I had the pleasure of being the first helicopter to go to the Torrey Canyon. John Bell, later joined Alan Mann, went first in a Wessex 1 but the float bag on his right wheel blew & duly burst in the cruise, so he came back. I set off in a Wessex 5 which didn't need floatation!! It was my last week or so in the RN & quite a fun way to finish my time. I think I did about 10 flights, mixture of SAR crew, photographers, medics, salvage experts & picked up some ship's crew members plus at least one badly injured. I think he was the one who was hit in the back by a flying hatch when there was an explosion in the engine room. It was truly well stuck on the rocks, so I'm not surprised it couldn't be dragged off.
So long ago!!