SJG
I believe AAR supported events went back well before Jan '89. I was involved in one such night operation in July '83 NW of Ireland. Two helos, a C130 tanker out of Keflavik and our Nimrod providing top cover/comms/navigational assistance. A Spanish fisherman had severed his foot and been taken onboard a Soviet fish factory. One helo illuminated the scene while the other did the lift. The JG couldn't speak to the ship so had to pass all comms through us. Pure navigational instructions ie turn port/starboard, increase/decrease speed were straight forward; trying to ensure that the Russian crew packed the severed foot in ice and ensured that it was with the casualty when he was lifted was another matter. After the lift we had to provided navigational and ATC assistance to both helos, one to Benbecula the other to Prestwick as they both had a combination of comms and nav failures. All in all a very interesting sortie. Also an example of when having top cover can be useful!