RLI COMMENTS ON CHOPPERTECH

Did you know…

On Op Dingo – 23 & 25 November 1977 – Chimoio & Tembue

In the opening minutes of the Chimoio attack one of the trooping G-Cars was damaged by ground fire requiring a full rotor change.

In addition the command helicopter’s tail rotor assembly needed to be replaced.

The chopper techs on the ground at the admin area exchanged the tail rotor form the damaged G-Car to the command helicopter to allow it back into action.

They then waited for a full set of rotors and a tail rotor assembly to be flown in from Grand Reef airfield to make the damaged G-Car serviceable.

This they achieved while working in the bush and the G-Car was repaired and then flew back to Grand Reef that night.

The day between Chimoio and Tembue required extensive repair and maintenance work on the 22 choppers as every one of the 10 K-Cars had sustained hits during the day and bearing in mind that the SAS had stayed over at Chimoio that night to mop-up any gooks who had drifted back into the area and had to be withdrawn the next morning by chopper.

During the Tembue attack, 320 km into Mozambique, the forward admin base was only six kms from the camp itself. One K-Car had taken a strike to its engine and needed a replacement. The replacement engine was flown in to the admin base where the chopper techs changed the engine in the bush using empty fuel drums as their workbench. The repaired K-Car was able to fly out by the end of the day.

Maybe we need to pause for a moment and remember the skill that these chopper techs displayed both with machine guns and 20mm cannons and technically.

Rhodesian chopper techs… the RLI slautes you all!
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Added by Mark Adams
to "Support Commando, RLI"..Added April 12 · Comment ·LikeUnlike
Mark Adams Yes and of course in this group I include the 'slopie' crews who could only be differentiated from the local crews by their accents and the rum and coke they drank.
April 14 at 1:36pm · Report.Write a comment.....