Hamburg has officially inaugurated two EC135 police helicopters, with the call names Dragonfly 1 and Dragonfly 2 (Libelle 1 and 2 in German).

The two aircraft replace the now-retired Bo105 helicopters of the Hamburg police helicopter squadron, and arrive at a timely moment, with the squadron celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

Based at the Lufthansa Repair Centre in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel, the squadron carries out a wide range of duties, as the president of police, Werner Jantosch, explained: “Aside from diverse police duties carried out in co-ordination with the ground forces, there is also close co-operation with the fire service. For example, the Dragonflies take rescue divers from the Hamburg fire service to the site where they are needed.” He added that Hamburg’s police helicopter squadron has already proved a life-saver many times in the search for injured and missing persons. The squadron added that its missions are not just restricted to the city of Hamburg, but cover northeast Lower Saxony, the western part of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, and Schleswig-Holstein.

Bert Stegkemper, general manager of Eurocopter Deutschland, highlighted a track record of co-operation between the company and the Police Helicopter Squadron spanning more than 40 years, saying: “Our engineers have gained valuable experience from working with the Hamburg police helicopter squadron and this knowledge has been incorporated in the latest generation of our helicopters.”

Around 350 of the helicopters have already been delivered to customers throughout the world.