..... the SK HAS 1.
The clue is the 'HAS' - Helicopter Anti Submarine..... and that sure was what we did better than all comers. Four hour endurance and the 195 Sonar.. wow... and did we ever get up the noses of the Russian submariners.
As member of SK Course No1 which began in January 1970 with colleagues Graham Lee and Paul Hardcastle (RIP). We finished our OFT on Wx3 before Christmas and found ourselves back at CU and back in Ground School. Our instructors were Courtney (John) Horscroft, Mike Clark, Mike Burnett and 'Tigga' Shaw. Courtney would teach them the lesson in the morning and they would teach it to us in the afternoon. Then Courtney went on to be SPLOT of the first SK Squadron - 824 - based on the old Ark Royal - a proper carrier with Phantoms, Buccaneers and Gannets with a Wessex 1 for SARFLIGHT.
Of course in those days our primary role was chasing submarines for hours on end day and night and in all weathers. There were times when I never saw an altitude above 200 feet for months on end.
Our secondary role appeared at times to be keeping the ship and the other squadrons running. We would fly 500 miles from the western approaches to fetch spare parts and even found a way to deliver 6000 lbs of Spey (in steel cradle) for the stovies.
SAR - what a lot of fuss. In those days you were expected to be SAR capable regardless of your seniority or your background. If you were a FAA helicopter pilot then it went with the territory and woe betide you if you expected anything more than a BZ if you got the job done and as far as I remember we generally did.
Shame that the SK's prowess at chasing Ruskies was glossed over. We gave one particular WHISKY CLASS such a hard time one day in the Greenland Gap that he got on the blower (underwater telephone) and asked his shadow (ELINT disguised as a trawler) to come and push us out of the hover. He succeeded but we replied by using the infamous Pee Tube and showering his foredeck with some (Glenmorangie laced) urine.
Happy Days
G.
