No. 7 Squadron RRAF received its first eight Aerospatiale SE.316B Alouette IIIs in 1962. Additional examples were acquired subsequently, mainly through South Africa, which repeatedly bolstered the fleet through providing their own Alouettes and crews. Starting in the 1970s, all Rhodesian SE.316Bs were camouflaged – originally in semi-gloss dark earth and dark green – with white, and then black serials applied near the bottom of the fuselage. The main rotor blades were painted in green with orange-yellow tips. The tail rotor was painted in red and yellow, while the tail guard was either in earth or black and yellow. By November 1977, all had lost any kind of insignia and were significantly modified. This example was a ‘K-Car’: a command- and fire-support variant modified through addition of armour plates inside the cockpit and a 20mm cannon in the rear cabin. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)