Three weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get a ride along with the Chopper Coppers of the Chiltern Air Support Unit from their base at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire, and I got to take my camera!

The Chiltern Air Support Unit is a consortium of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire & Thames Valley Police which share two helicopters to provide air support for police operations across the three police districts.

The unit came to fruition in 1992 when the three forces came together to share helicopter facilities. In 1996 a second helicopter was purchased. The two helicopters are currently based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire & RAF Henlow, although the unit has been at Henlow less than a year having been previously based at Luton Airport.

I went with the crew on a day shift from 8am to 4pm & spent my time with a Hertfordshire PC, a Bedfordshire PC who form the unit’s observers & a civilian pilot provided to the unit by a private company. The weather was pretty poor & it even looked like we might have to be grounded for the day, the cloud cover was so heavy.

Unfortunately, as luck would have it, I managed to get the crew on a particularly quiet shift. We only got to lift for two jobs during the whole ten hour shift. Total flying time was around 90 minutes.

We flew down to Hertford to assist local police officers who were searching for a male who had run off from police in a busy housing estate. We circled about the houses & schools for some time using the chopper’s camera system to try & track down the offender. He managed to escape for another day so we returned to the base in Bedfordshire taking a direct flight path from Hertford, across Stevenage & into the unit’s new purpose-built facilities at RAF Henlow.

Our second shout came only a few minutes later when we were called to Luton to assist in the search for a male who had made off from police on a scooter. It was suspected that the scooter may have been stolen.

Unfortunately, we were again unable to track the rider or scooter down & returned to base. This was to be the last flight of the day.

The Eurocopter EC-135T-1 comes equipped with the latest thermal imaging camera, skyshout loud-haler system & powerful spotlighting unit. It has up-to-date mapping which can guide the pilot direct to an individual address anywhere in the three force areas. Crewed by two police officers who act as observers & work the complicated radio, mapping & camera systems. Several of the private pilots are ex-military. There is space for a stretcher for med-evac duties.

Although it would have been great to have got some more flying in, I really I enjoyed my time with the unit. It’s always great to take photos in a completely different, & exciting setting!