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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
CAREERS IN DEFENCE FOCUS ALAMY; CROWN COPYRIGHT/MOD
The Daily Telegraph
A ROYAL light Lieutenant Fiona Bailey’s dream as a child was to fly helicopters for the Royal Air Force. Today, the 31-year-old is doing just that — as a Sea King captain with the RAF’s Search and Rescue Force, based with D Flight 202 Squadron, at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. The RAF has six Search and Rescue teams in the UK, which respond — 24 hours a day — to more than 1,000 call-outs a year. The main role of the teams is to recover RAF personnel, but in peacetime most of the call-outs are to civilian incidents, such as last weekend’s Original Mountain Marathon rescue in the Lake District, where a number of the 2,500 competitors suffered severe injuries and hypothermia when raging storms forced organisers to call the run off. The RAF teams work alongside four civilian coastguards and two Royal Navy teams to cover the UK, so that no area is more than one hour’s flight away in daylight. At night, the teams can reach anywhere in the country in less than 90 minutes. If you see news footage on television of a helicopter airlifting someone out of trouble, then the likelihood is that it will be a Sea King that has come to the rescue. The RAF’s Sea King Search and Rescue helicopters also play a vital role overseas in areas needing disaster relief. Bailey has been flying helicopters for more than eight years and the Sea King for around four, clocking up nearly 1,000 hours’ air time and navigating more than 200 rescue operations. “I knew as soon as I started training that I wanted to fly Sea Kings with Search and Rescue,†says Bailey. “You just don’t know what the next operation will be — it could be a climber stuck on the mountains, or a fishing vessel in trouble on stormy seas. The likelihood is that the conditions will be severe and you have to know that you can rely on your craft. The Sea King is an extremely stable platform and I trust it with my life and the lives of my crew.†The Sea King, flown by Prince Andrew during the Falklands War, and recently co-piloted by Prince William as part of his RAF training, has been a warhorse of the Royal Navy since it first saw service for Britain in 1969. It was originally commissioned as the Royal Navy’s anti-submarine warfare helicopter, but there have been a number of new versions designed to carry out different roles and with other capabilities. The original Sea King helicopter was designed by the RussianAmerican Igor Sikorsky, one of the most successful helicopter designers to emerge after the Second World War. Westland Helicopters (now AgustaWestland), the British aviation company, had negotiated a long-term agreement in 1946 to build helicopters using Sikorsky’s designs, which, 20 years later, led to the British version — the Westland Sea King. The British versions have been significantly upgraded, using powerful Rolls-Royce engines and British avionics, and are very different from their American counterparts. There are now more than 300 British Sea King helicopters in service throughout the world, with UK military Sea King helicopters clocking up almost one million
CONTRIBUTION THE GRANDEST HELICOPTER OF THE RAF’S FLEET, THE BRITISH-BUILT SEA KING, CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF SERVICE NEXT YEAR. GABRIELLE COLLETT-WHITE LOOKS BACK ON ITS REIGN flying hours since entering service. “The Sea King has proved to be one of the most durable and versatile helicopters ever built and has been in service with the Royal Navy for nearly 40 years now,†says Geoff Russell, communications manager at AgustaWestland. “Its success can be attributed to its large cabin and excellent range, allowing it to adapt to many different roles.†The Sea King really came into its own during the Falklands War, when it was used primarily in antisubmarine search-and-attack duties and for troop transport. The fleet operated from the Invincible-class aircraft carriers, HMS Illustrious, HMS Ark Royal and HMS Invincible. The start of the Falklands conflict in 1982 highlighted the need to have an improved
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The first Sea King helicopter — the Sikorsky S-61 — was in operation in the United States Navy by 1961. One of the early production models became the first helicopter officially to exceed 200mph, reaching 210.6mph (339 km/h) in 1962. The Sea King’s range is 310 miles, or 410 miles with an extended range tank. Royal Navy Sea Kings, pictured in Ghana, are now being used in Afghanistan.
diameter of DID YOU KNOW? 5 The King’s rotor a Sea blade is 61ft (18.59m).
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Sea Kings are used by RAF Search-and-Rescue teams in the UK and answer more than 1,000 emergency call-outs each year. A Sea King is used as one of the official helicopters of the President of the United States. It is known as Marine One when the president is actually aboard. There are now more than 300 Sea King helicopters of varying models in service throughout the world.
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airborne early-warning system that could operate from the carriers, and the Sea King helicopter was considered the best vehicle for the job. AgustaWestland was commissioned to revise the standard Sea King at the time — the HAS Mk 2 — and mount a Searchwater radar onto its side. By the end of July that year, the helicopter was on Falklands duty. Over the years, further technological improvements have been made; the latest variant of the helicopter is the Airborne Surveillance and Area Control (ASaC) Sea King. This contains the new Thales Searchwater radar system that enables the detection of low-flying enemy aircraft that might have been missed by conventional ship-borne radars. It can also be used for overland and air and surface search missions. The new radar can simultaneously track 400 targets, rather than the 250 targets of earlier models. Production of the Sea King ended in 1996, but the helicopters continue to play a key role in military and civilian operations. “The Sea King has seen extensive service in virtually every major UK military overseas operation since its introduction into service,†says Russell. As for Flight Lieutenant Bailey, she is in no doubt that she is flying the cream of the RAF’s helicopter fleet: ‘The Sea King may be a bit on the old side, now, but it’s an absolute brick — it just keeps on going and going. It’s a great old lady.â€
Blades of glory: Prince Andrew piloted Sea King helicopters while serving with the Royal Navy during the Falklands War
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