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Portuguese Air Force Pumas mark 40 years of service

5th October 2009 - 10:05 GMT | by Shephard News Team

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The Pumas of 752 Squadron, Portuguese Air Force have celebrated 40 years of service and 70,000 flight hours.

The SA330 Pumas, which are based at Terceira Island in the Azores have been operating since 1969 mainly in the search and rescue role. Since the Puma's introduction aircraft and crew have saved 4,280 lives of which 2,482 were in the the Azores.

These aircraft were supposed to have been replaced by the AW101 Merlin, but poor availability of the AW101 meant that the retired Pumas were bought back into service.

More on this subject can be found in the September/October edition of Defence Helicopter.

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