Boeing Chinook (UK variants)
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The Boeing Chinook is a large, tandem rotor helicopter operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A series of variants based on the United States Army's Boeing CH-47 Chinook, the RAF Chinook fleet is the largest outside the United States.<ref name="raf_page" /> RAF Chinooks have seen extensive service in the Falklands War, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The Chinook, normally based at RAF Odiham in England, provides heavy-lift support and transport across all branches of the British armed forces since the early 1980s.<ref name="Par 57">Template:Cite book</ref> The RAF has a total of fifty-four Chinooks in active inventory as of 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, the UK issued a request to the United States to purchase fourteen additional rotorcraft.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Chinook is expected to remain in RAF service until the 2040s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Design and development
Chinook HC1
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In March 1967, the United Kingdom placed an order for fifteen Boeing Vertol CH-47B Chinook to replace the Royal Air Force's Bristol Belvedere HC.1 fleet. In British service the new aircraft was to be designated as the Chinook HC Mk 1 (also formatted as HC.1 or HC1) standing for Helicopter, Cargo Mark 1.<ref name="barg">Template:Cite book</ref> However in November of that year, the order was cancelled in a review of defence spending.<ref>Template:Cite hansard</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
UK Chinook procurement ambitions were revived in 1978 with an announced requirement for a new heavy-lift helicopter to replace the Westland Wessex. Thirty Three Chinooks were ordered at a price of US$200 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These helicopters, comparable to the CH-47C with Lycoming T55-L-11E engines, were again designated Chinook HC1, and entered service in December 1980. By 1984, there had been 4 losses of HC.1s including 3 on the Atlantic Conveyor and ZA676 having crashed on a training sortie.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eight more HC1 were ordered and delivered from 1984 to 1986, with the CH-47D's Lycoming T55-L-712 turboshaft engines.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
Starting in 1993, 32 surviving HC.1B aircraft were later returned to Boeing and updated to the Chinook HC2 standard for further service within the RAF.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Chinook HC2
The next generation Chinook, the CH-47D, entered service with the US Army in 1982. Improvements from the CH-47C included upgraded engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit to reduce pilot workload, redundant and improved electrical systems, an advanced flight control system (FCS) and improved avionics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The RAF returned their original HC1 fleet, which already had CH-47D engines, to Boeing for complete upgrade to CH-47D standard, the first of which returned to the UK in 1993 under the designation Chinook HC2.<ref name = 'armedforces'>Template:Cite web</ref>
Three additional Chinook HC2s were ordered with delivery beginning in 1995 (ZH775-777). Another six brand new Chinooks were ordered in 1995 under the Chinook HC2A designation (ZH891-896);<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the main difference between these and the standard HC2 was the strengthening of the front fuselage to allow the fitting of an aerial refuelling probe in future.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2006, the retirement dates for the HC2 and HC2A fleets were scheduled for 2015 and 2025 respectively,<ref name = 'armedforces'/> but planned upgrades were implemented allowing them to continue to fly until 2040.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Chinook HC3
Eight advanced Chinooks were ordered in 1995 for delivery in 2000 as dedicated special forces helicopters, which were intended to be low-cost variants of the US Army's MH-47E; these were designated Chinook HC.3 in RAF service.<ref name='BBCChinook'/> The HC3s include improved range, night vision sensors and navigation capability. The eight aircraft were to cost £259 million and the forecast in-service date was November 1998.<ref name='BBCChinook'/> Although delivered in 2001, the HC3 could not receive airworthiness certificates as it was not possible to certify the avionics software.
