Windfall Films have been commissioned by Channel Five, National Geographic International and the Smithsonian Channel in the US to produce a series of documentaries about historical helicopter missions. Each hour -long programme will focus on a particular mission, and tell that story using a mixture of archive footage, interview and dramatic reconstruction. In addition, each programme will include sequences filmed with current operational Naval Air Squadrons.

 

One of the programmes is going to focus on events during Operation Paraquat at the beginning of the Falklands conflict. We are going to concentrate on the insertion of SAS troops on the Fortuna Glacier and their subsequent extraction. For those of you who don’t know, during this operation three Wessex helicopters braved atrocious blizzard and gale conditions. Despite the skill and bravery of the pilots, two Wessex 5 helicopters were lost, although no one was seriously injured. All survivors were subsequently rescued in one trip by Lt Cm Ian Stanley and crew in the remaining Wessex 3 – known as ‘Humphrey’. Despite being nearly a tonne overweight, Ian Stanley managed to guide ‘Humphrey’ back to HMS Antrim safely and land on in terrible conditions. Ian Stanley earned a DSO for his efforts.

 

In telling this story, in which HMS Antrim plays such a key role, we are very keen to use as much appropriate contemporary footage as possible. At the moment we are very short of video/cine footage of HMS Antrim, so we would like to appeal to the members of the HMS Antrim Association to find out if there is any appropriate home video footage lurking in their lofts or basements. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t shot in 1982, we don’t mind if it was shot years later or earlier. What we do want is any footage of HMS Antrim at sea, whether shot from on board or from another vessel. We would be very grateful for any offers of footage at all – no matter how seemingly irrelevant. If it was shot on board HMS Antrim, or features HMS Antrim then we’d love to hear from you.

 

We can guarantee that we will return the footage in the same condition as given, and where possible will provide copies on more modern formats for those whose footage is on super 8 or super 16.

 

We are happy to answer any questions either on the phone or via email. For our part, we have interviewed or spoken to all of the pilots and air crew involved. We have also had the pleasure of meeting Captain Brian Young who knows of the programme. Similarly, the MOD is aware of the series, and is giving it their full support, including granting us access to film with current Naval Air Squadrons. In short, we have been careful to inform as many people as possible that we are making this film, and so far everyone we have spoken to has been happy that this episode is going to receive greater attention. We also have a past record of treating subjects like this sensitively – including a recent documentary on the HMS Coventry entitled Sea of Fire.

 

Tom Cook

Assistant Producer

Windfall Films

tom@windfalllfilms.com

Tel: 020 7251 7676