Naval helis?

[hptmurphy]

Another indicator to the time frame of the photos is the white liferafts...these were replaced by grey ones in 1993,,,,and the lack of the bulbous coms dome amidships again fitted sometime after 1988.

[Sluggie]

Sorry for causing confusion murph.

The photos of 248 were taken in 1988 according to our scrapbook.

The patrol I was refering to in 1994 has nothing to do with these photos. I have found photos of that patrol but haven't put them up.

[Laners]

I still think it is Brette in the picture, the rank markings on his uniform seem to be those of Commodore and judging by his height it it seems to be him, plus Deasy was not that tall.

[Laners]

I just took another look at the pics and this has nothing to do with placing a date on them , but if you look at the first photo , look closely at the water just off the stern it appears that the ships screws are turning and a slight wake in water off to the right , this would mean that the ship was moving and not at anchor, maybe maybe not, but a bit unusual for a non Naval hello to be making a landing on a moving vessel , anyone any ideas ? .

[hptmurphy]

The earlier photo in the series shows some sort of meeting in the Hanger. Brett is seated in the front row...I wasn't debating this point so this puts us back to a time when Brett was FOCNs. Again the first in seies which Goldie actually sent to me before this one was posted clearly shows the anchor cable paid out from the port hawse pipe..Goldie post the bloody photos and give the chap a chance to see what i'm talking about.

I noticed the slight wake and this confuses me as well given the fact that the Helo itself is also pointed into wind for the landing..so my thoughts on the ship making way around the anchor cable to facilitate a landing into wind are questioned...I don't suppose we'll ever know.

[Aidan]

Could the 'wake' be the downdraft from the rotor?

[Laners]

The ship making way around the anchor makes some sense for turning into the wind etc , I notice in the second photo the water aft of the ship is not churning .

[Goldie fish]

The earlier photo in the series shows some sort of meeting in the Hanger. Brett is seated in the front row...I wasn't debating this point so this puts us back to a time when Brett was FOCNs.

He is either showing the finer details of the Hangars roof, or conducting a choir...

Again the first in seies which Goldie actually sent to me before this one was posted clearly shows the anchor cable paid out from the port hawse pipe..Goldie post the bloody photos and give the chap a chance to see what i'm talking about.

there u go. Note the ball-diamond-ball on the haylyards. Restricted in its ability to manouver if I remember correctly.
Not "at anchor"...

[hptmurphy]

Ball- diamond- ball was also used to indicate flying ops....also subject to limited manouverability .Now look down to where the bow meets the water and you can see the anchor cabel nosing out from the not visible hawse pipe.Just level with the boot topping

And I've just noticed the biggest give away to the fact that she is at anchor...the jack is flying from the jackstaff...and that answers that! no doubt about it ..ship anchored!

The accomadation ladder is lowered and the Liberty boat is missing from its gear ....further indication ship at anchor...note the liberty boats gear is lowered so it was on board at the time...the more I look the more I see.QED

[hptmurphy]

Oh yeah! it's Macnamara doing the choir conducting and Brett is in the front row