Bravo November - Construction and Callsign

Construction and Callsign

Thirty Chinooks were ordered by the British Government in 1978 at a price of US$200 million. These helicopters were to become British variants of the United States Army's Boeing CH-47 Chinook. ZA718 was one of the final HC1s the RAF received in February 1982. The US army introduced an upgraded Chinook, the CH-47D in the 1980s with improvements including upgraded engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit to reduce pilot workload, redundant and improved electrical systems, an advanced flight control system (FCS) and improved avionics. The RAF designation for this new standard of aircraft was the Chinook HC2 with ZA718 becoming the first RAF airframe to be converted in 1993–94. Bravo November has been refitted and upgraded numerous times during its service in the British Armed Forces. There are few parts of the original aircraft that survive today though the "main fuselage, the manufacturer's data plate in the cockpit and the RAF’s serial number ZA718 clearly emblazoned on the rear of the aircraft remain ever present."

The aircraft has had a number of callsigns and designations throughout its career. It had the Boeing construction number of B-849 with the RAF airframe number of ZA718 which is still visible at the rear of the aircraft. The squadron code number of the aircraft has varied with the squadron in which it serves. The most famous code was Bravo November (BN) which it had during the Falklands War and has been associated with it ever since.