As many of you will already know, the Royal Air Force’s AgustaWestland Merlin has been a regular and popular participant on the UK airshow circuit both in a flying and, in more recent years, a static display capacity. Team Merlin is made up of personnel from 28(AC) Sqn, 78 Sqn and the support elements of the Merlin Force at RAF Benson, who volunteer to display their Mk3 and Mk3A Merlin helicopters at events across the country.
The Merlin is of course the RAF's latest, extremely capable, Battlefield Support Helicopter, currently serving on active duty in support of ISAF operations in Afghanistan. Crewed by one pilot, a pilot / navigator and two crewmen, the Merlin is capable of carrying up to 24 fully equipped troops as well as freight and vehicles, both internally and externally.
The Merlin’s debut RAF display season was in 2002 when, as a solo flying display, the aircraft performed in the hands of the crew which pretty much brought the aircraft in to service. A three-year gap followed and, in 2005, the Merlin once again returned as a flying act, with pilot Sqn Ldr Mark Beardmore who had been part of the 2002 crew, instrumental in pushing for the display to be resurrected.
“That was the year I joined the team as crew,” explains Gareth. “We had a very successful year and flew at 20 shows in the UK and beyond, including the likes of Paris and Dubai.
“When I look back on the 2005 and 2006 seasons now I can see that we were nowhere near as well organised as Team Merlin is today. This is where the seeds were sown though as the impact of engaging with the public and taking the opportunity to tell them about what we do was obvious, or at least it was to me anyway!”
“The reaction we got from the public was unfailingly positive and that really opened my eyes; I knew we could be doing much more of that sort of work.”
The team learned a great deal during the 2006 season, with then Flt Lt Colin Dempster as display pilot, and Gareth admits that a number of the crew going in to their second consecutive stint on the circuit (Colin for example was co-pilot in 2005) helped the team to evolve and grow stronger.
“I for one realised that you have to fight for everything and that your approach, especially with regard to the shows themselves, is everything. You have to be humble and not make too many demands of organisers which, unfortunately, some acts undoubtedly do. It’s important to remember that some of the shows have hundreds of aircraft and crews involved and really you need to be going to them with what you can offer the event and then you’ll be looked after by way of return.”
“During the 2005 season I also noted how merchandise was working well for many of the other teams and acts and I realised we were missing a trick. This was when the Team Merlin logo was born and it just stuck really. Believe it or not my wife and I actually started receiving, packaging up and sending out merchandise from home in our own spare time!”
“Our only real funding came by way of donations from AgustaWestland and Rolls Royce UK as we’ve never been centrally funded for Team Merlin. This was also when our relationship with John Deere UK gathered pace and we started using the Gator utlility vehicle. People still poke fun at it but that vehicle has been absolutely invaluable. It’s a tiny element of what we do but it has become part of the Team Merlin image and people associate it with us now.”
This is just one example of the way in which Gareth brought Team Merlin together as a consistent 'act' and this has contributed hugely to its success. It now has three solid seasons of static displays behind it but essentially with all the comparative organisation of a flying display team. The Team has also tried to stick to a theme and way of going about its business with regard to the message it wants to convey when supporting any airshow.
“The Merlin Force is currently deployed on operations in support of ISAF in Afghanistan of course. We have deliberately set out to make sure that people know that and to explain to them that this is what it is really all about. We supported airshows during the four and a half years we spent in Iraq and we’re still supporting them now. Every single person who attends an airshow with the Merlin has at some point deployed on operations and that is very important for us and for the Royal Air Force.”
“Everyone who comes away to an airshow as part of Team Merlin is a volunteer and perhaps the most important thing for all of us to remember is that we are representing the Royal Air Force, the Merlin Force and RAF Benson. It’s a huge responsibility really and, as Manager, you do have to ensure that people know all the dos and don’ts, especially if they are doing it for the first time. Hopefully they’ve been able to respect the experience I have from attending so many shows and I’m proud that we’ve never really experienced any major issues.”
