As a Commando helicopter pilot, the author served with 846 Naval Air Squadron in the Falklands War and was decorated for gallantry (DSC). The author re-lives his part in operations, in particular Special Forces intelligence gathering and direct action missions, including the Pebble Island raid. Events are described in detail including the development of pioneering night operating procedures and the conduct of covert and other operationally sensitive missions. The book includes hitherto undisclosed material relating to Operation MIKADO, the ill-fated Special Forces mission in Argentina with its disastrous consequences fro the Task Force. Dick was Captain of the Sea King that carried the Special Forces team into Argentina. The operation is described in detail including events in the air and on the ground in Argentina and Chile. Dick recalls his encounter with the Chilean authorities, meetings with British Embassy officials in Santiago, the international press conference, his eventful repatriation to the UK, debriefings in the MoD and time spent in an M16 safe-house somewhere in England. The book concludes by describing a follow-up visit to Chile by the author in November 1982, at the behest of the Chilean Government. AUTHOR: Now retired Colonel Richard (Dick) Hutchings DSC lives in Cumbria. SELLING POINTS: An exceptional memoir describing operations by, and in support of, the SAS and SBS during the Falklands War. The only complete account of Op MIKADO ? the Top Secret ill-fated SF mission into Argentina; the author had to destroy his Sea King Helicopter in Chile. Covers intelligence gathering and direct action including the highly successful Pebble Island Raid. 16 pages of b/w plates
