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71CHINOOK OPERATIONS %u2013 No 18 SqnAir Vice-Marshal Tony StablesTony Stables graduated from Cranwell in 1967; heflew helicopters in Oman and Germany before hewas selected to introduce the Chinook into serviceas OC 18 Sqn in 1981. Subsequent tours includedtime spent at Goose Bay and in Northern Ireland,on the staff of CDS and as COS at HQ 1 Gp. Hissenior appointments included Commandant of theRAF College, Chief Executive of the TrainingGroup Defence Agency and, finally, CommanderKFOR (Rear) at Skopje in Macedonia. He is currently Secretary to theCouncil of Reserve Forces and flies the Grob Tutor with No 5 AEF.It is not my intention this afternoon to dwell on the operation of thesingle Chinook, BN, during the conflict. This has been well documentedelsewhere, but instead to give you a personal reflection of the eventsleading up to the moment when this aircraft arrived on the FalklandIslands.In late July 1981, five crews graduated from No 1 Chinook OCUcourse to form the nucleus of the reforming No 18 Sqn. We moved into alargely unfurnished hangar at RAF Odiham %u2013 sadly the supplyorganisation had not thought to make provision for us but, fortunately, aChinook can carry a lot of office furniture%u2026. Equipped with three metalbladed aircraft and a significant element of our ground crew, wecommenced very limited flying operations (including a tactical exercisein Denmark).The master plan was for the squadron to build-up at Odiham in termsof aircrew and groundcrew to achieve a strength of thirteen aircraftbefore deploying to a custom built hangar in Germany. No fieldoperating equipment was provisioned for our use in the UK. In effect, wehad no off-base operating capability. In terms of aircraft, in early 1982we began to take delivery of the fibre composite bladed aircraft. Thesewere transported from the USA by roll-on roll-off ferry, including the illfated Atlantic Conveyor. However, the UK-supplied cockpitinstrumentation was in such short supply that we collected aircraft withno flight instruments or radio/nav aids and flew them in company, VFR,from Liverpool docks to Odiham where, in many cases, the engines were