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RAF Valley
BAe Hawks
SAR Helicopters
Sea King
Griffin
Wessex
Whirlwind
SARTU
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Westland Sea King in Detail
by
Spacek
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H-3 Sea King
by
Al Adcock
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Sea King
On the opposite side of the main runway from
the control tower lies the helicopter base used by both SARTU
and No.22 Search And Rescue Squadron, 'C' flight.
Until quite recently the venerable Wessex was used
by both, normally five of the type belonging to SARTU, and
two to No.22.
Now they have been replaced by Sea King HAR3s, two
actively involved in the SAR role and three Bell 412 Griffins
for SARTU.
The primary role of the Search And Rescue helicopters is
to provide assistance to RAF aircrew in trouble, however,
the majority of the time their call-outs will be to save civilian
lives. In an average year they will be called out 170 or so
times.
A helicopter is ready to go 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
During the daylight hours they are on 15 minutes readiness,
stretching to an hour at night, though in fact their response
time would usually be much quicker. The squadron motto is
"22 Rescue You"
The Sea King is powered by two Rolls-Royce H1400-1 Gnome
turboshaft engines rated at 1,660shp, and can accommodate
a crew of four with up to 19 passengers. It's fitted with
all-weather search and navigation equipment and a positioning
computer. The winch operator can fly the aircraft when hovering,
enabling him/her to position the rescue harness with great
accuracy.
The next two terrific shots were kindly donated
by Chas McHugh, the first in the Yorkshire Dales and
the second at Leconfield.
If you're interested
in Turbine engines, visit Roger
Marmion's page here
for more information.
Sea King HAR3 statistics
- Range : 280 nautical miles
- Max speed : 143 mph
- Rotor Diameter: 62'
- Length: 55' 9.75"
- First based at Valley : 1997
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