast jet jock to splash in, fast reaction time and all that. Not wishing the worst on anyone but even if a jet went in next to Culdrose there is no way that the pilot will hold his breath for the 6-7minutes at best it would take the cab to flash up and be on scene. Now we can all see why the RAF don't deem it logical to have SAR divers.
