AN Apache chopper was stuck in a bog for two days after it had to land in last week’s storms. The £40million war machine – famous for doing battle in the middle east and Balkans – was forced to land in a farmer’s field in Lincolnshire because of high winds. Engineers were dispatched to bring […]
AN Apache chopper was stuck in a bog for two days after it had to land in last week’s storms.
The £40million war machine – famous for doing battle in the middle east and Balkans – was forced to land in a farmer’s field in Lincolnshire because of high winds.
Soldiers took two days to dig a grounded Apache chopper out of a bog[/caption]
Engineers were dispatched to bring the armed gunship back to its base – but were stunned when they realised it had sunk into the mud of the crop field.
A team of servicemen were needed to secure the hellfire missiles and a 30mm chain gun then dig the chopper out of the bog by hand with spades.
In total it took a crane, two Land Rovers and 13 troops with spades to free it at Helpringham, Lincs.
On Tuesday 3 Regiment tweeted that getting the Apache out of a damp field requires some engineering ingenuity and “some work with a spade.”
They added: “Rigging an aircraft for a road move on unstable ground is not easy. It has to be stripped to fit on a specialist trailer and then winched onto mats.
“It should be on its way home soon and the farmer can have the field back!”
The Apache was on its way back from a training flight on the Scottish border when problems with the hydraulics forced the crew to land[/caption]
Engineers were dispatched to bring the armed gunship back to its base but were stunned when they realised it had sunk into the mud of the crop field[/caption]
In the end a Land Rover Defender dragged the machine on webbed matting rolled out across the field and eased it back to the road[/caption]
A crane then lifted it onto the back of a waiting lorry which transported it back to its base in Suffolk[/caption]
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