With the United Kingdom Search and Rescue (UKSAR) System about to be privatised and taken over by Bristow Helicopters in 2014, it would seem to be a good time to add a Royal Navy Helicopter winching strop to our collection. This strop belonged to 819 Squadron which is/was the Royal Navy Search and Rescue Unit based at Prestwick Airport. The Navy and the RAF used Sea King helicopters to carry out rescue missions after the Wessex became obsolete – now as the Sea Kings have also reached maturity the whole SAR operation in Scotland is to be taken over by Bristows, who we think, will be using Sikorsky S92 helicopters. This particular strop was used during the making of a BBC Drama series called Rockface, which was about a fictional mountain rescue team called Glentannoch, which was based in the Scottish Highlands. 819 Squadron were used in the making of the series and various items of equipment were given to the BBC for the close up pictures – this strop was one of those items. Founder member of The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection, Mick Tighe, worked as technical consulant and stunt-man on Rockface and was given this strop at the end of the series, it no longer being serviceable.