What an emotional day!!! As each aircraft flew past me, I thought of all the hours I had spent in every one of them.
My own first famil flight over to Dublin bay in 1974 where we had been told we would be winched onto our training boat, but when we got there we were told the hoist was 'u/s';-) and we had to jump from the aircraft into the sea!!!
As we jumped in succession, I was No. 3 and as the first jump was from about 10 ft, the a/c crept up ,'till ,by the time I went out the door ,we were at 20ft +!!! I felt I was falling for half an hour before the splash!! That was my first flight in a helicopter!!!
I thought of all the pilots and crewmen I had helped train over the years,of all the technicians who kept such a fantastic record of servicability in sometimes deplorable conditions, of all the survivors lifted, of all the patients transfered from just about every hospital in the country,all the island relief flights, all the v.i.ps we had flown (my own particular favourite was Adolf Galland, Ken Byrne and I flew him to Glencree cemetry),all the troops we had trained and deployed in every command.
To meet again the guys who were such a part of my life for all those years and relive our escapades in the surroundings of our Alma Mater was just fantastic!
To those friends and comrades who have passed on...
.....'we will remember them!'
To those who put so much into making our farewell to a cherished friend such an emotional and fantastic event, on behalf of all 'exers', Thank you so much!
