IRCG
The history of Top Cover off west coast of Ireland goes back a long way back to the time of the Nimrod
It goes back a lot further than that - I was doing top cover in a Shackleton for both Whirlwinds and Wessex to the West of Ireland before the Nimrod came into service. However, I didn't realise the warm fuzzy glow it gives you until I was the one in the Wessex a few years later. Later still, the assets deployed off Cork for the Air India Accident meant that while I was out there in a Chinook for 6 hours we had at various times 2 x Nimrods, 2 x USAF C-130s and others. Admittedly they were also assisting in the search, and sending us to look at anything significant (anyone remember the cabbage patch doll?), but if anything had happened to us - and the further you go from land the more every strange noise, turbulence, change in Ts or Ps gets the heart rate going - they're there for us as well. Bobbing in the oggin is much better in a large multi seat dinghy courtesy of a Lindholm container (unless it hits you on the head!).