Many of the pilots, police officers and paramedics who attended were part of the early, pioneering aircrew 30 years ago. The ambulance’s history is unique as it shared a helicopter with Wiltshire Police when it first started.

The idea originated in 1988, when Wiltshire Police temporarily hired a helicopter for its summer solstice operation at Stonehenge. That helicopter was used to airlift a woman who was seriously injured in a traffic accident, and a full-time joint air ambulance and police helicopter began operating on 15 March 1990, based at Wiltshire Police headquarters in Devizes.

The pilots, police officers and paramedics who visited the airbase had worked at the joint air ambulance and police helicopter base. Since 2015, Wiltshire Air Ambulance has been a stand-alone air ambulance using a Bell 429 helicopter.

John Ball, who worked at the joint helicopter base from 1990, said: “It was great to be part of the Air Support Unit and to work there at the beginning. As we were the first joint police helicopter and air ambulance in this country, we felt we were pioneers and other police forces and ambulance services visited us to see how we worked. To be able to give patients a much better chance of survival because of the speed and flexibility of the aircraft was a great advantage.”

Paramedic Alan Morris, who is now retired, said: “There was a selection process for paramedics to work on Wiltshire Air Ambulance and from the beginning those of us who worked on it didn’t want to be seen as someone special. We wanted to be accepted by the rest of our ambulance colleagues in Wiltshire as paramedics, but we were using a different mode of transport. We had a great rapport with the pilots and the police observers at the ASU – everyone did their bit. We saw it as an honor to work there and we were ambassadors for Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Wiltshire Police.”

The ambulance has also produced a short video looking back at its history to mark its anniversary, including local news  footage showing the three types of helicopter used by the charity: a Bolkow, an MD 902 and the current Bell 429.

David Philpott, CEO of Wiltshire Air Ambulance, said: “The history of Wiltshire Air Ambulance is fascinating and we hope our supporters enjoy the video which looks back at how our service and charity developed. We rely on donations to provide our essential Helicopter Emergency Medical Service and with the help of our supporters we want to be here to serve the next generation of people.”