View Full Version : RAF & IAC food drops to farms in NI
Just a spotter
27th Mar 2013, 09:52
Ulster Television reporting that an RAF Chinook has been called in to Northern Ireland in order to drop food supplies to farms and livestock cut off by snow. Support will be provided from south of the border by the Irish Air Corps.
Chinook food drops (http://www.u.tv/News/Chinook-food-drops-%E2%80%98for-South-Down/df3f2f37-feb1-4ec2-a478-04498cacee48)
Just curious, given the current RAF overseas commitments, how many Chinooks are currently available in the UK?
JAS
Tankertrashnav
27th Mar 2013, 11:12
Not many, I'll wager JAS.
This should be a wake up call for the Great British public, and successive governments who have reduced our armed forces to a shadow of their former selves, in spite of ever increasing overseas commitments.
In the minds of the public there is still a great standing army hanging around in barracks polishing their boots, and rows and rows of aircraft on remote airfields just waiting to answer the call. Thus whenever there is any sort of emergency at home the call goes out - "why don't they bring in the troops?" The answer of course, there aren't enough left and those that remain are either on ops or preparing to go on them.
It is a sad indictment that the deployment of ONE Chinook helicopter in aid of the civilian population makes news, welcome, of course, as its contribution is. Sixty years ago when the great East Coast flood disaster caused widespread damage and loss of life, thousands of troops were mobilised to assist the civil authorities. When it happens again, which it will, pace the climate change deniers, we'll be hard put to provide one chopper and a platoon of troops to help.
Health - education - education - health chant the politicians of all parties when saying what their spending priorities are. But shhh - dont mention defence , that's a dirty word.
melmothtw
27th Mar 2013, 11:14
Aside from operational deployments and training / maintenence etc, four of the UK's 46 Chinooks are kept on permanent standby to respond to global contingencies that occur from time to time, plus a single aircraft that is on permanent alert to respond to UK government taskings and emergencies.
It will be this UK-assigned aircraft you would have seen in the NI news.
airborne_artist
27th Mar 2013, 11:23
Sixty years ago when the great East Coast flood disaster caused widespread damage and loss of life, thousands of troops were mobilised to assist the civil authorities.
We had national service until 1960 with the last leaving in 1963. Most were bored senseless.
Tankertrashnav
27th Mar 2013, 11:31
They were bored senseless because of a complete lack of imagination by the authorities in how best to use them and keep them occupied. In any case long after the end of National Service we still had much larger numbers during my own time in the RAF in the 60s and 70s, since when numbers have just about halved.
BEagle
27th Mar 2013, 11:38
Well, I certainly remember the cold winter of 1962/3. But even then the snow had mostly gone by early March.
The TV news frequently covered the efforts of military helicopter crews taking food to snowed-in farms:
Britain's coldest winters on record in pictures - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8209333/Britains-coldest-winters-on-record-in-pictures.html?image=4)
Still, at prep school it meant we couldn't play rugby, so we spent much of the time tobogganing instead....:ok:
melmothtw
27th Mar 2013, 11:42
Speaking as a former prep school boy myself, I can confirm that 'tobogganing' is not a euphamism....
WIDN62
27th Mar 2013, 13:24
JAS
It doesn't matter how many RAF Chinooks are in the UK, because they are using Army ones in NI. BBC Radio 5 Live told me - so it must be true!
CoffmanStarter
27th Mar 2013, 13:34
BEagle ...
At Prep School you tobogganed ... We at Grammar School sledged (in the Metalwork Masters commandeered steel filing cabinet as it happens ... which sported RAF roundels IIRC ... you cold get four in it Bobsleigh style with the draws removed) !
:ok:
PeregrineW
27th Mar 2013, 13:46
Ah, so you're a tobogganist? In that case, could I please have twenty Bensons and a box of matches?
dragartist
27th Mar 2013, 14:45
Do we not have any C130s that can drop stuff by parachute. I thought they may be glad of the practice.
Back in Beagle's winter of 62/63 (when up Edinburgh way, we still had snow around till May), I'm fairly certain that some of the RAF's brand new Argosies went dropping fodder to snowbound farms - probably free drop rather than by parachute, but I'm sure that somebody here can confirm/deny.
Just a spotter
28th Mar 2013, 22:01
The operation is now reported as being supported by 3 British Chinooks and 2 Irish AW139's
Air Corp winches two people to safety in North - RTÉ News (http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0328/378783-weather/)
JAS
Roland Pulfrew
28th Mar 2013, 23:42
Oh FFS! CAS get a grip:
Three British Army Chinook helicopters
TTN
during my own time in the RAF in the 60s and 70s, since when numbers have just about halved.
I hate to tell you this, but when I joined in the early 80s the RAF was approx 86000 strong, today we are close to 1/3 of that at 31500:(
Do we not have any C130s that can drop stuff by parachute.
If we had any spare C130s, with trained crews, we might; but we haven't.:(