The Accidental Aviator: A personal account of flying during the Cold War and Falklands Conflict

Flying in the Royal Navy during the Cold War was demanding and dangerous, it became even more so as war went Hot in1982 when the Argentinians invaded the Falklands.This is the personal account of one man’s experience of those turbulent times.Larry Jeram-Croft obtained a Cadetship to join the Royal Navy whilst still at school. Guaranteed entry, he then dedicated his teenage years to girls and motorbikes and put off worrying about his future. Somehow, he obtained enough A levels to be accepted and so with no better idea, he joined up. Despite the distractions of girls, sailing, racing cars and flying, he obtained a degree, specialising in Aircraft Engineering. Although having a Private Pilot’s licence, he was turned down as a naval pilot because of poor eyesight. Never one to give up, he requested to be allowed to fly anyway. His request was approved and he trained as a pilot, going to his first front line squadron, flying Sea Kings in 1978. This was the height of the Cold War and the anti-submarine flying was often extremely challenging (as was the social life). Early in 1979 he was involved in an SAR sortie that rescued 8 people off a stranded trawler at night, in a force ten snow storm and was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.Two years later, he converted to the Lynx helicopter and joined the frigate HMS Andromeda. In 1982, the ship deployed with the Falklands Task Force. Larry’s aircraft had been fitted with special Exocet missile jamming equipment which was proved against a real missile before they headed south. On 30 May the last Exocet raid of the war took place and he had a front seat view of the attack as two Sea Dart missiles narrowly missed his aircraft.On return to the UK, he spent four years as the Maintenance Test Pilot at Portland flying both the Lynx and the Wasp where he was able to put much of his flying and engineering experience to good use. Staff jobs followed and he was promoted to Commander in 1990 before retiring in 2000. Larry now writes novels and non-fiction. Readers of his ‘Jon Hunt’ series of naval novels may well recognise elements of his career that have migrated into his fiction. This is the true story.