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RAF FOR


RAF FORTITUDE A


n example of commitment from RAF Search and Rescue which can only beg the question: Will things


ever be the same again?


The duty RAF search and rescue helicopters from A Flt, 22 Sqn have rescued a seriously- injured crewman from a French trawler in atrocious weather in the Irish Sea.


The trawler crewman onboard a 25 metre French fishing vessel had serious head injuries. The Irish Sea weather 50 miles west of Milford Haven was ferocious. The ‘ALF’ was


14 Envoy Summer 2013


The ALF’s captain spoke very little English, so a 3-way translation service was arranged via satellite phone involving English and French Coastguards and the crew of RAF SAR. They managed to brief the French captain as to how the RAF helicopter crew intended to get the crewman off the fishing vessel.


The ALF’s captain passed on a message that the injured crewman’s condition


pitching and rolling violently, climbing and descending vertically 40 feet with each swell. The 35 knot wind whipped up spray and the sheeting rain, hampering visibility.


had continued to deteriorate and he had unstoppable head bleeding, so a rapid airlift was now vital.


On the winch was Sgt Rachel Robinson who made six separate, hazardous descents on the winch-wire in an attempt to reach the ALF’s tiny, heaving deck. So violent were the seas that Rachel was repeatedly snatched from ALF’s tiny deck as the boat plunged into wave troughs far faster than the winch cable could be paid out.


Because of the horrendous sea state, Flt Lt ‘Taff’ Wilkins, the Sea King’s captain, suggested a boat-to-boat transfer should be


www.raf-ff.org.uk


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