MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands’ war Wessex helicopter involved in Sir Galahad disaster rescued for new role
Davies plans to restore the Wessex and use it to educate youngsters about the conflict (Photo:Shropshirestar.com) A Wessex helicopter which was used to rescue injured servicemen during the Falklands conflict is to have a new role as a cafe at a Shropshire paintball Centre.
The aircraft was bought for £5,000 from an internet auction site, but it was only when the new owner researched the aircraft's history that its past was revealed.
Carl Davies, the manager at Rednal Paintball Centre, is a military history enthusiast. He discovered the helicopter had been involved in a famous rescue mission.
Fifty died and many more were injured when the troop ship Sir Galahad was hit by an Argentine bomb off the Falkland Islands on 8 June 8 1982.
Mr Davies now plans to restore the Wessex and use it to educate youngsters about the conflict.
Mr Davies said he had gone shopping for a tank, not a helicopter: “We found it on e-Bay and bought it straightaway, but it took us a year to get it here”. He was amazed to discover how much equipment had been left in it.
“I thought it would just be a shell, but everything was in it. You can get up to the top and sit where the pilots used to sit. It gives you a feeling of what it must have been like, flying it,” he said.
He believes he has the only surviving Wessex from the Falklands conflict: “It will be cleaned up and looked after so that other people can come and have a look. We have rescued a bit of history.”
He is also going to try to find out if his Wessex is one of those flown by Prince Andrew, who was in active service as a pilot during the Falklands War. Once he has collected all the information possible, Mr Davies is going to put up an information board and hopes local schoolchildren will come to see the helicopter.
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Read all commentsWhatever spin Argentina will try to put on this story- This aircraft helped save lives and that needs to be respected.
Sep 22nd, 2011 - 10:09 pm 0uggs,ugg What a,ugg idiotic and,ugg unneccesary,ugg story,ugg ,ugg El Think
Sep 23rd, 2011 - 04:34 am 0It is obvious that the Falklands / malvinas are still considered highly by the British people and they are never going to forget the war, as we forgot our veterans.
Sep 23rd, 2011 - 11:05 am 0This is my contention, we destroyed any hope of winning the hearts and minds of people there in 1982 and have continued to do so ever since. The British far from being bothered by our claims, must be very pleased that we have managed only to have made them am impossible dream.
I will call these islands the Falklands, if that makes you angry, it just proves what you are. Unlike almost all of my compatriots posting here, I have been to the Falklands, I know the people, they are a unique and down to earth people, very friendly and liberal and they deserve the right to their own islands, free from the kind of right wing madmen and woman that run our government and constitute the las mavlinas patriots like Think that parrot the cause regardless of right.
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