Hello OSB you are slightly older than me but I bet we served together on SAR at some time. This post reminds me of the time the RAF took responsibility for Manston with Wessex from Bristow with Whirlwinds. A couple of days before the handover we were tasked with a
PR shoot with the BBC. The cameraman had a monkey-harness on and we flew down to Dover and back again. On passing the Goodwin Sands said photographer shouted that he had seen a red flare. Sure enough, on investigation we found a broken catamaran with 4 people and a dog clinging to it. While the rescue went on the cameraman was leaning well out of the door 'scooping' his financial future. It wasn't till we got back to Manston that he realised that his monkey-harness wasn't attached to anything!