SHFNI Stories!

[PhamousPhotographer]

SAR To SH

Thanks for that acknowledgement Tiger Tales, and Paul Chocks / tomdocherty72 for confirming XR518’s time at Aldergrove. More to follow if the thread continues.

Also taken on 21st August 1995, this one shows the flotation boots referred to in my previous post, as well as XV723’Q’ in the background. Who's that walking from the cab?



All I know of XR518's subsequent history with Sixty Squadron is its decommissioning flight from RAF Benson to Fleetlands on 27th January 1997. A two ship, with D*** W******s, P*** A*****y and myself in 518, by then coded ‘O’, recording XR523'M', also being laid-up, crewed by Sixty Sqn CO D*** F*****, E*** C*****n and S** B**d. Never having seen 523 in-Province, my interest in that ex-72 cab (M) was a set of photos published in Col Mike Dewar's The British Army In Northern Ireland. I'd brought a copy to Benson and got the crew to sign the relevant pages on arrival at Fleetlands. First coincidence relevant to the above shot - the crew-cab that took us all back to Benson? XV723'Q', by then also with Sixty.

Now for the second one. With the source not attributed in the book, the images were captioned as an Eagle VCP near Newry on 19th March 1975, XR523 being ‘AM’ at that time, and in 1997 I wasn't internet connected. Only came across their origin last year on the Royal Green Jackets official website where I discovered -

A Coy Bessbrook

The relevant set from the late Cpl Bert Henshaw's archive. Nos (5).jpg and (6).jpg were published along with another aerial shot (4) apparently missing from the site. Though credited ‘A Coy, Bessbrook’, I reckoned it wasn’t, so went with the book description to check the main routes round Newry, and found it some two miles east of that ‘city’ – as it’s now officially designated – on the road to Hilltown.

Apart from the absence of the Wessex and search team, the scene is virtually unchanged today, with the original posts and rusty barbed wire still topping the stone-faced bank and the distinctive stone arch culvert under the highway. Does that 19th March 1975 date match anyone’s log book?

Yes. I know. Anorak! but it's history now and that's why this thread has so much potential if it continues in a sensible manner. I'm not an aircraft - or rotary - enthusiast per-se; the individuals and surroundings form an important part of the picture, which is why I record personnel names and locations where possible. Whilst sensitive at the time, they're archive material thirty or forty years on, so long as the threat has disappeared.

I hope the photos bring back good memories for those of you who served ‘over here’.