At
Yeovilton we were met in front of the museum and taken by coach onto the air
station. A former Sea Harrier base it is now home to 702 Sqn and 815 Sqn flying
the Lynx, 845 Sqn, 846 Sqn and 848 Sqn flying the Sea King HC4 Commando and 847
Sqn flying the armed Army Lynx in support of the 3rd
Commando Brigade Royal Marines on deployments worldwide.
It also supports the Heron Flight of 750 Sqn witch operates Jetstreams and the
NFSF flying the black coloured Hawk T1.
We went
form left to right. Visited all the hangars and got our shots on the various
platforms. Why I enjoy England and the English became clear when we came to the
hangar of 847 sqn. Fresh back out of Afghanistan the helicopters where still
full of kit they used and witch was not for photographic purposes. Instead of
disappointing us they asked for 5 minutes to tape of everything that was not for
our eyes and we where still allowed in to take our pictures. After having seen
all the helicopters on one side of the airfield we went to the other side to
visit the hangar of the Royal Navy Historic Flight. In its hangar they were
working on one of the swordfishes. It had flown the previous day. This day they
would fly the Sea Hawk. It is very strange to see this shape go trough the sky
above Yeovilton !
After this
the visit was over and the natural next thing to do was visit the excellent
Fleet Air Arm Museum situated next to the airfield.
In the
morning of the 15th July at 09.00 we were met at the gate of HMS
Sultan by our host for that morning. At HMS Sultan the Royal navy teaches its
technicians to make basic repairs to the helicopters in the combat zone.
HMS Sultan is the home of
Royal Naval School of Marine Engineering (RNSME) and the Royal Naval Air
Engineering and Survival School (RNAESS) whose primary function is to supply the
Fleet with engineering Officers. |