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.