The programme was widely judged to be "a profoundly inept piece of procurement": Sir Peter Spencer, who as head of the Defence Procurement Agency inherited the project, said that the "original requirement was ... actually impossible. I mean, there were 100 essential requirements. I read all of them. One of them said to give protection against any missile coming from any direction." Spencer later commented: "it is always hard to imagine why people think you would be able cost effectively to buy a bespoke requirement for a very small production run."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The avionics were unsuitable due to poor risk analysis and necessary requirements omitted from the procurement contract.<ref name="nao-exec">Template:Cite web</ref> The Times claimed that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) planned to perform software integration itself, without Boeing's involvement, in order to reduce costs.<ref name="timeschinook">Template:Cite news</ref> While lacking certification, the helicopters were only permitted to fly in visual meteorological conditions and subsequently stored in climate controlled hangars.<ref name = 'timeschinook'/> In 2004, Edward Leigh, then Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee described it as "One of the most incompetent procurements of all time."<ref name='BBCChinook'>Template:Cite news</ref>
Air Forces Monthly reported in November 2006 that after protracted negotiations to allow them to enter service, the Defence Aviation Repair Agency would likely receive a contract to install the Thales "TopDeck" avionics system on the Chinook HC3s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, the MOD announced in March 2007 that this so-called "Fix to Field" programme would be cancelled, and instead it would revert the helicopters' avionics to Chinook HC2/2A specification.<ref name="flight-2010-01-14">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The programme was estimated to cost £50–60 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2008, the National Audit Office issued a scathing report on the MOD's handling of the affair, stating that the whole programme was likely to cost £500 million by the time the helicopters enter service.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 6 July 2009, the first of the eight modified Chinook HC3s made its first test flight at MOD Boscombe Down as part of the flight testing and evaluation phase of the HC3 "reversion" programme.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Chinook HC4 & HC5 - Project Julius
A programme to upgrade forty-six Chinook HC2/2A and HC3 helicopters was initiated in December 2008. Known as Project Julius, it included new digital flight deck avionics based on the Thales TopDeck avionics suite, comprising new multifunction displays, a digital moving map display and an electronic flight bag, installation of a nose-mounted forward-looking infrared (FLIR) detector, and upgrading the engines to the more powerful T55-714 standard.<ref name="aw-2010">Template:Cite journal Template:Dead link</ref> Upgraded HC2/2A and HC3 aircraft were redesignated Chinook HC4 and Chinook HC5 respectively. Deliveries were expected to commence in 2011.<ref name="cam-2010">Template:Cite journal</ref> The first conversion, a Chinook HC4, first flew on 9 December 2010.<ref>Parsons, Gary. "First Project Julius Chinook flies" Template:Webarchive. Key Publishing via key.aero, 24 January 2011.</ref> Initial operating capability status was reached in June 2012 with seven aircraft delivered.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Chinook HC6A
In July 2017, it was announced that the thirty-eight Chinook HC4s were to be upgraded to a modernised standard designated Chinook HC6A including the replacement of the analogue flight control systems with the Boeing Digital Automatic Flight Control System (DAFCS).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By February 2022, no HC4 variants remained in service.<ref name="questions-statements.parliament.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>
Chinook HC6
The Chinook HC6 designation was assigned to twenty-four (later reduced to fourteen) new build CH-47F-derived Chinooks ordered in 2009. In December 2015, the fourteenth and final HC6 was delivered to the RAF.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By February 2022 the fleet of 60 Chinooks consisted of 8x HC5, 14x HC6 and 38x HC6A variants.<ref name="questions-statements.parliament.uk"/>
Chinook HC7 (H-47F ER)
In March 2024, the MoD announced its intention to purchase 14 new build Chinook Block II Extended Range (ER) models at the cost of £1.4 billion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This new model, expected to be designated Chinook HC7, will have twice the range of the 14 oldest RAF Chinooks they will replace and will be predominantly used for special operations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Operational history
RAF Chinooks have been widely deployed in support of British military engagements, serving their first wartime role in Operation Corporate, the Falklands War, in 1982.
Chinooks were used in Operation Granby in the 1991 Gulf War. The Chinook became a vital transit tool during the war. They were used for moving troops into the region at the start of the conflict;<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> a Chinook was used on 22 January 1991 to transport a Special Air Service (SAS) patrol on the famous Bravo Two Zero mission.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the aftermath of the conflict as many as nine British Chinooks delivered food and supplies to thousands of Kurdish refugees from Iraq.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 10 August 1999, hundreds of Chinooks around the world, including those used by the British armed forces, were grounded due to cracking discovered in the landing gear of a British helicopter during routine inspection.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
One Chinook in particular, known by its original squadron code Bravo November, is a well recognised and decorated aircraft due to its service record;<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> it has seen action in every major operation involving the RAF in the helicopter's almost 40-year service life, including the Falkland Islands, Lebanon, Germany, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Falklands War
