The Wessex.....such fond memories.
And some not so fond.......like 5 engine failures in 18 months (500 hours). And electro-hydraulic windscreen wipers that smeared hydraulic fluid on the outside of the screen giving the opposite effect to that desired.
Best bits were the huge mainwheels and brick ****house undercarriage. Once got caught out one very dark night in S. Armagh with a fog bank rolling in. 12 troops needed picking up but it was obvious that if I did it in 2 runs, as per the flypro, 6 would have been left behind for a miserable soggy night out. Road moves were out at that time. Had too much fuel to lift all 12 troops so thought a MAUM running take-off at night from an unrecce'd field was a good idea! The old girl did the business and those huge mainwheels skipped over the ruts and bumps until translational lift kicked in. Great machine.
I wonder if the Puma will be remembered as fondly? Into RAF service only 6 (?) years after the Wessex and still going strong - and forecast to 2020 I believe (?). Had I been flying a Puma that night in S. Armagh, we'd have stuck 12 on board and not had any concerns about whether we'd have enough power to get airborne.
JJ