Colin Cooke report and photographs
RS04 hovers off the cliffs of Dover as a channel ferry passes.
The Straits of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel, is the busiest international seaway in the world with over 400 shipping vessel movements each day. This requires HM Coastguard to maintain a critical watch over all activity in the busy sea lane.
On Sunday 7 August the Dover Coastguard opened its doors to the public, and visiting from across the water was a Force Aerienne Belge (Belgian Air Force) Westland Sea King Mk 48. Based on the Belgian coast at Koksijde airfield, the Sea King made the short flight across the Channel to demonstrate a cliffside rescue.
RS04 is one of five Sea Kings delivered to Belgium’s 40 Squadron in 1976, soon to be replaced with NH90s. The colour scheme worn by the helicopter remains unchanged from delivery, something unique these days in the preferred “toned down” schemes so common in modern military hardware.
RS01 has been on display at Royal Army Museum, Brussels, since the end of last year and RS05 was painted in a special scheme in 2001 to celebrate 25 years of the Sea King, a scheme it stills wears today.
40 Squadron will be always remembered for its rescue of 30 people from The Herald of Free Enterprise ferry at Zeebrugge in 1987, without which they would almost certainly have perished.
- Published in the September 2011 Issue