ORDINARILY, you don’t want birds on your flight deck; they tend to play havoc with rotors and engines.

The Wild Geese, however, were welcomed with open arms by the men and women of HMS Ocean as she prowled the Caribbean for drug-runners.

The US Marine Corps’ HMM 774 Squadron – The Wild Geese – dropped in with their CH46 Sea Knights for two weeks of training with the RN’s largest warship.

A sort of small maritime version of the Chinook, the Sea Knight has been in service with the US military since the 1960s.

The Wild Geese joined Ocean to test the ability of the US Marine Corps to work with Britain’s amphibious forces.

And on a more personal level, it gave the US marines an opportunity to get to know some of their British counterparts... as well as Ocean’s sailors.

The Sea Knights took part in numerous exercises with Ocean’s 700M NAS Merlins and 854 NAS Sea Kings, and the twin-rotor00ed birds became a regular sight as they flew circuits around the assault ship’s flight deck.

“The Wild Geese’s time aboard was hugely successful and proved the ability of British warships to quickly embark and assimilate aircraft from the US Marine Corps,” said Ocean’s CO Capt Russ Harding.

“Our deployment to the Caribbean is showing all the benefits of teamwork, and this has been another gleaming example.

“A warm welcome awaits the Wild Geese the next time they make their nest in Ocean.”