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Probably a short lived thread, but a couple of 'Tugg' flight safety cartoon from back in 1985 to bring a smile in these troubled times.

And one for luck.

Love the little details that make these really hilarious...

The seagulls perching on the rotors made me laugh particularly...

Pic 1 reminds me of 'Dinghy drill' at Chivenor (excuse the FW intrusion ) which took place in a sea which required goon suits but was fine for holiday makers. Dropped and dragged 'as per' a bit off Saunton Sands and finally made it into the dinghy to be told the chopper had gone tech and would be an hour or so - "amuse yourselves". After 2 hours some of us had paddled, with an onshore breeze, into the Saunton shallows, to be surrounded by small kids wiv their buckets, asking if the lump inside the rubber suit really was a 'fighter pilot'

As you say, TGG, the 'detail' is exquisite, - see the bearded matelot and the red bikini in pic 1..

Very embarrassing Boac!

I wonder if Tugg based that Winkle Bay one on this incident when a Sea King ditched in Falmouth Bay one night, couldn't get off again on one engine and water taxied to a local bay before flopping onto the sand - not rocks in their case! Wonder what the locals thought was coming ashore...





Later that day:

Why did they remove the rotor blades? Safety, or is it being prepared for transport? Or were they nicked?

"Or were they nicked?"- did it come down near Liverpool, then?

Boac wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 7:39 pm

"Or were they nicked?"- did it come down near Liverpool, then?

The wheels would have gone as well.

Not if the Liverpool Rotary were involved............ok.................I know.......on my way.

The blades had to come off because they couldn't get it flying again from the beach due to salt water ingress everywhere I think and it had to be prepared for a low loader - now that would have been interesting in the lanes on the east side of the Lizard. They're bad enough in a car.

Is it too heavy to sling under a Chinook?

llondel wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 4:45 am

Is it too heavy to sling under a Chinook?

No problem for a Chinook - play from 1:20 onwards. No idea of the circumstances of this particular operation.

Good point - I will dig the article out again and see when this happened. Probably mid to late 1970s as it's a Mk 2 Sea King - I think the Chinook went into RAF service in the early 1980s.

As well as the incredible Tugg cartoonist there is also my good friend the amazing and talented Ron Gent who was an Observer on Wessex HAS Mk1 helicopters and in particular he served on 815 Squadron. In 2016 we held our final annual Squadron reunion as it coincided with the 50th anniversary of when 815 disbanded in 1966. Our reunion numbers had reduced from 111 attendees in 2003 to around 28 in 2016 so it was thought it was time to call a halt. Ron produced this cartoon to mark the event at the Batch Country House Hotel near Weston-Super-Mare. I have reduced the size from A4 slightly but hope it's still legible.

Ron now lives near Perth, WA, and is not in the best of health. He produced the cartoon logo that heads up this forum and as you can see, he can bring a Wessex to life! I have a few more of Ron's large size cartoons which I will scan in here.

Magic stuff!

Just re-checked 142 ditching. It was October 1980 during a night 'Jumpex'. Number 2 engine broke up in a very heavy hover with sparks and loud sound effects, so crew not keen on flying it any more! Sonar cable cut but two Mk 46s kept attached,flot bags inflated and gear lowered. Water taxied 2 hrs to Swanpool Beach (southern end of Falmouth town). Beach had big car park and town roads made for easy access for the 'Queen Mary'.

C16 - another really talented and funny guy by the look of it. I hope there are some around today to keep up the tradition.