Four Lynx Helicopters dropped into RAF Shawbury today for refuelling as part of a farewell tour.
To mark the Lynx’s decommissioning from British Army service, the Army Air Corps flew four of the last remaining airframes from RAF Odiham in Hampshire, where they are based, on a commemorative tour around England taking in some of the sites and locations to which the aircraft is most fondly associated.
Since 1997, all Army pilots and crewmen have been trained to fly helicopters at the Defence Helicopter flying School, RAF Shawbury where they trained on Squirrel and Griffin helicopters before moving on to fly frontline helicopters such as the Lynx.
On arrival at RAF Shawbury, the four Lynx helicopters undertook a rotors running refuel from the RAF’s Tactical Supply Wing with RAF Shawbury’s photographer Ian Forshaw on hand to capture the event.
The Lynx helicopter has had a long and distinguished career with the British Army stretching back nearly 40 years. Described as a primary battlefield utility helicopter, the venerable Lynx entered service in 1978 and since then has been used to destroy tanks, evacuate the wounded, gather intelligence, provide humanitarian support, rescue those in peril, wow the crowds at air shows and much more besides.
It has proven itself across the globe in such exacting locations as the freezing plains of Northern Canada, the steaming jungles of South East Asia and Central America, the sub-zero environment of the Arctic to the dust bowls of the Middle East and has supported British troops on active service in Bosnia, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.
However, age has finally caught up with the Lynx and although it will be a tough act to follow, the Wildcat helicopter will replace the Lynx. With its superior avionics, uprated engines and improved capability it too will prove a formidable force over any battlefield of the future.
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