Another very interesting contribution to the MFO was the French Fixed Wing Aviation Unit (FWAU).
The FWAU operate a DeHavilland Canada
DHC-6 Twin Otter.
This plane is a ferry between
North Camp
and
South Camp
. It is flying almost every day. The only problem was sometimes the limited amount of seats
available. Even if you had a ticket, there was always the
possibility to lose your seat to a higher ranking person.
The French DHC-6 Twin Otter parked on the airfield of North Camp.
The Twin Otter was not the only plane in the MFO. There were also ten helicopters, Bell UH-1H Huey. We had six of these in North Camp, the other four were stationed on South Camp. These helicopters were used for observation and medical evacuations.
One of the MFO helicopters (Bell UH-1H Huey).
Because the pilots are only flying observation missions most of the time, they had to make a lot of training flights to keep up their operational status. During these trainingflights it was possible to fly with them. Most of the flights were in the evening. Because it is dark out, the pilots are flying with Night Vision Goggles (NVG's). These NVG's multiply the available light electronically, so the light of a cigarette is enough to see in the dark. At most of the flights there were also NVG's for the passengers. I went on five training flights, four at night and one during the day.