During the Falklands War, Chinooks were deployed by both the British and Argentinian forces. In April 1982, four Chinooks were loaded aboard the container ship MV Atlantic Conveyor bound for the Falkland Islands, to support the British operations.<ref name="Air War Southp147-8">Ethell and Price 1983, pp. 147–148.</ref> On 25 May 1982, the Chinook Bravo November was sent to pick up freight from HMS Glasgow. While the helicopter was airborne, Atlantic Conveyor was attacked by an Argentine Navy Dassault Super Étendard with an Exocet sea-skimming missile.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bravo November avoided the ship's destruction, assisted in the evacuation of the ship, and later landed on the aircraft carrier Template:HMS, gaining the nickname "The Survivor".<ref name="za718">Template:Cite web</ref> Owing to the rapid spread of fire and smoke aboard Atlantic Conveyor after the Exocet strike, it was not possible to fly any of the helicopters that remained on the ship's deck.<ref name="Air War South p151-2">Ethell and Price 1983, pp. 151–152.</ref> RAF Chinooks were part of an estimated force of forty helicopters in the British task force, alongside Westland Sea King and Westland Wessex helicopters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
One Argentine CH-47C was captured during the Falklands War,<ref name="airwar" /> and used by the RAF as a training aid. The rear fuselage was later used to repair a crashed RAF Chinook in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Post-war, four Chinooks were operated by "ChinDet" (Chinook Detachment) which became No.1310 Flight in 1983. Subsequently, No. 78 Squadron was re-formed in 1986 from the merger of No. 1310 Flight and No.1564 Flight (Sea Kings) and operated two Chinooks as part of the Falklands Garrison. This was reduced to a single helicopter in the mid-1990s and the type was eventually withdrawn from the Falklands in 2006, in order to free up resources and aircraft for operations in Afghanistan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Afghanistan
Chinook helicopters were relied upon heavily to support the British forces in Afghanistan continuously from the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001;<ref name = "Par 57"/> Operation Snipe saw the helicopters used to assist the 1,000 British Commandos sweeping a region of southeastern Afghanistan.Template:Sfn Due to the threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) scattered throughout the terrain by insurgents, transport helicopters have become highly valued and demanded units in this style of warfare.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By April 2006, six Chinooks had been deployed by C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft to Kandahar in Southern Afghanistan, in support of Operation Herrick.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Two RAF Chinooks were lost in August 2009 during combat operations with the Taliban, one of which was brought down by enemy fire,<ref name="bbc news 1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="bbc news 2">Template:Cite news</ref> in spite of warnings months before of Taliban plans to attack the helicopters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The continued operation of the fleet was made more cost effective when maintenance and support regimes were altered in 2006 and 2007.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> On 15 December 2009, the British government announced its Future Helicopter Strategy including the purchase of twenty-four new build Chinooks, twenty-two to expand the force and two to replace losses in Afghanistan, to be delivered to the RAF from 2012.<ref>"As Cuts Loom, Britain Orders 24 Chinooks From Boeing"Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore, Defense News, 15 December 2009</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The number of additional Chinooks was cut by twelve in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010.<ref name="SDSR">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="flight winner">Template:Cite web</ref> This brought the total fleet size to sixty aircraft; as of 2009, the RAF had forty-eight Chinooks in inventory.<ref name="raf_page">RAF Chinook HC2/2A/3 page Template:Webarchive. raf.mod.uk, 20 July 2009.</ref>
Other deployments
On 6 June 1999, two Chinooks of No. 7 Squadron left RAF Odiham in Hampshire, carrying paratroopers to join NATO forces serving in the Balkans;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> six more arrived the following week in Kosovo to support operations such as casualty evacuations and transporting vital supplies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 12 June 1999, waves of Chinooks, escorted by Westland Lynx and American AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, were used to rapidly deploy British infantry forces into Kosovo as a part of NATO's first phase of deployment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In May 2000, several Chinook helicopters airlifted British and European Union citizens out of Freetown in Sierra Leone in an evacuation due to regional instability.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In September 2000, Chinooks were being used to evacuate casualties from fighting in Freetown to RFA Sir Percivale, a support ship docked there.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In July 2006, three Chinook helicopters of No. 27 Squadron deployed to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to evacuate British citizens from Lebanon;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the squadron also flew the EU foreign affairs representative Javier Solana to Beirut at the start of the crisis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In July 2018, three RAF Chinook helicopters were deployed under Operation Newcombe to assist French forces in the Northern Mali conflict with logistics and troop movement.<ref name="telegraph-20180720">Template:Cite news</ref>
Variants
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- Chinook HC1
- New-build aircraft for the RAF based on the CH-47C, forty-one built.
- Chinook HC1B
- Modification of the forty-one HC1s with metal rotor blades, survivors converted to HC2.
- Chinook HC2
- Conversion by Boeing of thirty-two surviving HC1Bs to CH-47D standard, and three new build-aircraft
- Chinook HC2A
- Similar to the HC2 with strengthened fuselage using milled structure manufacturing techniques, six built.
- Chinook HC3
- Special forces variant based on the CH-47SD, eight built.
- Chinook HC4
- HC2/2A aircraft with upgraded engines and avionics under Project Julius. Forty-six conversions planned.
