Selwyn Times: June 09, 2021

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12 Selwyn Times Wednesday June 9 2021 Celebrate the very best of winter in one of New Zealand’s most picturesque alpine villages Hanmer Springs kicks off its first-ever Winter Festival this July. Gather your friends and family for this epic wintry line-up, featuring all this and more ... • Ice Skating: 1 st July – 1 st August • Hanmer Springs Winter Fete: 2 nd July • Masquerade Winter Ball: 3 rd July • Hanmer 10 & Kids 2km Twilight Dash: 10 th July • Honour Festival Winter Wellness Retreat: 18 th July • Canterbury vs Tasman Rugby Match: 23 rd July • Hanmer Springs Ski Area Open Day: 24 th July www.visithurunui.co.nz/events
Former Falklands and Gulf War veteran Phillip Harrall retired to Lincoln two years ago to be close to family. The 68-year-old former Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm lieutenant talks to Susan Sandys Wednesday June 9 2021 Selwyn Times OUR PEOPLE – PHILLIP HARRALL 13 Wartime highs and lows remembered Tell me about how you came to live in Lincoln. We (myself and wife Fiona) had been coming backwards and forwards (from our former home in England) for quite some time. I have a lot of cousins who live at Rolleston and Rangiora and areas around. I was born in New Zealand (but moved to the UK when I was a baby), as my father was recalled by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, because they were very short of experienced fighter pilots. He had served as a fighter pilot in World War 2. My elder daughter moved to Auckland about 10 years ago, so we were coming out to visit her. She is now in Prebbleton. We made the decision we would probably come back to New Zealand at some time. Then we had a granddaughter, and decided to come back. We made the decision to move to Lincoln, which we did in 2019. It’s paid off and we are really happy to be here. Are you involved in the local community? One of the things we decided to do if we came back was to get involved in the local community, hence joining Lincoln Rotary. Lincoln Rotary seems to be bucking the trend, getting more and more members. When we joined there were about 35 members, in two years we are up to 66 members. It’s fantastic, we are growing. It’s lovely to see, I’m really proud of the group, we do a lot of work for the local community. How did you come to join the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm? I went to a school in Elgin in the north of Scotland while my father was based at the Royal Naval Air Station at Lossiemouth, which was seven miles away. I was awarded a place to study physics at the Aberdeen University. At the same time, being a navy brat, I threw my hat in the ring and went down to do selection at Biggin Hill RAF station. I passed both tests for pilot and observer. My father being a pilot, I elected to become an observer, I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps and be always told you are not as good as your old man! The observer is a tactician in the aircraft, they look after all the weapons, navigation, and the radar. I gave up Aberdeen University and went down to the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in Devon. Tell me about your experience of the Falklands War. (At first) I was what was known as the helicopter warfare instructor on the squadron of Lynxes (specialist naval anti-surface helicopters). I was one of the few people who had fired the Sea Skua (air to surface) lightweight anti-ship missile (from the Lynx) under trial conditions. So I spent a lot of my time with my Lynx and my pilot, going from ship to ship, briefing the crews on how to fire the missile. The Sea Skua was never designed to sink ships, it was designed to sort of cause them a problem. Did you ever fire one to cause a ship a problem? That’s a very sore point, I was probably the only bugger who didn’t fire one! Once I got into what we called the territory exclusion zone, the 200-mile circle around the Falklands, my role changed. I had a very large infrared camera on the side of the (Lynx) aircraft and my role was to go close in shore at night and take infrared images of the areas around Port Stanley (where the Argentinians had taken over an airfield). The pilot and I had to fly off the ships to look at the land to see what we could see in the way of troops or radars or weaponry. That sounds like real high adrenaline stuff, how did you know you wouldn’t get shot down? Well, we had a very good electronic warfare system on board the Lynx, so I could see their radar on my screen and I could see if they were tracking us. On about the third night we had gone in and we were just watching what was happening on the camera. Suddenly, I got a very bright light. They had fired a missile called Tiger Cat. I knew it had a range of about six miles, and I knew I was sitting eight miles off the coast. However, when you watch the recording of the thermal imaging and the data recording of our voices in the cockpit, my voice gets higher and higher as this thing gets closer and closer. I begin to realise that actually it doesn’t stop at six miles, it’s gone ballistic by that stage. So we just took evasive action, it splashed in the water about a mile from us. Once the missile motor burned out, it continued on for another mile. Did you see it coming? This was two in the morning; it was complete darkness. We couldn’t see the missile, but because I was tracking it on the camera, we just turned 90 degrees to the missile, increased speed and went down to a low DECORATED: Phillip Harrall has been recognised for his service, which has included operating as an observer in the specialist naval anti-surface Lynx helicopter during the Falklands War. level so it didn’t have a chance of getting near us. You must have nerves of steel. I wouldn’t say it was nerves of steel, I would just say we were highly trained. Have you had any other close calls? We were doing a recky of West Falkland, again about two in the morning... this time Fox Bay. It had two little airstrips on it. I think the command were worried that the Argentinians could make use of those airfields. So we went in to have a quick look, and all hell broke loose. The Argentinian ground troops fired on us, the Lynx got hit in the tail. We were aware that we had been hit, we didn’t know how badly. So we left the area and returned to the ship at very low level. We didn’t want to fall from 200 feet into the water, we would rather fall from 50 feet. After we landed, the admiral staff air engineer looked at the holes in the tail, and said “Do you realise if you put holes in a tube it makes the tube stronger?” to which I said “Well you fly the frickin’ thing then.” • Turn to page 14 ‘Famous for their roasts!’ SENIORS SPECIAL Two courses: $ 23 Soup/Roast or Roast/Dessert Special available lunch only Monday - Saturday 12pm - 2.30pm Conditions apply FAMILY FRIENDLY Kid’s Special Two courses Great Kids menu plus designated play area. $ 13 RESTAURANT & CAFÉ Open daily from 6.30am - Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner The RACECOURSE HOTEL & Motorlodge 118 Racecourse Rd, Sockburn, Christchurch. Ph 03 342 7150 www.racecoursehotel.co.nz Stay comfortable all year round with Fujitsu’s sleek, stylish Lifestyle Range. 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Selwyn Times: June 09, 2021

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