During the Falklands War, the SS Atlantic Conveyor was carrying six Chinook HC.1s when she took two Exocet missiles to the side and burned. Only one - HC.1 ZA718 “Bravo November” - was in flight at the time, meaning she was the lone survivor – picking up the nickname “The Survivor” as a result.
Conveyor also went down with her IFF codes and nearly every tool used in maintenance except a pair of pliers and a screwdriver. As the war went on, she got filthier and filthier - parts fell off, her rotors got out of track, she developed a leak of oil in her rear rotor’s gearbox, but she gamely flew on without nearly any form of maintenance. The British forces loved her, giving her the new nickname, “The Shuddering Shithead.“
One night, Bravo November was commissioned to fly an SAS troop, three artillery pieces, and their ammunition to a hot LZ atop Mount Kent, at night. It was a foolhardy mission and was stretching the already ailing bird to her very limit, but she did her duty.
On her way home she flew into a snowstorm. While the crew was trying to figure out how to get home, they flew into the sea at 100 knots, due to a faulty altimeter. The impact threw up spray that flooded the engine intakes but Langworthy and his co-pilot managed to get the helicopter back in the air. The fuselage was damaged, an antenna had been lost and the co-pilot’s door had been removed. While the co-pilot door was missing, the crew of Bravo November were unable to navigate or communicate with other forces. Bravo November returned to San Carlos for damage inspection. The impact had caused “little more than dents to the fuselage and damage to the radio systems.” For the rest of the war she flew without a side door, leaving the copilot shivering.
At the end of the war she had one last thing to do.
Flying into Port Stanley at the cessation of hostilities, she landed next to an Argentinean helicopter that had been grounded by an air strike. Her crew took their single screwdriver, unscrewed the Argentine door, and put it on the British helicopter.
Allegedly, she still has the Argentine door today.
What’s even funnier is that, a decade later, her original door washed up on shore and was discovered by a Falkland Islander.
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