Trusty Lynx makes its last appearance at sea

ORDINARILY we wouldn’t get too excited by the site of a Lynx and a warship.

But this is no ordinary Lynx. This is last Mk3 to ever touch the deck of one of Her Majesty’s warships – in this instance, HMS Ocean.

After more than 30 years’ service the trusty Mk3 has completed its final operational flight – an uneventful (which is how we like our flights) 35-minute hop from the helicopter carrier in the Channel to the home of the Lynx, RNAS Yeovilton.

The aircraft – tail number XZ693 – shared the deck of the Mighty O with Apaches, Merlins, Sea Kings, Chinooks, Dauphins and the newer Mk8 Lynx.

The final embarkation of a Mk3 came almost 40 years to the day that the very first Lynx took to the skies at the Westland works in Yeovilton.

After nearly a decade’s trials and tests, the Mk3 entered service with the Fleet Air Arm. Over the past few years, however, the trusty helicopter has increasingly been replaced in the front line by the Mk8 Saturn.

Inwardly and outwardly the variants are noticeably different: the Mk3 has a smooth nose, while the Mk8’s is packed with sensors and kit while the older Lynx’s cockpit is more ‘analogue’, the Mk8’s is a digital extravaganza.

Despite the last embarkation of a Mk3 on a warship, don’t write the venerable aircraft off just yet. There are still four in service with 702 Naval Air Squadron, the Lynx training unit.

Cdr Mike Ryan, Commanding Officer of the Lynx Helicopter Force, said the Fleet Air Arm could “look back with considerable pride at the Mk3’s many operational achievements over thirty years of valuable service”.

As for the Mighty O, she’s conducting aviation trials in the Channel before she deploys next month with the Cougar amphibious task force to the Mediterranean.