Planes and stuff

Hoje a Esquadra 751 assinala os seus 43 anos. Parabéns a todos os que, ao longo dos anos, têm contribuído para o cumprimento das diversas missões a cargo da 751, em especial as de salvaguarda da vida humana. Recentemente foi noticiado que o EH-101 habitualmente destacado no AM3 - Porto Santo, tinha sido retirado, por "motivos operacionais" (ver AQUI )...não sei se entretanto já foi reposta a normalidade mas, lembrança por lembrança hoje, para assinalar a data, vai um registo de 2005, do Puma 19505 (aparelho anteriormente operado pela Esquadra) no RG3, no Funchal.

Today, at 10am, the Pumas from Sqn.752 terminated their last mission that it's now fully delivered to the hand of the EH-101 and its crews.... It's been many years of duty with the Portugal Air Force. Since 1969 it has seen both war and peace, both death and rescue of lifes and a big part of the more than 2500 lifes saved by PoAF were done by the Puma and its crews... Stored, after the arrival of the EH-101, the events gave a second oportunity to the Pumas to keep on the job for a few more years.... It looks like now it's the end but....you never know... A big thumbs up for the crews (both land and air) that kept this one flying over the years, sometimes with a big sacrifice and love to the mission... The best moment for me, regarding this helicopter? One day was getting back home, the saw it "jumping" over the hill after a take-off from local Army base, and it came (very) low level down the hill, passing right over me, on the road into the sea .......

O site Operacional.pt publicou um interessante artigo acerca deste "velho conhecido": O SA-330 Puma da FAP. Ver Artigo