SAR Griffons?

[cameron_highlander]

I was sitting here in my dorm room, and a helicopter (a Griffon, I think) in SAR colours (red/yellow) with what appeared to be air force 'roundels' (is that the right word) on it just flew over...I'm in Guelph.

Was I seeing things or do we now have Griffons tasked to a SAR role and painted in such colours? I know there are Griffons at AF bases that do SAR, but they are (last time I checked) in the same paint scheme as all the others. And nowhere near Guelph.

 

[vonGarvin]

Your eyes were faithful.  It probably came from CFB Trenton.  I was there about a week ago and I saw one there. 

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/37748.0.html

 

[goldwing]

With parts for the Commorant hard to find (especially ones that don't break), the Griffon has been tasked to take over SAR duties in Trenton until the Commorant issue can be cleared up.  There are 3 Combat Support Squadrons in Canada that support the fighter squadrons at their respective bases:  Cold Lake, Goose Bay and Bagotville.  Each one of these squadrons gave up one Griffon for this duty and 1 Wing Kingston (Main point of contact for all Tac Hel Sqns) supplied the fourth.  The mission seems like it might be a long one.