Squadron 60 was the RAF's oldest operational helicopter unit, formed in 1916 and finally disbanded in 2012 after nearly a century of continuous service — making this issue a retrospective rather than a commemorative of anything current. Guernsey's relationship with the RAF carries particular weight: the island was occupied by German forces from 1940 to 1945, and RAF operations over the Channel were a direct part of that wartime geography.
Gold-plated copper issues of this type were produced for the collector market rather than circulation, and Guernsey's Crown-equivalent 50p pieces at this diameter have never been intended as pocket change.
Squadron 60 was the RAF's oldest operational helicopter unit, formed in 1916 and finally disbanded in 2012 after nearly a century of continuous service — making this issue a retrospective rather than a commemorative of anything current. Guernsey's relationship with the RAF carries particular weight: the island was occupied by German forces from 1940 to 1945, and RAF operations over the Channel were a direct part of that wartime geography.
Gold-plated copper issues of this type were produced for the collector market rather than circulation, and Guernsey's Crown-equivalent 50p pieces at this diameter have never been intended as pocket change.