I met Sean recently at the Walton & Frinton Yacht club after a sailing trip I did up the river Orwell. Sean was sitting in corner of the bar having a beer on his own.
I got chatting to him as we were waiting to order our drinks at the bar. Sean told me he’d been in the Army and served with 3rd battalion of the Parachute Regiment.
I explained I served with 9 Independendent Parachute Squardron Royal Engineers back in the 1970’s. Sean hadn’t long left the army and we chatted about airborne forces and operations in Afghanistan.
I asked him would he like to come out sailing with me so few weeks later we orgainised a short trip over a couple of days down to Brightlingsea and back to Walton on the Naze.
I had mentioned to sean that we might possibly see the RAF Red Arrows flying dsiplay team as the Clacton Air Show would be on during sail back from Brightlingsea.
https://youtu.be/ILNmk8Zsqx8The Red Arrows normally either start the show off as the first display or are the finale. The Red Arrows always draw the crowd in with their acrobatic air displays.
One of the most spectacular shows was the last flight of the Avro Vulcan. Sad occasion for the self financed aircraft owners and maintenance technicians. But what an impressive aircraft!
https://youtu.be/Q1mbofXZktwSean and I got chatting about soldiering and we got discussing jungle training. It took me back to the time when I did my jungle training in Belize in 1977. Belize had UK military present because of the on going territorial threat from Guatemala. It went back over 150 years after the fall of the Spanish American empire. Belize had been called British Honduras and given its independence when the Uk downsized its many carribean overseas territories.
The Guatemalans had threaten invasion of Belize on a number of occasions and each time they did the UK increased its troop levels in Belize.
I had just completed my jungle training when we were told we had to stay on until G Squardron 22 SAS had relieved us. Myself and my training team were helicoptered up into the Mayan mountains to build a Tactical HQ. I was always really impressed with the RAF pilots as we were dropped deep into the jungle from Puma helicopter, how he got us in with out his rotor blades not hitting the jungle canopy I never know!
We built a small heli pad and laid out an area for incoming relief guys.
The RAF also sent out a squardron of Hawker Siddeley Harriers ( VTOL) in case Belize airport was taken out by the Guatemalans. The Harriers had the vertical take off ability and could be kept hidden in the jungle for protection.
https://youtu.be/_p_90T-aYO0
The Red Arrows fast jet trainer was built by Hawker Siddeley and is used by the Red Arrows. On the way back to the UK from Belize we came back on C130 Hercules transport aircraft with number of Harrier pilots.
As an airborne soldier I always had the greatest respect for the Royal Air Force and military pilots in general. Over the years there has been number fatalities on the Red Arrow acrobatic team. What I admire about them is their outstanding professionalism. That drop into a Jungle clearing by the RAF helicopter pilot was the ultimate flying skill I ever experienced.
https://youtu.be/TTHrkJJq0DMhttps://youtu.be/-pje-Xeh4hcScouse in the maya mountains 1977
