Originally Posted by
teeteringhead
But there was a clip of a Wessex flying away in ther distance (archive?) and some (definitely contemporary) footage of a Belvedere.
Re the archive clip of a Wessex - look at 10.52 in on the BBC iPlayer. The Wessex has a yellow top to the fuselage. This indicates a Fleet Air Arm anti-submarine role Wessex HAS Mk1 and could well be my old Squadron - 815 - which was detached from HMS Centaur to Aden in January and again in May 1964. Just before my time with the Squadron as I joined them the following year.
All the sonar anti-submarine gear was stripped out from the Wessex and they operated in the troop transport role flying from Thurmier Airstrip in the Radfan Mountains. The Wessex shown in the accompanying photo whilst operating in the Radfan - XM873 - crashed at Wadi Misrah in June 1964 during a landing at 5000ft elevation in the mountains, rolled over 5 times and fell 150ft into a gully, sadly with the death of one of the troops.
Note the harp on the side of the helicopter - at that time we were 'sponsored' by Guinness!