wessex Archives - The Rotary Wing Show Podcast

As a 21 yr old Harry Benson experienced the Falklands War from the cockpit of a Wessex helicopter. Years later he has caught up with squadron mates to bring together an amazing collection of stories from the helicopter side of the war.

6834 nautical miles south west of London in the South Atlantic some amazing helicopter stories were being lived out during the Falklands War. Many of these were even unknown to the other aircrew flying in the same operational area.

Harry Benson was there as a 21 yr old pilot and many years later has interviewed 45 of his fellow aircrew and pieced together the story of the helicopter side of that conflict. You can read the result in the book Scram!: The Gripping First-Hand Account of the Helicopter War in the Falklands.

Scram was the radio codeword for inbound Argentine jets and the ‘actions on’ for helicopter crews was to find a depression and land the helicopter as quickly as they could to minimise the chance of being sighted.

Logistically getting the UK forces down to the Falklands was an amazing feat as everything had to go by sea or be dropped into the ocean from the air. Helicopters were crammed onto vessels wherever they could fit. A requisitioned Cunard container ship ‘Atlantic Conveyor’ carried a cargo of six Wessex helicopters from 848 Naval Air Squadron and RAF Chinook HC.1s from No. 18 Squadron RAF. At Ascension Island, the halfway point, she picked up eight Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers (809 Squadron) and six RAF Harrier GR.3 jump jets.

The Atlantic Conveyor was sunk by two Exocet missiles with the loss of 3 Chinooks, 6 Wessex and a Lynx. This had a big impact on the course of events as it only left 15 troop-carrying helicopters available for the ground force breakout from the landing area – 10 Seakings, 5 Wessex and a single 1 Chinook. The Chinook remained the only one in theatre for the rest of the war can could forward position 4 fuel blivets/’bollocks’ vs the Seaking’s one.

The harsh South Atlantic weather proved one of the biggest challenges for aircrew rather than enemy action. Harry tells the story of his port engine shutting down due to heavy snow blocking the intake. At times aircraft had to hover taxi next to cliffs above the waves due to poor visibility in fog.

Unloading a Wessex on a bleak Falkland hillside.

Just some of the stories in the book:

- Going head to head with fast jets
- Sneak single aircraft mission with missile strike on Argentine high command
- Rescues of sailors off burning ships
- One way Seaking flight to Argentina mainland to assault airbase
- Radalts going from 30′ to 200′ flying over glaciers
- SAS missions in 60kt winds
- Getting low on fuel and shutting down one engine
- Night unaided casualty evacuations from front line

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Links from this week’s episode:
Support the podcast on Patreon
World Helicopter Day – Register Your Event
Scram!: The Gripping First-Hand Account of the Helicopter War in the Falklands
Junglie – Seaking pilot fiction novel by Harry Benson
Special Forces Pilot: A Flying Memoir of the Falkland War – Story of the Seaking raid on Argentina
Historic Helicopters – UK helicopter event

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Jerry Grayson was a RAN SAR pilot flying Wessex helicopters before starting his own company and later moving into film flying.

As a Royal Navy SAR pilot Jerry Grayson was involved in a number of high profile rescue missions along with the crews of the Wessex helicopters he piloted. He has written a book – Rescue Pilot – that captures many of the stories of this part of his career.

Jerry decided early on in life that he was going to fly. He ended up at a very young age in the Royal Navy flying Sea Kings, Whirlwinds and Wessex machines. In this interview we cover several of the tales from his Navy career including his time upon the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal.

[Tweet “I’d had enough of school, its time to go flying”]
[Tweet “The deck of a carrier is THE most exciting place on earth”]

This of course only gets as a few years into Jerry’s career. After leaving the Navy, Jerry started a commercial helicopter company which saw him involved in a wide range of operations and flying a variety of helicopters.

One incident that we spend a little time going into depth on is a tailrotor driveshaft failure that Jerry experienced in an Augusta 109. It’s our hope that listeners might be able to draw in some small way from this experience should they ever find themselves unlucky enough to be in a similar situation.

Jerry has since gone on to significant success and renown as a helicopter film pilot with contracts on several high profile films (including Blackhawk Down with past guest Dennis Kenyon), Formula 1, Soccer World Cup, Olympics, Commonwealth Games and even written, directed and flown for an IMAX film.

There is a lot more to Jerry’s career and achievements so you’ll just have to listen to find out.

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In this week’s episode:

00:52 Rescue Pilot – book by Jerry Grayson
02:40 Book background and media appearances
07:06 BBC Fast Net Yacht Race reunion radio show
09:38 Finding old Whirlwind/Wessex airframes – firefighting training props, paintball field targets
11:50 Air Force Cross – highest award for gallantry in the air (UK) – Greek Medal of Honour
15:47 Meeting the Queen
16:40 Selection board for Royal Navy at 16
18:30 Flying scholarship to civil PPL school and running errands for Micky Lauder, race driver
19:55 British aircraft carrier Ark Royal
20:50 PlaneGuard role to pick up fixed wing aircraft ditching off carriers
22:45 Seaking stranded on the surface with one engine at night
26:35 Navigating overwater before GPS
30:30 Losing map out the window
32:40 Flying the Whirlwind/Wessex
37:30 Film flying and division of cockpit duties
38:50 Tail rotor failure in an Augusta 109
48:15 Airborne external inspection of tail rotor by S76
50:55 The last mile to the runway down to 60kts run on
56:10 Some advice on flying
58:50 What is next for Jerry Grayson
1:01:36 Video of Jerry talking about the Wessex helicopter and the book
1:02:00 Feedback on the show, leave a comment

Links from this week’s episode:
Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
Rescue Pilot – book website
Helifilms Australia – Jerry’s Aerial Filming Company
World Helicopter Day

Jerry talks a little bit about the Wessex helicopter and rescues at sea in this promo video for his book.
[leadplayer_vid id=”555079860B909″]

Jerry is flying in this photo of a Wessex at a base display day. A marine pulled a smoke grenade in the cabin putting the cockpit into IMC on departure.

[Tweet “The airflow in a helicopter is specifically designed to take your map out the window”]
[Tweet “So macho to climb up the side and mount your trusty steed (Wessex Helicopter)”]

Be part of the conversation and get involved in the comments section below. What questions do you have about Jerry’s interview?

Tag: wessex

RWS 67 – Falklands War from a Wessex Cockpit with Harry Benson

RWS 29 – Ocean Rescues and a Tail Rotor Failure with Jerry Grayson