Steady and sure, the big birds flew to save lives

THE importance of the Nimrod was highlighted in the rescue of 18 Spanish fishermen who had got into trouble off the west coast of Ireland in 1998.

A British fishing boat, the Capricho, was already trying to save the fishermen, but was struggling in poor visibility.

The Nimrod was drafted in to light up the area. All 18 fishermen were then brought safely on board the Capricho.

Squadron Leader Chaz Counter, from RAF Kinloss, told the BBC at the time: “They were very scared at being that far from land and in a sinking boat.”

He said the December weather had been “atrocious” with 40mph winds. “They were so lucky that there was another ship so close that could help them and that we were on the scene so quickly,” he said.

In 1988, three Nimrod crews from Kinloss were involved in rescue operations after the North Sea’s greatest disaster, the Piper Alpha platform explosion and fire, helping to save 61 lives.

Another rescue, in August 1979, saw the Nimrods used to help find stricken competitors in the 1979 Fastnet race. Storms had wreaked havoc during the race involving more than 300 yachts, resulting in 15 fatalities.

Emergency services, naval forces and civilian vessels from the west side of the English Channel all took part in what was the largest rescue operation in peace-time. Three RAF and four Royal Navy Nimrods took part in the rescue.

In March 1980, the Alexander L Kielland, a Norwegian semi-submersible drilling rig capsized, killing 123 people. Six Nimrods were involved in the search for survivors and helped co-ordinate the rescue efforts of 80 surface ships and 20 British and Norwegian helicopters.

Similarly, a Nimrod was used to direct surface rescue in September 1977, when a Zodiac inflatable dinghy attempted to cross the North Atlantic and failed.

In 2010, when the Nimrod was withdrawn from RAF Kinloss, a senior RAF officer told the BBC that lives would have been at risk without “top-cover” support for the helicopter crew during a rescue more than 200 miles south-west of Cork, Ireland. A merchant navy seaman suffered serious head and spinal injuries and the helicopter crew needed the Nimrod support, said the officer.

He told the BBC: “The Hercules does not have proper maritime radar, its crews are not trained in search and rescue, they don’t train regularly on doing visual searches at sea and do not practice dropping life-rafts.

“We have never lost a helicopter in hover, but we can’t budget on the fact that it won’t happen. I think we are putting helicopter crews at increased risk.”

As well as search and rescue efforts, the Nimrods have taken part in numerous military operations, including the Falklands, the first Gulf war, Nato operations against Serbia in 1999, Iraq and Afghanistan.