Naval helis?

[Goldie fish]

I always thought the only helis capable of landing on Eithnes deck were Dauphin 244 and 245.

I now have in my Posession a photo of Dauphin 248(lost in tragic circumstances of course) on the helideck, back when Michael J Noonan(FF) was minister for defence.

Can anyone enlighten me?

[Aidan]

Well, 245 and 244 had different fuel tanks and the harpoon, but there's nothing to stop any of the others landing on the deck, so long as the seas were fairly calm and it was chained down immediately after landing (or the rotors were turning under negative cyclic). So it could be done, but it would be contrary to regulations (I think). Was the Eithne at anchor when the photo was taken?

[hptmurphy]

the others did land occassionally when the Eithne was alongside but not at sea. Post the phot and we'll see can the problem should be solved. Noonan was Minister during my period of service.

[hptmurphy]

On viewing the photos they were taken some time after September 86 ...possibly in Cork harbour and the ship is anchored so there is nothing too odd in this .

[Goldie fish]

I'm not sure if I could post the photos as they are not my property.

[Sluggie]

Don't worry about it.

[Goldie fish]

Thanks.

[moggy]

Thanks.

If it was cork harbour it was one of the pr exercises (thats all)
THERE WAS A FEW DONE

[Goldie fish]

From the No 5 Coy scrapbook

[DeV]

Great pics, is that the harpoon in the first one?

[Goldie fish]

OK,dev. I'm surprised at you. The idea of this thread was that even though only 244 and 245 were equipped for deck landings,ie,had a harpoon,the photo above clearly showed 248,which was not fitted with either Harpoon or(tragically) crash proof fuel tanks,as 244 and 245 were,it was still capable of landing on eithnes deck.

What you see is the stern light.

[DeV]

i'm getting tired i think

[Laners]

So who are all the civies in the picture ?
The guy in uniform looks like Brette and the female, his wife

[Sluggie]

AFAIK the ship was at anchor off Foynes. I'll Have to check it out.

Found some shots of 244 operating during a patrol I was on around easter 1994.

Some serious weather. Had to shelter in Blacksod for a couple of days. The helo ****ed off once they saw the forecast instead of sitting it out.

Captain was not impressed. Led to a bit of a scene on the bridge with the pilot.

[hptmurphy]

Its anchored allright in some of the earlier photos you can see the anchor cable.
I doubt if the photos from the same seris that i got from goldie are from 1994 as CDR Eoin Macnamara was present in the phot0s as ships captain.He was not ships captain in 1994 and Boxcar Willie aka Cmdre W. Brett had retired and been replaced by Junkie joe...aka Cdre J Deasy.

As a by note ,crash proof fuel tanks would not have survived the impact that 248 suffered and it was the fumes that replaced the spent fuel that exploded and not the fuel its self. Jeta1 fumes mixed with air is far far more volatile than Jet A 1 on its own in liquid form.

Back to the thread... given the evidence of the ships captain having an argument with the heli pilot the evidence would point to Cdr macNamara...or more popularly know as' Popeye'....he was just that type of guy! Which again questions the time frame......I dunno