Dangerous aircraft stood its ground to Army Cadets
09.01.12
By SI Monk
C Company had the privilege to have a private tour of Apache aircrafts worth an estimated £60m each at Wattisham Airbase.
For C Company’s infamous Christmas Camp cadets had the extremely rare opportunity to be face to face with the legendary Apache Helicopter. If it was not enough for the cadets to be that close to the aircraft they also received their own private tour by one of the Apache’s day to day engineers.
Sgt Stuart Owen from 7 Air Assault Battalion, Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers made this all possible for the cadets. Stuart spent a good part of two hours explaining how the aircraft works and more amazingly what it can do. The cadets listened in awe lapping up the information as Stuart went about educating them on the worlds most dangerous aircraft. In fact this may indeed have broken the record for the longest time cadets have been quiet.
As soon as the cadets walked in to one of the hangers at the base they were confronted with four Apaches in different states of repair. One of them stripped down so much it was a skeleton of its former self giving a rare chance to look at what is underneath all the exterior plating.
Cadets listened to stories of feats, disaster and humour when working with helicopters. The tour started at one end of the aircraft and slowly worked its way back explaining how each part was used and designed to make the aircraft a killing machine. This included explaining how intelligent the aircraft truly is so that the pilots can concentrate on the task at hand rather than flying!
Cadets were given the opportunity to climb on the Apache and have a closer look at the aircraft. Due to the nature of the technology they were not allowed in the cockpit for risk of knocking a control and causing hours worth of work for poor Sgt Owen. Also due to the restricted nature of the technology within the cockpit no photographs were allowed to be taken.
Next to the stripped down Apaches, everyone could see up-close the different parts which had been detached from the main body for maintenance. From seats and rotor blades to the goliath magazine that feeds the 30mm cannon on the bottom of the Apache, they were truly spectacular sights.
Every cadet and adult thoroughly enjoyed this experience and owes Sgt Owen and the 7 Air Assault Battalion a big thank you.
