Chopper comes a cropper: Chinook helicopter gets bogged down in a muddy field after mechanical failure forced it to make emergency landing 20 miles from its base at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire
- The 40-year-old RAF Chinook was one of the first to join the RAF’s fleet in 1981 and flew in the first Gulf War
- The aircraft developed a technical problem returning to RAF Benson on Tuesday and was forced to land
- The 11-tonne chopper started sinking in the mud after being forced to perform an emergency landing
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An RAF Chinook helicopter which had to make a precautionary landing has been grounded in a field for days – after getting stuck in the mud.
The 99ft long military twin-rotor chopper was forced to touch down near Wantage, Oxfordshire on Tuesday due to a mechanical issue.
And it has been stranded 20 miles away from its base at RAF Benson ever since.
The wheels of the 11 tonne £60m chopper quickly began sinking into the waterlogged ground due to recent downpours of rain.
The RAF Chinook, pictured, suffered minor damage after it was forced to perform an emergency landing in a field near Wantage, Oxfordshire on Tuesday night
The massive helicopter sank into the field meaning it needs to be lifted from its current position before it could take off and return to its base at RAF Benson
The 40-year-old Boeing Chinook HC4 has been in service the with RAF since before the Falklands War
RAF engineers have solved the technical issue although the aircraft – which was used during the first Gulf War – is still stuck
Royal Air Force engineers were deployed to rapidly fix the mechanical issue but the military work horse continued to sink further into the mud.
It was hoped a tri-Service team of specialists could recover it by the end of the week but have been unable to rescue it yet.
A RAF Benson spokesman said in a statement on their Facebook page: ‘While it was hoped that it could simply be dug out and then flown home, the risk of damage to the aircraft from this course of action has been assessed as significant and alternative options are being explored, including potentially lifting it from the mud with a crane.’
They thanked the owners of the field for the ‘kindness they’ve shown to our team guarding the aircraft during some very cold nights’.
The Chinook is from 28 Squadron at RAF Benson – where Prince William’s former 22 Squadron reformed in May last year.
He served in the operational testing and evaluation unit from 2010 to 2013.
After standing down as a Search and Rescue squadron in 2015, the team reformed as the Operational Evaluation Unit for the Joint Helicopter Command.
It now provides operational testing and evaluation for all Joint Helicopter Command aircraft types – including the Chinook
The RAF has the largest fleet of the distinctive choppers outside of America and is expected to remain in service until the 2040s.
It had 60 Chinooks in active inventory in 2015 and requested to purchase 16 more from the US three years later.
Nobody was injured during the precautionary landing which left the 11-tonne helicopter stuck in the mud
Engineers are currently developing a plan rescue the helicopter from the muddy field without causing it any damage