PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - 8 Wessex Helis and Spares - No reserve auction
Old 1st Apr 2008, 23:14
  #46 (permalink)  
ShyTorque

Avoid imitations
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 14,580
Received 438 Likes on 231 Posts
The Wessex - blimey, what a fantastic, forgiving and built-like-a-brick-built-****e-house machine!
We Puma chaps had many a laugh taunting the 72 boys when they were tasked with giving us mutual support in NI.

We had a certain no-notice task to carry an USL that the Wessex couldn't lift. The trick was to get them to call "Buster" (= slow down we can't keep up) when we had the underslung load underneath and they were "clean" (or as clean as Walter Wessex could get).

Also, the RAF stopped supporting those "Nicaraguan" aircraft to a great extent in HK just prior to them being sold. It wasn't absolutely unusual to have one only serviceable, sometimes less. Once or twice 28 Sqn even had to ask for a favour from a civilian organisation to fly a trip..... of course, that organisation said yes.

Shame the RAF never bought the "SuperWessex" (Blackhawks) - the Wessex boys would have loved them (I did).
ShyTorque is offline