Royal Air Force helicopters were a very familiar site in Northern Ireland's skies throughout the 'Troubles' otherwise known to the military as 'Operation Banner'. It is not so widely known that the RAF also operated helicopters in the Province some years earlier, firstly on Search and Rescue duties and then in support of the RUC and British Army during the IRA's 'Border War' of 1956-62. Now, for the first time, these activities are described, drawing on previously unresearched records, eye-witness accounts and hitherto unpublished photographs to tell the story of these ground-breaking achievements.