Queen has a hoot with toot on fire horn
THE Queen got some pointers on firefighting safety yesterday as she quizzed a flight crew on their role in the Hurricane Irma relief effort.
The Wildcat helicopter team told of the devastation after Irma wreaked havoc in the Caribbean last month during the royal visit to HMS Sutherland.
Her Majesty was on the Royal Navy frigate to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its commissioning at London’s West India Docks.
Lieutenant Oliver Brooksbank described joining the humanitarian effort as “a real privilege”.
The pilot said: “We train again and again for war, fighting and dropping missiles and torpedoes on the enemy, and every so often you get an opportunity to do something which is tangible and for the good of the people you’re directly helping.
“And to see that effort and to see lives change directly as a consequence of your part, no matter how minor, is really satisfying for us.”
His aircraft was based on support ship Royal Fleet Auxiliary Mounts Bay and he and his crew spent three weeks in Turks and Caicos and on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.
Engineer Petty Officer Colin Wilson, 36, said: “On a typical day we were load lifting two tons of water, there was aid in the back of the aircraft and anything requested by the commander on the ground. It was pretty rewarding.”
Later, the Queen could not resist sounding the claxon when she met the firefighting team’s Engineering Technician Stanley Money, 21.
Chief Petty Officer Peter Manning, 38, leader of the fire crew, laughed with Her Majesty as she pressed the device – which is worn on the shoulder and looks like an old-fashioned bicycle horn.
Before leaving the Queen posed for a picture with the crew and later the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones led all the sailors in giving the Queen three cheers.