BMMHS Evening Zoom Talk: Army Aviation in Northern Ireland

Army Aviation in Northern Ireland

Speaker: John Greenacre

This Zoom Talk will be scheduled to start at 7:30pm

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Army Aviation in Northern Ireland

Gazelle
BRITISH AND NATO FORCES 1976 - 1993 (CT 719) An Army Air Corps Gazelle helicopter in flight. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205117277

In 1969 the prolonged spate of violence that broke out in Northern Ireland and became known as ‘The Troubles’ was countered militarily by Operation BANNER which would run until 2006. The Army Air Corps made a crucial contribution to Operation BANNER providing helicopters and fixed wing aircraft that carried out intelligence gathering and surveillance, moved troops around ‘bandit country’ and fought back against terrorist groups. A generation of Army Air Corps aircrew and groundcrew cut their teeth in Northern Ireland and the lessons they learned were carried forward to operations in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army Aviation in Northern Ireland
Helicopter borne television being fitted - Mike Spence Collection
BRITISH AND NATO FORCES 1976 - 1993 (CT 715) An RAF Wessex helicopter lifts a recoiless rifle as its underslung load. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205117273

About the speaker - John Greenacre

John Greenacre was commissioned into the British Army in 1988 and served as a reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps in the UK, Northern Ireland, Balkans, the Gulf, Kenya, Canada, Falkland Islands and Germany before he retired in 2011. He gained his PhD in history from Leeds University in 2009 with a thesis on the development of British airborne forces. He currently lectures history at the University of Suffolk and (pandemic allowing) is an active battlefield tour guide across Europe.

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