A retired Royal Australian Navy Eurocopter AS350 BA Squirrel — side number 864 — has arrived at a new home. The Australian War Memorial said it received the helicopter after it was loaded onto the back of a truck at 723 Squadron in Nowra, New South Wales. It was donated by the Australian Defence Force.

“The Squirrel was a training aircraft, and it was used by all three services: army, navy and air force. Australia ended up using them in a combat role in Gulf War I, so 864 has some interesting operational history as well,” said Nick Fletcher, the memorial’s head of military heraldry and technology. “Combat operations for this aircraft were more than 20 years ago, so the people who flew or maintained them in the Gulf have generally retired or moved on. We would like to track them down to learn out more about 864’s operational history, and we would hope to turn up a lot more imagery and some personal experiences.”

According to the memorial, the Navy has operated the Squirrel since the early 1980s. But, the aircraft is due to be phased out of service by next year. In the Gulf War, the memorial said the helicopters were deployed aboard Australian frigates. At that time, they were modified with updated avionics and a door-mounted machine gun. The memorial said they were used for shipping surveillance, cover for merchant vessel boardings, mine searches and light logistics support.

The memorial is asking for those who operated or maintained Squirrel 864 during its service in the Gulf and have memories or photos of it or other AS350 Bas,