Special Forces Pilot

The author, who served throughout the Falklands War with 846 Naval Air Squadron flying Sea King helicopters, has waited over twenty-five years to tell his story. The sensitive nature of his experiences not only made this a sensible course but today provides the reader with some fascinating insights into the conduct of operations.

The role of Dick Hutchings was to insert Special Force units onto the enemy occupied islands, either to gather intelligence or conduct offensive operations, such as the SAS's sensationally successful Pebble Island raid.

Without doubt the most dramatic task he undertook was the ambitious but ill-fated SAS raid into mainland Argentina. Operation MIKADO, as it was known, has been little discussed but, as Captain of the Sea King involved, the author gives a firsthand account of what went wrong both in the air and on the ground.

He describes the circumstances leading up to the crash-landing and destruction of his helicopter, encounters with the Chilean authorities and British diplomats in Santiago, as well as the debriefing in an M16 safe house on return to the UK. As well as being the fullest description of Operation MIKADO Special Forces Pilot is a gripping account of the War from the flying and SF angles.

As featured on BFBS Radio and in the Westmorland Gazette.

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