HMS Gannet, claims four new UK records in SAR

HMS Gannet, the Royal Navy’s helicopter search and rescue unit in Prestwick, Scotland is bigger and busier than anywhere else in the UK – and that’s official.

Newly released government statistics reveal that the base – the Royal Navy’s only aviation asset north of Lincolnshire – undertook a mind-blowing 447 call outs in 2009; a full 65 (or an average of more than one a week) clear of their own record-breaking total of 382 in 2008.

The figure of 447 equates to a massive 20 percent of the UK’s total military SAR call outs for 2009. There are eight military SAR bases around the UK, as well as four Coastguard stations.

As a result of this super-tempo, 378 people have been assisted from whatever predicament they found themselves in.

All this adds up to four new records since records began in 1983 – busiest UK helicopter search and rescue unit 2009 with a new call out record, new record for most people rescued in one year, first unit ever to go above 400 call outs for a single year and first unit ever to set new records year-on-year three years in a row.

Perhaps perfectly illustrating this relentless operational pressure, two of Gannet’s aircrew have just passed 600 and 700 call outs respectively.

During seven years in search and rescue, observer Lieutenant Commander Martin ‘Florry’ Ford has amassed 600 call outs, a staggering 288 of which were with HMS Gannet in the last two year (138 in 2008 and 150 in 2009 – the latter equates to Florry flying in one in every three call outs). He has been honoured with an Air Force Cross for his part in the rescue mission for the 2004 Boscastle floods, and the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in the Air as part of the crew involved in a dangerous rescue on Ben Nevis.

Meanwhile, Petty Officer Marcus ‘Wiggy’ Wigfull has notched up an extraordinary 700 call outs in his 13-year search and rescue career. He is senior aircrewman with the unit and a fully qualified paramedic. And he, too, has been recognised for his courageous actions in the face of difficult conditions with the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in the Air after winching three people to safety from a stricken yacht in Ayrshire.

HMS Gannet covers an area of some 98,000 square miles of northern England and Northern Ireland, as well as Scotland – from Edinburgh in the east, to the Inner Hebrides in the west, and Ben Nevis in the north to the border; it’s all on their patch! In England the area stretches from the border down to the Lake District. All of Northern Ireland is covered, as is a huge sea area of 200 miles out into the Atlantic off the Irish and Scottish shore.

“This is an extraordinary achievement,” said the unit’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Debdash Bhattacharya. “I am immensely proud of each and every individual who is a part of the close knit team at HMS Gannet.

“From the aircrew to the engineers, weather forecasters, office staff, ground crews and support staff, absolutely everyone plays their part in ensuring that there is a search and rescue helicopter ready to respond 24 hours a day to whatever the call may be.

“It’s a phenomenal sustained effort aimed at supporting the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, who can feel a little safer in the knowledge that we are ready to help at a moment’s notice.”

Some of 2009’s incidents include rescuing a 16-year-old girl who had fallen off her bicycle and plunged into a river torrent, guiding a stricken Cessna pilot to safety in a daring Top Gun-style rescue, plucking a 76-year-old woman to safety from flood waters which had engulfed her car. These and other rescues attracted the award of multiple operational honours for individuals within the unit.

Undoubtedly the strangest ‘rescue’ must have been way back in January when baby gannet Maximus visited HMS Gannet to hitch a lift south on one of the unit’s helicopters, which was flying to Cornwall – the helicopter got a state of the art refit and Maximus was given the chance of survival when he was introduced to his own kind in the warmer waters of the south coast.

And, perhaps the saddest moment for the on call crew, came when they retrieved the bodies of two teenage girls, who had jumped off the Erskine Bridge, from the Clyde.

The statistics show that some 20 percent of the call outs (a total of 89) were to medically evacuate seriously ill people from many of western Scotland’s most isolated medical facilities to the specialist care of large hospitals, primarily in either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Another 41 percent – or 184 – were for medical rescues, which could include anything from airlifting a critically injured road accident victim from the crash scene to hospital, to retrieving an injured climber from a remote ledge or from a mountain rescue team to a waiting ambulance or specialist hospital.

HMS Gannet, in 2007, became the UK’s busiest helicopter search and rescue station since records began, with 359 call outs, assisting 349 people, of which 286 were casualties. And 2008 saw them break their own record with call outs rising to 382, rescuing 347 people. Finally, 2009’s statistics showed an increase in call outs of 65, taking it to 447 with 378 people rescued. These figures also claimed four UK records since records began – most called out, most amount of people rescued, first unit to pass 400 and first unit to set a year-on-year record for three years in a row.

The Royal Navy’s men and women cover an enormous area of the west of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland, covering some 98,000 square miles – more than 12 times the size of Wales.

They provide a 24/7 search and rescue capability 365 days a year, saving countless lives on the mountains, at sea, on the roads and also supply specialist medical evacuation from Scotland’s Hebridean islands.

HMS Gannet is the only Royal Navy aviation asset north of Lincolnshire.

The men and women of HMS Gannet serve on a frontline, albeit that it is one within the UK, in the mountains and above the seas of Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland.

But, for some of the aircrew who have returned from serving in Afghanistan, whether with the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines or on exchange with the other services, it is an ideal environment to maintain skills used in operational theatre, while for others the terrain offers an excellent training ground in advance of deployment.

The sometimes extreme weather, harsh mountainous terrain and the skills involved in not only operating the aircraft and equipment, but also in conducting rescues and saving lives within a hostile environment, combines to make it an exceptional preparation ground for serving alongside their forces colleagues in the skies of Afghanistan.

In 2009, members of the unit have been recognised for some of their extraordinary endeavours by the Operational Honours List. This has amounted to three Air Force Crosses, one Queen’s Gallantry Medal, three Queen’s Commendations for Bravery in the Air and no less than five Commander-in-Chief Fleet Commendations, including one for the entire unit – service and civilian. For such a small unit, this is an almost unheard of haul of honours.

Source: Fleet Air Arm