Belize 1977. A Scout has a No 5 seal failure on the OP at Cadenas on the extreme south west of the country. I was jungle winching down there and was told to sling it back. The pad on the OP was just sticks so that when another Puma brought the REME crew down I had to winch them down to their Scout. They got the blades off and ready for underslinging so in I came and lifted it off as far Salamanca to refuel; meanwhile the other Puma picked up REME, pilot and blades.
After refuelling as much as I dared with the weight of the Scout I lifted off with the other Puma in company. I had flown a few Scouts before so I was confident that it would tuck in nicely at about 115 knots after a bit of nodding and shuddering at 100. This one had a winch on and was an absolute dog.
After a fair amount of verbal abuse we eventually got it to fly at about 45knott with 30 degrees of drift on. Those who fly the Puma will know that it is a variable speed/ constant fuel consumption machine so I was going to run out of fuel before I reached Belize. I decided not to return to Salamanca but to continue on to Stann Creek, unload the Scout, punch off at high speed to Belize, refuel and then return to pick up the Scout. The other Puma would do the necessary as far as unhooking/hooking up/security etc.
I lifted of from Stann Creek just as it was getting dark. No troubles at Belize or coming back and finding the airstrip and doing a night approach with a Puma anti-coll as a guide. Just as I was coming into the hover we went IMC in mosquitoes; the poor sods had had then since I had left. As they were hooking the Scout up I could see the flicker of flame from the other Puma as he hit the starter switch and he was airborne less than two minutes after we left.
It was Open Air Cinema Night and I knew that Major ‘You’ll never have to bring any of my Scouts back’ in charge of the AAC detachment would be watching so I flew slowly around the camp at 300 ft with the landing light illuminating his Scout.
Cost me a few beers for the Puma crew; never did see the Major again.