- Chinook HC5
- HC3 aircraft with upgraded avionics under Project Julius and the replacement of the analogue flight control systems with the Boeing Digital Automatic Flight Control System (DAFCS).
- Chinook HC6
- New-build Chinooks announced in 2009, originally twenty-four aircraft, later reduced to fourteen<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (twelve new helicopters plus two attrition replacements). The final aircraft were delivered in December 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Chinook HC6A
- Upgrade of the HC4 Chinooks, with the replacement of the analogue flight control systems with the Boeing Digital Automatic Flight Control System (DAFCS).
- Chinook HC7
- 14 new build H-47F Extended Range (ER) under construction for delivery in 2027. Intended for Special Operations use. Will replace oldest surviving HC6As.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Operators
RAF Odiham
- No. 7 Squadron – Part of the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing
- No. 18(B) Squadron
- No. 27 Squadron
- No. 240 Operational Conversion Unit RAF – Joint Chinook and Puma HC1 Operational Conversion Unit, 1980 to 1993<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
RAF Benson
- No. 28 Squadron – Joint Chinook and Puma HC2 Operational Conversion Unit, 2015 onwards
Notable incidents and accidents
- 13 May 1986
- Chinook HC1 ZA715 crashed in bad weather in the Falkland Islands. The helicopter, with four crew and twelve troops, crashed into a hill four miles from its destination. With rescuers hampered by blizzards, the personnel were recovered but one crew member had died shortly after the crash, and the co-pilot and a soldier died on the way to hospital. The board of inquiry concluded that the crew had become disorientated due to "white-out" conditions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 27 February 1987
- Chinook HC1 ZA721 crashed in the Falkland Islands on a test flight following servicing. After leaving RAF Mount Pleasant, the helicopter was at a normal cruising speed and an altitude of between 300 and 700 feet when it nosed down and crashed into the ground about six kilometres south-east of the airfield; it was destroyed by a subsequent fire. The board of inquiry was unable to determine the exact cause but it may have been the forward-swivelling upper boost actuator jamming. All seven on board, three crew and four technicians, were killed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 6 May 1988
- Chinook HC1 ZA672 hit a pier at Hannover Airport while taxiing into position in a confined space. Its front rotor struck the underside of Pier 10, causing the helicopter to rear up vertically and then fall on its side. A fire started at the rear of the fuselage and soon spread. Three crew members were killed and one had major injuries; the Chinook was destroyed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2 June 1994
- Chinook HC2 ZD576 crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, killing all 25 passengers and all four crew members; the cause is disputed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is widely regarded as the RAF's fourth-worst peacetime disaster.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Times1">Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref><ref name="times58321">Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref>
- 19 August 2009
- Chinook HC2 ZA709 made an emergency landing following a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) strike and subsequent engine fire after a cargo drop-off just north of Sangin in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The Chinook flew two kilometres to a safe area before landing. None of the crew sustained any injuries and all evacuated the aircraft before they were rescued by a second Chinook on the same sortie. The damaged aircraft was then destroyed by coalition air strikes to prevent it falling into the hands of the Taliban.<ref name="bbc news 1" /><ref name="sky-news">Template:Cite news</ref>
- 30 August 2009
- Chinook HC2 ZA673 made a hard landing while on operations near Sangin, Helmand province. It suffered damage to the undercarriage, nose and front rotor, but the crew and fifteen soldiers on board were unharmed. According to the Ministry of Defence it was not possible to safely recover the aircraft due to the location of the crash and it was destroyed with explosives deliberately. The cause of the hard landing was investigated, although it was not thought to have been shot down.<ref name="bbc news 2"/>
Aircraft on display
- 83-24104 - Former US Army CH-47D forward section on display at Royal Air Force Museum London, modified to represent "Bravo November".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- ZA717 - Chinook HC.1 preserved at Newark Air Museum in Winthorpe, England.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- ZA718 - Chinook HC6A "Bravo November" on display at Royal Air Force Museum Cosford.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Specifications (Chinook HC6A)
Avionics & Defensive Aids
- Cockpit Avionics: Glass cockpit with a BAE Systems Digital Advanced Flight Control System (DAFCS), includes automatic modes such as auto-hover and auto-descend to ease pilot workload.
- Sensors: Electro-Optical Sensor Turret (EOST) with two infrared cameras and a low-light TV function .
- Defensive Aids: Missile Warning Receiver, Infrared Warning Receiver, Radar Warning Receiver, Counter-measure dispensing system (flares).
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
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