Ah, the smell of fear. It's OK if you get the chance to smell it In 84 I was on Exercise in Canada 12 months after qualifying as a Cab in the Sky man flying Gazelle's. Flying at 20ft coming up a re entrant onto a reverse slope I brought the cab to a hover, popped its head up a touch for the observer to sight up and take some photo's, woke up 3 day's later in Hospital.
Apparently we got hit by a stray wire guided anti tank missile which took out the rotar blade, shaft and gearbox and bowled us for six back down the hill. Never stopped shakin for a fortnight after hearing that and still bring's back the shakes when I think about it. Spent 6 weeks in a field hospital and a further 14 months in hospital back in the UK before I could run around like a headless chicken again.
Took me till last year to get back into a Heli again and another 3 flights to stop the hands and leg's shakin
The Observer came off worse than I did unfortunately but at least he's still with us.
Regards and Happy and uneventfull flying to you all,
James.