Wednesday marks the 40th anniversary of the Fastnet Race disaster, when an unexpectedly bad storm hit day three of the yacht race, causing 19 people to lose their lives.

However, 75 were safely rescued by Royal Navy helicopters from RNAS Culdrose, and in the latest in a series of articles looking back we hear first-hand accounts from the aircrew who risked their own lives to save others.

Former Royal Navy aircrew have spoken of the dangers they faced in a ferocious storm as they rescued yachtsmen 40 years ago.

One aircrewman described how he became entangled in his own wire in mountainous seas – forcing him to unfasten himself from his rescue helicopter during the Fastnet Race disaster.

He was part of a Sea King helicopter crew on long-range search and rescue duty from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose that fateful day, August 14, 1979.

The four from 706 Naval Air Squadron were photographed walking back from their Sea King helicopter at Culdrose, near Helston in Cornwall, tired and having just completed a punishing eight-hour mission involving multiple rescues.

It is an image which provides a fascinating insight into the disaster, revealing a background of daring rescues, frustrated hopes and tragedy, as more than 300 yachts were caught in the storm.

A total of 19 people died that day while more than 150 were rescued from crippled yachts – 75 of them plucked from the sea by Royal Navy helicopter crews, and many of the rest by RNLI lifeboats.

Falmouth Packet:

Pictured arriving back at Culdrose after the first of what would be two missions were Lieutenant Charlie Thornton, the observer in command of the helicopter; co-pilot Lieutenant Keith Thompson; senior pilot Lieutenant Fred Robertson; and, on the right, Chief Aircrewman Dave Fowles.

Mr Fowles, who was 31 years old in 1979, is pictured wearing a deflated lifejacket – a sure sign that that not long before he had been in close contact with the sea.

Such was the scale of the disaster, the crew were told their aircraft would be refuelled as soon as possible and, with just time for a quick cup of coffee, they could expect to be back in the air on a second mission within half an hour.

Mr Thompson, then aged 25, remembered how they were not due on duty until the next day – but the sudden onslaught of the storm forced the authorities to recall as many air crews as possible to Culdrose. A total of 15 Royal Navy helicopters took part in the rescue.

Speaking from his home in Oxfordshire, he said: “At first, we were told there was a yacht or a couple of yachts in trouble and that was it. We were soon heading out towards the Scillies when we started getting messages of more boats in trouble. I distinctly remember hearing there was now a list of yachts. I started writing down their names on my knee pad and ran out of room, so I wrote them on the window instead.

Falmouth Packet:

Sitting beside him was Fred Robertson, then aged 31, who added: “I remember it was very windy (46 to 58 mph). The sea state was really high and the swell was quite ferocious.

“Lots of the yachts had got into trouble. I remember we passed over one yacht, Gunslinger it was called, which had been rolled over and completely dismasted and later sunk. The crew were all in a life raft but we were on our way to a man-overboard, so we dropped a smoke marker and came back for them an hour later.”

Mr Robertson, who now lives near Stithians, added: “From a pilot’s point of view, it was quite hard work because of the swell, but I think, for the guy going down on the winch, that was really tiring.”

That job fell to Chief Aircrewman Dave Fowles, who was winched down by the observer Charlie Thornton.

Mr Fowles had raced a yacht himself in the previous Fastnet Race of 1977, and it was only by a twist of fate that he had failed to get a berth in the 1979 race.

Speaking from his home in Mullion, he said: “It was blowing a real hooley. One crew told me afterwards how their boat was hit by a wave and rolled over. The wind then hit them sideways and they were rolled upside down, sliding down the wave.

“The whole of the boat then did a 360’ and came back up upright. If you do that twice or three times in the same day, you can imagine the state the crews were in.”

Falmouth Packet:

Dave Fowles today

The helicopter crew spotted a life raft which had been ripped in half by the force of the sea. It carried a single person inside from the yacht Trophy. Mr Fowles went down on the winchline and the pilots, working closely on the instructions of the observer, put him down exactly on the ruined raft.

“At the time, you’re not really thinking too much about what’s going on,” Mr Fowles added. “You’re looking down and knowing you are going to go into the water.”

Mr Fowles grabbed the yachtsman and was winched back up into the helicopter. The crew then spotted another raft nearby – which turned out to be the top half of the first damaged raft - with four or five men in the sea.

He was lowered again but soon found himself in real trouble, as the damaged raft was tossed and spun by the huge rolling waves.

He said: “I shouted to them it would be ok, but when I got into the raft, I realised it didn’t have a floor. I got to the first guy – who didn’t have a life jacket – but the waves were spinning us and we soon became tangled in the line. I had to let it go and push away from the raft.

“I realised this wasn’t going to work and the next thing that happened is got seriously knackered swimming in the water. I suddenly thought, ‘I can’t do this’. I inflated my life jacket and had to push away.

“As soon as I was rescued back into the aircraft, I looked down and there, about 50 yards away, was this Dutch destroyer. I was so absorbed in what was happening in the water I hadn’t even seen it. They picked up the rest of the survivors from that yacht.”

Falmouth Packet:

The crew were next sent to pick up survivors in a raft, who had abandoned their yacht Grimalkin. A second helicopter, a Sea King which had flown down from Prestwick in Scotland, was later sent to rescue two of the Grimalkin’s crew who had been left behind on the yacht, unconscious but still strapped in by their safety lines. One of them later died.

Paul Glover was 29 years old and an experienced search and rescue aircrewman. Speaking from his home near Mawnan Smith, Falmouth, he said: “When we got out over the Grimalkin, we could see it had been dismasted. It was just a tangle of rigging. We rescued one alive and one dead. The rest of the crew had abandoned ship earlier in the day.

Falmouth Packet:

Paul Glover in 1979

“It was still fairly rough at that time. We knew by now it was a large-scale operation and we were the last rescue flight of the day. We went out again the next day and I’ve got one image in my memory that’s still there – of the fishermen who were out, towing the damaged yachts back in.”

The Fastnet rescue of 1979 remains the UK’s largest ever rescue operation in peacetime.