Uses

• Moving troops or large loads.
• Casualty Evacuation (Casevac).
• Exceptionally - Search and Rescue (SAR) missions.

Capacity

• 54 troops; or 10 tonnes of freight.
• Large enough to fit two Land Rovers.

Equipment

• Satellite Global Positioning System.
• Instrument Landing System.
• Comprehensive avionics for airways flying.
• Extensive radio suite.
• Cockpit has full night-time capability.
• Dual mode landing lights.
• Defensive aids.
• Radar Warning Receiver, ultraviolet and Doppler Missile Approach Warning System, infrared jammers and chaff and flare dispensers.
• Can be armed with two M134 six-barrelled Miniguns and an M60D machine gun.

What’s remarkable about it?

• Two huge contra-rotating rotors give the Chinook its unmissable shape.
• One Chinook has seen action in every major RAF operation in the last 25 years.
• Can land on water (exceptionally).

Who mans it?

• Two Pilots; or a Pilot and Navigator;
• two Air Loadmasters.

Most recent service

• Peace keeping in the Balkans.
• Evacuation of Sierra Leone.
• Service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Chinook fleet

• 34 HC2s;
• 6 HC2As;
• 8 HC3s (yet to enter operational service).

Who uses the Chinook?

• The Chinook Wing - forms the heavy-lift element of the Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) and is based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire.
• 7 Squadron – RAF Odiham.
• 18 Squadron – RAF Odiham.
• 27 Squadron – RAF Odiham.

Tech specs