Nightshade (Helicopter)

• It was the first official use of the aircraft which was officially registered to a British company, Convey Limited with the registration: G-CNVY. Unofficially, the aircraft belonged to Vengeance and bore the military registration: ZJ998. The aircraft had begun life at the Westland Helicopters Limited factory in Yeovil, England, as a Dutch Mk.512 Merlin known as M-509 at the end of February 2006. It had a short career, just a year, as a Dutch rescue helicopter before being returned to Westland Helicopters Limited (as it was then) in June 2007 and refurbished for use with the Royal Air Force as a Merlin HC.3A transport helicopter. Then, in 2014, all active Merlin helicopters were handed over to the Royal Navy as part of its Commando Helicopter Force. Latterly, the helicopter was converted to the latest Merlin HC.4 standard towards the end of October 2016, before undergoing further work to convert it into a prototype covert support helicopter for use with Vengeance.
• (December 2016) Keira was struggling to comprehend what lay before her. Almost 8,000 shaft horsepower. Capacity for two crew and thirty passengers. Ability to mount machine guns, missiles, rockets – the potential was endless. The giant three-turbine helicopter shimmered with a vibrant pearlescent paint overall but with a light grey underside. The five-bladed main rotor towered over four metres above the ground but even that was topped by the tail rotor at the far end of the over nineteen-metre fuselage which topped off at 6.6-metres above the ground. To the port-side, immediately behind the state-of-the-art glass cockpit, an air-stair allowed easy access into the main cabin. The first seat faced the air-stair and the forward hatch – that was for a crew-member or for a pilot to rest. After passing through a curtained bulkhead, there were four seats, two per side of the aisle, each pair facing the other across a folding table. Aft of them, to port, four seats faced inboard while four more seats sat to starboard, two facing aft, and two facing forward, each pair facing the other. The leather seats were a tasteful light grey and fully crashworthy. All told, there was seating for thirteen, plus the two pilots. Further aft, past the seating, there was a small toilet and a galley before you reached a cargo storage area and the aft ramp. The aircraft was a hybrid. It was ostensibly a VVIP version of the venerable Augusta-Westland AW.101 Merlin, however, integrated beneath its skin and fancy paintwork, the electronics and capabilities of the Combat Search and Rescue (CSaR) version could be found. That included the ability to mount weapons pylons, additional fuel tanks, cabin-mounted machineguns and miniguns, as well as radar and FLIR. It was a genuine wolf in sheep’s clothing. With a growing smirk, Keira tried to rid herself of an image from her childhood – another helicopter which had been a wolf in sheep’s clothing: Airwolf. Unlike the fictitious Airwolf, the Merlin could carry passengers in a high level of comfort, or it could be stripped out to carry up to thirty troops or a combination of troops and light attack vehicles. As Keira walked around the helicopter, after striding down the aft ramp beneath the tail boom, she met up with Trevor who was to be her co-pilot for the check-ride.