Aviation News - February 2016 UK

BALKAN RESCUES

In the new world disorder of the 1990s, it

was only a matter of time before Commando

Sea King squadrons were back in action.

The disintegration of the former Yugoslavia

in 1991 and 1992 led to the establishment

of the United Nations Protection Force

(UNPROFOR) to deliver humanitarian aid to

Muslim enclaves besieged by Serbian forces.

In the autumn of 1992, the British

Government dispatched the Cheshire

Regiment to Bosnia to escort aid convoys

into the heart of the war-torn country. To

provide casualty evacuation support for the

British contingent, 845 NAS was deployed to

the Croatian port of Split to set up a forward

operating base at a former Yugoslav army

base. Divulje Barracks was soon nicknamed

Naval Air Station Banana Split by the aviators

of 845 NAS after the children’s television

show.

However, their mission was deadly

serious and within weeks the squadron’s

four Sea King HC4s were venturing deep

into Bosnia to rescue wounded British

and United Nations soldiers. As the war

worsened, the Sea King crews were

increasingly called upon to pick up badly

wounded civilians and air-lift them out for

treatment away from the fighting.

One of 845 NAS’s most dangerous

missions took place in March 1993 when

senior UN officers travelled into the

besieged enclave of Srebrenica to arrange

for ceasefire to be put in place to allow

thousands of desperate civilians to escape.

British Sea Kings flew in along with French

Army Pumas to bring out the first batch of

refugees when Serb artillery opened fire

on the landing zone. Several civilians were

killed and wounded and the UN helicopters

only just managed to get airborne and

escape.

Over the next two-and-half years, day in,

day out, the Sea King crews stood on alert at

34 Aviation News incorporating Classic Aircraft February 2016

A man is winched to safety from a ‘flooded’ caravan by the crew of an

RAF Sea King HAR3 during Exercise Berwyn at Bala Lake in North

Wales. Crown Copyright

Two 845 NAS Sea King HC4s fly in close formation over the Norwegian Arctic during a training exercise. Crown Copyright

A Harrier GR9 launches from HMS Ark Royal with a Sea King ASaC7

hovering in the background. POA(Phot) Ray Jones/Crown Copyright

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