Helimarshaller: Very much
on topic and thank you for the correct details as well as the photographic record!
Never seen someone looking quite to pleased to be out of the damp!
Heli1: Was referring to the Eagle Patrols which would sometimes utilise a three-aircraft flight, one being the Heli-Tele ship with observer and the other two carrying four soldierss apiece.
PAN: Great shots of the Heli-Tele!
Soldiers dismount from a Westland Scout during an Eagle Patrol along the Irish border on 16th March 1977
Eagle Patrol extraction by a Westland Scout after operating a vehicle check-point (VCP) in the border region of County Fermanagh on 26th October 1976
No mucking about with lengthy recces and the like, Eagle Patrols would evidently set-up impromptu VCP's as they felt necessary to support security, the entire operation being air-supported. Patrol aircraft would land wherever required.
How about a version with the flotation gear, the winches or even the casualty pods we had fitted/available in HK.
XT614 fitted with floats over Hong Kong
XT639 on exercise (not Hong Kong) but displaying the external stretcher panniers
Army Air Corps Westland Scout AH1 XP901 of 660 Squadron in Hong Kong in December 1981 (Photo: Sid Nanson)
Could someone be so kind as to explain what the 'roll-bar' device is which appears on many of the Hong Kong Scouts, just aft of the for'ard doors and looping over the canopy?
500Fan: Well done on the NI aircraft registrations.
Gazzer1uk: As 500Fan states, if you can identify some of the Falklands aircraft then you will be able to verify whether some of the same aircraft flew in both environments. AFAIK and, as mentioned above, 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron (you know, those Marine types) were the first to be over the Falklands skies in the Scout (with six aircraft). They were joined by three aircraft from 656 Squadron Army Air Corps who added an additional three aircraft when the 5th Infantry Brigade turned-up. So, there should have been at least twelve Scouts in the Falklands.