The team has worked hard to make its displays interactive, relevant to the Merlin’s operational role and, during the 2009 season, this even extended to the crews wearing their operational desert flying suits at every event to ensure that the message about ops in Iraq and then Afghanistan was successfully delivered.
Gareth readily agrees that it’s not always easy to assess the success of something like Team Merlin but his belief is that the PR impact is wholly positive.
“We’ve tried to take senior officers with us when we can and have also taken the opportunity to meet people like the Chief of the Air Staff when he’s been at an event. If people see us and see what we’re doing then I think the impact is quite obvious. We don’t just stand around doing nothing or leave the cab unmanned, the crew works at the aircraft meeting the public all day to make sure we can answer questions and get the message across.”
For Gareth personally, Team Merlin has been a labour of love but one he has thoroughly enjoyed. He took his original vision of what he felt the Team could achieve in terms of engagement and saw it through to actually planning for and personally attending the vast majority of the shows, this has taken up a huge amount of time and effort which has naturally always played second fiddle to his primary role as Merlin aircrew and fulfilling his own operational deployments, so the past five years have been busy ones, albeit very satisfying.
“I have so many memories really. That sounds like a cop-out but I really don’t know where to start. It’s been all about the people I suppose and I’ve done all this with a great group of colleagues and met some brilliant people along the way.”
“Seeing Team Merlin grow in to what is really a recognised and well respected airshow ‘brand’ has been superb. We haven’t done it in a half-hearted fashion and I am confident that we haven’t made any disastrous errors either! It’s all been down to the hard work and dedication of a huge number of people and it’s been great fun too.”
So what of the future? As I write this the dust is just about beginning to settle as a result of the government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review and let’s face it, the impact that may or may not have on military airshow attendees is of little consequence in comparison to some of the issues being discussed. However, with Gareth leaving the Merlin Force for a new Royal Air Force posting there is a man already waiting in the wings to fill the Manager’s role in the shape of Flt Lt Jim Taylor, a Merlin pilot of 2000 hours experience and currently serving with 78 Sqn.
“This year has seen me attending shows with the Team more frequently than I have done before, although I did a handful of shows in previous years, and it’s been eye-opening really.”
“I really hadn’t appreciated how much work went in to the planning in all honesty, and I now know just how much needs to be done to get an aircraft and a crew to a show, all of which has to be fitted in around our regular work. It’s not just about turning up and having a free weekend away, there is a lot more to it than that.”
“It is enjoyable though and, as someone who went to a lot of airshows when I was a youngster, something which really made me decide that I wanted to be a pilot by the way, then I now want to do the same. I want to bring the Merlin to events and tell people about what we do and what the helicopter does.”
They are though, he admits, big shoes to fill……
“There’s no question about that and I think the main point is that it would be very easy to unravel all the hard work that Gareth has put in and to ruin the great reputation the Team has built-up. No pressure then!”
“When I first got involved I always used to think that the most impactful thing would surely be to throw the aircraft around at various airshows but once I came out with the Team and saw the static display and how well it works then my thinking changed really.”
That doesn’t mean that Jim wouldn’t love to show the general public a little of what the aircraft can do in the air, something the Team hasn’t done since 2006 of course. His reluctance to sacrifice five years work however is perfectly understandable while supporting both flying and static displays across an entire season would most likely be unfeasible from a logistical perspective.
“I don’t want to change too much in all honesty. Team Merlin has developed a strong network of supporters both at the events themselves and also through Gareth’s use of Twitter and Facebook for example. These are valuable resources and I would like to try and make these elements more interactive if possible, reflecting what we do when we are actually on static display and meeting the general public.”
I am sure many of you reading this would like to pay special thanks to Gareth Attridge for all that he has done over the past few years - both organisers and airshow goers alike. Team Merlin would not exist in its current format without him and all the hard work he has put in to developing it in to one of the Royal Air Force’s most engaging display assets. While I am sure we will see him around the bazaars in some capacity in 2011 and beyond, the airshow world will be poorer for his absence as Team Merlin Manager. To Jim Taylor and all his colleagues on the Merlin Force, we wish you all the best and look forward to working with you next season.
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