Op Telic: Flying at 100 Feet, 120 Miles an Hour Across the Desert

Land, Sea & Air - Stories from the Armed Forces

This is Pat Patterson’s story. A Royal Marine Aircrewman with 845 Naval Air Squadron flying Sea King helicopters aka ‘Junglies’, and his wife also served during the war.

Having looked back through his helicopter logbook, he shares with us his experiences of Op Telic 1, as well as his subsequent tours.

We hear about the scale of the operation as well as operational complexities specific to helicopter crews that fly into particularly challenging environments,

“It was a bit more dangerous going the second or third time to Iraq…”

Being an incidence response team, the crew were involved in insurgency situations as well as casualty evacuation.

They encountered the hazards of flying at night, ‘brown outs’ flying in desert conditions and the helicopters became ‘bullet magnets’ for small arms, RPG rocket launchers and surface to air missiles.
If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Or you could phone the Combat Stress Helpline on: 0800 138 1619
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