King of the Junglies flies again

The 30-year-old helicopter is serving once more with 846 Naval Air Squadron after 18 months of repairs following a severe hit from insurgent fire in Helmand.
 
Ready to take its place in the line again after being peppered by Taleban fire in Afghanistan 18 months ago is a veteran Sea King hailed the ‘King of the Junglies’.

It took a year and a half to restore the extensive damage left by a rocket-propelled grenade which struck just behind the cockpit – and passed out of the other side of the fuselage.

As well as leaving a rather large hole, the rocket slightly injured the door gunner – but otherwise everyone else on board was unharmed in the incident, which occurred when the Sea King – ZA298 – set down at a checkpoint in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand.

CPO Neil Copeland led the effort to recover the aircraft in Afghanistan at the time of the attack in late 2009 – and was at RNAS Yeovilton to finally welcome it home.

“Because the aircraft was to be airlifted from the check point, the mission was extremely challenging as we had to remove a considerable amount of hazardous equipment and fuel from the aircraft to ensure everyone’s safety and to reduce its overall weight,”

the senior rating explained.

“We receive military training in theatre for this type of eventuality but working on the rotor head – which was about ten feet above the ground and four feet above the compound wall – certainly concentrated the mind as we were in full view of the terrorists who were responsible for bringing the aircraft down.  However the Army did an excellent job in providing cover and ensured we were able to get on with the task in hand.”

Neil, a senior aircraft maintainer, oversaw the move of ZA298 to Camp Bastion and he and his team prepared it for its return to the UK. It was then sent to Vector Aerospace at Fleetlands in Gosport, where it was meticulously restored to working order.

He continued:

“Looking at the aircraft now you would never know it has suffered such catastrophic damage. Vector Aerospace has done an excellent job.”

The Sea Kings are renowned for their resilience and ability to take punishment; ZA298 is no exception.
At the very beginning of its career, it was shot at by an Argentine Sky Hawk during the 1982 Falklands conflict. The 30mm cannon shells struck one of the Sea King’s rotor blades. Two hours later, repaired, it was off on another mission.

Just two days after that hairy encounter, the veritable war horse was used to ferry General Mario Menéndez, Argentine commander in the islands, to HMS Fearless where initial surrender negotiations were being held.

ZA298 also suffered damage from small arms fire when flying in Bosnia during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Such close shaves have earned the aircraft the tag ‘King of the Junglies’ – reference to the ‘Jungly’ nickname enjoyed by Sea Kings which support the Royal Marines on operations around the globe.

The helicopter is now serving once more with 846 Naval Air Squadron, one of two front-line Jungly squadrons based at Yeovilton as part of the Commando Helicopter Force.