When I kept my diary during the Falkland Islands War in 1982 I did it as a kind of daily relief. A friend suggested to me that history needs to be recorded, by everyone at all levels, so here it is. I was diagnosed as type 1 diabetic after the Falklands and it was attributed to trauma. I was grounded, unable to fly again, which does bother me at times.
I was the second pilot of the Wessex Mk3 helicopter on HMS Antrim in the Royal Navy during the Falklands. The helicopter gained the nickname Humphrey, and she is now spending her time in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton. I was a sub-lieutenant, only twenty-seven; I had served 5 years as a junior rate, and was not your archetypal blond haired blue-eyed flyboy - in fact, far from it. Antrim Flight was my first front-line posting, and it was my choice of post, rather than being an anonymous member of a large squadron. We sailed from Gibraltar on 29th March on what I thought was going to be a fairly routine trip. How wrong I was!
Details
- Publication Date
- Dec 21, 2012
- Language
- English
- Category
- History
- Copyright
- All Rights Reserved - Standard Copyright License
- Contributors
- By (author): Stewart Cooper
Specifications
- Format
- EPUB