Swift 22....Last Marine Helicopter Out of Vietnam
 

Should we save Swift 22, the CH-46 that picked the last Marines off the US Embassy Roof in Saigon?

https://www.azpm.org/p/home-featured...elicopter-out/

Well you do have Major Buang-Ly,s O1 in a museum, so why not.

Britain kept our Little Ships, the ones that got the lads off Dunkirk beach in 1940, so yes keep it, its important.
Think I remember the story about the Saigon evacuation in "Heroes" by lefty journo but general good egg John Pilger, and very good read that chapter is.

Err as for Britain keeping our little ships, they have left several of the really historic ones to rot.

The last of the lightships used to mark the route to the beaches through the minefields, and it's a German expressing concern for her!

http://www.feuerschiffseite.de/SCHIF...V72/lv72gb.htm

And the last surviving LCT ( Landing Craft Tank)

http://www.nationalhistoricships.org...r/713/landfall


..

We've had a big history in a short time recently. I don't expect we will keep everything, do you? I mean the little ships returned to private ownership, are little and generally to people from the Thames Valley who had a few bob to look after them and hand them down.
As for the reasons we don't keep them, ships such as the recent Ark Royal, Plymouth...its the way of England. They smashed up the fighting Temeraire, its always been the way of it, you know that.
Incidentally, I was never happier until I saw HMS Invincible smashed to atoms in that Turkish yard. Utterly wank ship with a higher than national average of utter mongs as officers and men (and women, allegedly).

Yes I had a 3 week 'holiday' on the Vincible - she did not appear to be a happy ship - although the Po's and below generally were very friendly !
Our detachment got off to a great start (it included GPS/INAS trials) when some jolly jack brought in our boffins GPS antenna with a rats tail of wire hanging - it had been 'removed' from the 'Roof' by a Harrier engine run :)

Yes I was on it for a long, long time. Other vessels were far, far better. And yet now, I'm trying to think or remember specifically why that was.


It came down to the little big word, respect. As junior rates we seemed to have gained none, from anybody above, and so a reflective wave of utter contempt was sent back.
That, and the higher than average operational tempo made for a very unpleasant ship at times. * A typical example. In my Junior Rates mess deck there were 15 of us, crammed in like sardines. Our beer allowance was 3 little cans a day per man. 3 x 15 was and is 45. As I recall our beer was issued in crates of 24 at a time, so we were issued 2 crates of 24 being 48. We were then expected to withdraw 3 beer cans and place them somewhere else, and place the rest of the beer in the fridge for issue of 45 cans for that day. With me so far? Upon evening rounds a fattish female officer opened the fridge and proceeded to count out every can of beer in front of us, and low and behold we were 3 cans over our issue. For this, we were punished by having our beer issue withdrawn for one full week.
It sounds like an episode from the TV comedy "Porridge" at times, that little vignette, but all true. Little spiteful unimaginative tricks like this do not make for happy times, any young officers reading this.

Anyway put the helicopter on that carrier they use as a floating museum in New York. We should do a similar thing with HMS Illustrious - what a good tourist attraction that would be.

Punished for too many Beers present? Huh?:ugh::mad:

Why wouldn't you save it ?

You have the space, often the money and even if it is left where it is with a "not to be destroyed" note on it,
at least it's safe for the time being.

Perhaps the female officer (why is her size relevant?) concerned was checking for integrity?

Anyway, back to the OP.

That's a question for you & your countrymen.