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Chinook Crew 'Chick': Highs and Lows of Forces Life from the Longest Serving Female RAF Chinook Force Crewmember

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Liz was only 21 when she became the youngest Chinook crewmember to serve in Iraq, and then became the longest serving female member. Originally from a small town in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, she attended RAF Cranwell on her 19th birthday to begin her exciting career. Does McConaghy have any words of wisdom for people thinking of following the same kind of career path?

The Chinook chick who survived Afghanistan and Iraq and was

Because it’s so hard to identify a firing point where the rounds are coming from, you just have to stand your ground at the mini-gun and pray that there’s a little Ready Brek glow surrounding you.” Liz became the longest serving female Chinook aircrew member after serving for 17 years. Liz reflects on why she stayed for so long, and why she eventually had to leave.

AeroTime caught up with Liz earlier this week and also appointed her as the latest AeroTime Aviation Champion in recognition of her work and dedication to the industry. Congratulations to Liz! Anyone who’s lost someone to suicide can kind of hear my story and realise they couldn’t have done anything to help. I [was] so far down the PTSD route that nobody could stop me. I think it’s an important message for people who have been affected by suicide to know that. That’s the questions [that] are always left after suicide, isn’t it? What could I have done to help them? How could I have stopped them doing that? It tells me a lot about how my own mental state was by this time of the campaign as even this didn’t make me bat an eyelid or flinch,” she recalls. Liz summarised her experiences with mental health and shared her tips for those who are suffering, and those who know someone else who is suffering.

Liz McConaghy - Yeovil Literary Festival

My basic training, there were three of us which is good. My Shawbury course (RAF Shawbury, a helicopter training base), I was the only female crewman, then I was the only one on the Chinook force for [several] years, so I’m quite used to being in that environment. I was not the first female crewman by any stretch, there were a couple before me. These weapons of mass destruction gave us the ability to protect the Chinook from all directions, sometimes without needing to fire a bullet, the sight of them being enough of a deterrent to the enemy,” recalls McConaghy.Instantly I wanted to become that. I didn’t really understand what ‘that’ was but I wanted to be it!” she recalls. With her hands tied together, McConaghy felt it “roll down my chest and all the way to my belly button. Still makes me cringe now thinking about it. But at least it distracted me from the screaming”.

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On board one of the Chinooks, Liz McConaghy – a feisty 25-year-old blonde from County Down, Northern Ireland – watched the changing landscape skidding below and concentrated on the operation to come. The good thing about the Chinook”Liz explained , “compared to something like the Puma and even the Merlin is that it’s got a lot of redundant space. So you can take a lot around you, a lot of battle damage and as long as the engines are still running and you are still going, then you’re okay. On this week’s podcast we speak with Former Special Forces Operator Warrant Officer Ant Plater served in the Australian Defence Force for 27 years, 17 of which were with formally 4RAR Commando now the 2nd Commando Regiment. I knew we were about to crash so I braced myself hard against the door frame and placed my hand on the release straps of my harness,” she said.The bad stuff is the same stuff that everyone else goes through, not so much the PTSD and mental health.”

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