The British '47 at 40: Four Decades of the Chinook in UK Service

摘要

On Nov. 22,1980, the first Boeing CH-47 Chinook arrived by trans-Atlantic voyage at the Portsmouth docks in southern England. Thus began 40 years of operational use in the Royal Air Force (RAF): from the Falklands Conflict in 1982 to the liberation of Kuwait with Operation Desert Storm, to Kosovo and then hostage rescue in Sierra Leone at the turn of the millennium. In the Global War on Terror for two decades, the RAF Chinook has been hard at work in Afghanistan, across the Middle East and on the African continent. Humanitarian missions both at home and abroad also form a large proportion of the RAF Chinook Force, from earthquake relief in Pakistan to assisting the civilian authorities during the heavy floods that have plagued the northern UK in recent years. One mission was recognized by VFS at this year's 76th Annual VFS Awards Ceremony (see below).