Jim Roberts on Saving Lives at Sea

Initially, I remember seeing that we had the Whirlwind helicopters and then later the Wessex helicopters. Both of those were used and initially the base was at Thorney Island.

Later, the base moved to Lee on Solent and that was run by the Royal Navy and one can remember their helicopters being painted in orange and blue.

The RAF also provided helicopters from No 22 Squadron, but they distinctly different because they were painted bright yellow.

In more recent years, the Coastguard Service has used larger Sikorsky S 61-N helicopters famously known … one was India Juliet and India Juliet featured on a number of television programs that maybe some of you will remember.

Over the last few years, the Service had used Agusta 169s and even they now have been replaced by the Agusta 192.