Lynx flies the Atlantic

THERE, that grabbed your attention.

Admittedly, it was in the back of a C17 transporter. Had it tried to make it on its own, the little helicopter would have run out of fuel about 120 miles off Land’s End…

The Mk8 from 815 Naval Air Squadron spent 11 hours in the back of the giant Boeing jet before being offloaded at NAS Mayport in Florida ready for a seven-month deployment.

The Yeovilton-based helicopter will spend the summer and autumn in the Caribbean using tanker RFA Wave Ruler as her launchpad.

There she’s taking the fight to drug-runners and will also be on hand, as will the tanker’s ship’s company, should natural disaster strike the many islands in the region during hurricane season.

Helo, helo, helo - Fleet Air Arm fliers join forces over Afghanistan

THERE’S a Jungly, a Lynx and a Bagger.

What a cracking example of Fleet Air Arm co-operation in Afghanistan.

(With apologies to 1970s working men’s clubs comics…)

Above the almost featureless terrain of the sands of Helmand two helicopters of the Commando Helicopter Force and one crucial eye in the sky form up briefly before going their separate ways to conduct missions in support of the Allied peacekeeping effort on the ground.

Despite the media’s obsession that everything which flies must be RAF, one in five British helicopters in Afghanistan is Royal Navy – particular pertinent now that 3 Commando Brigade are in charge of operations on land.

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.

Yeovilton celebrates Lynx milestone

FORTY years of Britain’s fastest and most nimble helicopter will be celebrated this summer in the showpiece public event at the home of the Lynx.

The 2011 Yeovilton Air Day will be a celebration of the long-serving helicopter, with navies from around the world sending their Lynx to Somerset to take part in an international fly past.

The Lynx – in service with three Fleet Air Arm squadrons all based at Yeovilton – is one of the most successful British exports over the past four decades: more than 200 of the versatile helicopters are operating with 11 navies.

In the Royal Navy’s case, the helicopter’s the backbone of operations by frigates and destroyers in the form of the Mk8, while the Commando Helicopter Force flies the reconnaissance model over land and sea.