Harry Benson - Scram!

As helicopter crews, we’d been so busy doing our own thing, flying our own missions, very often unaware of what else was going on. We only ever saw our little piece of the jigsaw, our own personal adventure. But between the lot of us we’d seen pretty much the whole thing and been involved in almost all the major events of the war. Perhaps it was understandable that we had said little to others in the intervening years, yet we hadn’t even told each other.

And so, from that evening, the first grain of an idea formed: to write the untold story of the helicopter war in the Falklands.

Almost 500 helicopter pilots, aircrewmen and observers flew in the Falklands War. The following are some of the key personalities who feature in this book .

Pilots:Roger Warden (commanding officer, Ascension Island), Jack Lomas (A Flight commander), Nick Foster (B Flight commander), Mike Tidd (C Flight commander), Mike Crabtree (E Flight commander), Andy Berryman, Mark Evans, Ric Fox, Ian Georgeson, Richard Harden, Paul Heathcote, Steve Judd, Dave Knight, Richard Morton, Andy Pulford, Kim Slowe

Aircrew:Arthur Balls, Kev Gleeson, Dave Greet, Jan Lomas, Steve MacNaughton, Smiler Smiles, Ian Tyrrell, Tug Wilson

Pilots:Simon Thornewill (commanding officer), Bill Pollock (senior pilot), Alan Bennett, Martin Eales, Bob Grundy, Ray Harper, Bob Horton, Paul Humphreys, Dick Hutchings, Trevor Jackson, Dave Lord, John Middleton, John Miller, Nigel North, Pete Rainey, Peter Spens-Black

Aircrew:Splash Ashdown, Kevin Casey, Pete Imrie, Michael Love, John Sheldon, Colin Tattersall, Alf Tupper

Pilots:Mike Booth (commanding officer), Rob Flexman (senior pilot), Peter Hails (B flight commander), Neil Anstis, Harry Benson, Ray Colborne, Willie Harrower, Tim Hughes, Dave Kelly, Norman Lees, Paul McIntosh, Adrian Short, Pete Skinner, Jerry Spence, Mike Spencer, George Wallace

Aircrew:Mark Brickell, Jed Clamp, Neil Cummins, Al Doughty, Chris Eke, Steve Larsen, Jock McKie, Sandy Saunders, Reg Sharland, Smudge Smyth, Bill Tuttey

Pilots:David Baston (commanding officer), Chris Blight (A Flight commander), Mark Salter (B Flight commander), Ralph Miles (D Flight commander), Ian Brown, Ian Bryant, Ian Chapman, Pete Manley, Dave Ockleton, Mark Salter, Paul Schwarz, Jerry Thomas

Aircrew:Ginge Burns, Martin Moreby

Pilots:Ian Stanley (HMS Antrim flight commander), Stewart Cooper

Aircrew:Chris Parry ( Antrim observer), Fitz Fitzgerald

Pilots:Hugh Clark (commanding officer), John Boughton, Brian Evans, Steve Isacke, Phil Sheldon

Aircrew:Roy Egglestone, David Jackson, Tug Wilson

Pilots:John Dransfield (HMS Plymouth ), Tony Ellerbeck (HMS Endurance Flight commander), Tim Finding ( Endurance )

Aircrew:Joe Harper, Bob Nadin ( Endurance ), David Wells ( Endurance observer)

Pilots:Peter Cameron (3 BAS commanding officer); Gervais Coryton, Andrew Evans, Ken Francis (Gazelle); Sam Drennan, Jeff Niblett, Richard Nunn (Scout)

Aircrew:Ed Candlish, Pat Griffin (Gazelle)

Pilots:Nick Grose, Dick Langworthy, Andy Lawless, Colin Miller

Pilots:HRH Prince Andrew (820 Sea King), Keith Dudley (senior pilot, 820 Sea King), Chris Clayton (HMS Cardiff Lynx), Ray Middleton (HMS Broadsword Lynx), John Sephton (HMS Ardent Lynx)

Aircrew:Peter Hullett ( Cardiff Lynx)

Altogether 170 British helicopters were deployed with the task force to the South Atlantic and actively involved during the Falklands War. They were used in four main roles:

1. Junglies and other transport helicopters: fourteen Sea King HC4 (Helicopter Commando Mark 4) and forty-six Wessex HU5 (Helicopter Utility Mark 5) of the commando squadrons; ten antisubmarine Sea King HAS2 stripped of their sonar equipment and converted to troop carriers, and four RAF Chinook twin-rotor heavy-lift helicopters. These bigger helicopters did the vast bulk of the lifting and shifting of people and equipment. Wessex could also carry anti-tank missiles or rockets.

2. Teeny weenies: seventeen Gazelle AH1 (Army Helicopter Mark 1) and fifteen Scout AH1. These small Royal Marines and Army helicopters were used on land for front-line reconnaissance and casualty evacuation. Scouts could also carry anti-tank missiles or rockets.

3. Small ships: twenty-four Lynx HAS2 and eleven Wasp HAS1. Frigates, destroyers, and survey ships had one or two of these smaller helicopters embarked, capable of firing anti-ship missiles, anti-submarine torpedoes or depth charges.

4. Pingers: twenty-seven Sea King HAS2 (Helicopter Anti-Submarine Mark 2) and HAS5 and two Wessex HAS3. The Sea Kings were based on the aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible , and other large ships of the task force. They flew around-the-clock sorties to protect against the threat from submarines. The Wessex were based on the County-class destroyers HMS Antrim and HMS Glamorgan . All were equipped with radar and underwater sonar and could carry antisubmarine torpedoes or depth charges.

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS is a small British dependency in the South Atlantic covering an area the size of East Anglia. There are two main islands, East and West Falkland, and hundreds of small islands. Much of the landscape is remote moorland. The abundant wildlife includes king penguins, sealions, upland geese, albatross and petrels.

The islands are just 250 miles from the Argentine mainland. However, the first settler in 1764 on East Falkland was in fact French, followed a year later in 1765 by the first English settler on West Falkland. Both were forced out by Spanish colonists from Buenos Aires, only for the British to reclaim their settlement in 1771. The British and Spanish garrisons eventually withdrew from the islands, distracted by other colonial wars, leaving behind little more than plaques to indicate their respective claims of sovereignty.