•NVG first used in the Falklands by the RN in 1982.
•Double strop lifts around since I was training, 1969, and certainly raised at INTSAR in 1972 when I was on the staff for the event. Not by the RAF, I hasten to add, but by the Noggie's who lost a survivor on the winch and another because he was too large to fit any of the standard strops in use back then.
•Can't speak for FLIR, we were battling to get it in VicPol Air Wing in 1982 when the NSCA (Vic) got the first operational civil unit in Australia. What's the RAF/RN history there?
John - NVG not used on RNSAR until mid 2000's - Prestwick instructed in their use by RAFSAR QHI.
Double strop lift - as in taking a casualty out of the water horizontally to avoid loss of hydrostatic squeeze allowing warm blood to drop to legs - some Lyme Bay casualties (kids in canoes) died from shock on the way to hospital some didn't. RN used vertical lift, RAF used horizontal - subsequently accepted as SOP by RNSAR for casualty in the water.
FLIR - introduced mid 2000s by RAF - not sure if RN SAR eventually converted all the aircraft before folding.
We are on the same side but you keep nibbling away at me and the RAF