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Royal Air Force will deploy to Romania

Royal Air Force will deploy to Romania

Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft based at RAF Coningsby Lincolnshire will be deploying this summer to Romania as part of the UK’s commitment to NATO.

The Typhoon multi-role fighters and support personnel will be based at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase in southeast Romania for four months working with the Romanian Air Force to conduct the NATO mission.

To support and establish the operation, the Logistics Squadron at RAF Coningsby has already started packing all the equipment needed to sustain the mission, from specialist vehicles, spare parts to tool boxes.

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Flight Lieutenant Mark Taylor said: “The Squadron has been very busy already supporting this mission. We enable the operations to go ahead by ensuring the equipment is available for the jets to operate. We do that here at RAF Coningsby but we also deploy to anywhere in the world when needed.”

Specialist personal from the RAF Leeming based 90 Signals Unit are also deploying to provide access to the mission critical intelligence and NATO command information the pilots will need to carry out their missions.

No 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron from RAF Wittering has already been busy moving over 100 Tons of essential freight to Romania, and are now preparing to transport even more equipment ready for it to be loaded at the Marchwood Military Port in Hampshire over the coming weeks.

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The UK is the first nation to provide jets to support the NATO mission in Romania. The RAF’s lead planner for the mission Group Captain Pip Harding OBE RAF said: “With this mission, the RAF once again will be demonstrating its ability to plan, deploy and operate at the heart of the NATO Alliance. Equipped with state of the art fighters, the RAF continues to make a significant contribution to NATO, and in so doing sends a clear message to our Romanian friends that we stand alongside them in our ongoing commitment to the defence of NATO Airspace.”

Editor: Jim Robinson

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No. 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron Rolls out for Exercise Frisian Flag

No. 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron Rolls out for Exercise Frisian Flag

The Netherlands is the destination for No. 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron as RAF Wittering’s famous drivers set off in support of Exercise Frisian Flag on 21st March 2017.

A blustery afternoon saw seventeen trucks loaded with enough equipment to support six tornado jets and 140 personnel leave Cambridgeshire’s historic air station. During Exercise Frisian Flag the RAF will operate alongside many European air forces and the United States Air National Guard.

Squadron Leader Rick Longworth is Officer Commanding No. 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron. He said: “Not everything can be moved by air; sometimes you need the economy and flexibility of surface transport, which helps us to keep our valuable transport aircraft available for tasking.”

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2MT, as the Squadron is known, provides the RAF with its only heavy-lift transport capability by road or sea, supporting operations and exercises across the globe. In addition to HGVs, the Squadron also boasts airfield support vehicles like aircraft towing tractors and fuel bowsers.

Squadron Leader Longworth continued: “This is not the sort of work you can just give to a haulage company. Trained airmen and airwomen are needed for this job; military drivers who understand how to work around an operational airfield and move aviation equipment.”

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The Squadron was formed during the Battle of Britain when spares for the Spitfires and Hurricanes, ammunition and equipment had to be urgently ferried from airfield to airfield. In Exercise Frisian Flag, the air forces of the world will practise defensive and offensive mixed-fighter operations.

In addition to the RAF Tornados, F-16s, F-15s, Mirage 2000’s and the distinctive Typhoon will be operating in the Dutch skies for the duration of the exercise. When Frisian Flag ends, 2MT will be sent to recover all the UK equipment and return it in good order.

Group Captain Rich Pratley is the Station Commander at RAF Wittering and Commanding Officer of the A4 Force Elements, of which 2MT is a part. He said: “Frisian Flag is an important exercise; in deployments like these the Royal Air Force projects the UK’s global influence by working in close partnership with our international allies.”

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Group Captain Pratley continued: “This is the second time in as many days that 2MT has been dispatched to support an exercise, this tells us that the Squadron offers Defence a very useful capability and one that the RAF is happy to showcase to our international partners.”

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HRH The Duchess of Cornwall joins 100 Squadron Celebrations

Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cornwall, Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Leeming joined in with centenary celebrations for 100 Sqn.

The Duchess joined Squadron and Station personnel and families to watch a drill display by the renowned Queen’s Colour Squadron, followed by a flypast of 100 Squadron’s distinctive black Hawk T1A jets.

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She said: “I’m honoured to be here on this historic occasion to celebrate the Centenary of 100 Squadron. When I presented their new Standard to them in 2010, who would have known that this generation of pilots would be conducting operations in the skies above Syria and Iraq, in the most intense and sustained air operation that the RAF has conducted in the last 25 years?

“One this very special occasion we honour the heroism, and valour of our predecessors. But let’s not forget that as today marks the passing of the baton to the new generation of Airmen, the next chapter of this Squadron is yet to be written.”

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The Duchess was then invited to meet with personnel and families from across RAF Leeming, as well as special guests including 100 Squadron association veterans. For Wing Commander Andy Wright, Officer Commanding 100 Squadron, it was a personally special day. He said: “It’s been a real honour to have the Duchess of Cornwall with us today – everyone has been walking around with a smile on their face. Before I arrived here, I knew I would be lucky enough to be here for this day. As I was writing my speech for the dinner I researched the Squadron history and there has been so much – on this day in 1917 the Squadron was days away from going to France to take on the Red Baron, for example.

“100 Sqn has a really rich history, but we are also very proud of our current role as the RAF’s sole aggressor unit, and carrying the baton into the future.”

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The first Royal Flying Corps squadron to be formed specifically for night bombing, Number 100 Squadron formed at Hingham, Norfolk on 23 February 1917. It continued its bombing role through World War II, operating Lancasters from RAF Grimsby. Now serving as the RAF’s sole Aggressor Squadron ‘The Ton’ delivers a huge range of operational training, including support to the Typhoon force and JTAC serials for the British Army. InNovember 2010, 100 Squadron received a new Squadron Standard from Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cornwall.

Editor: MCO RAF Leeming

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Duke of Edinburgh visits RAF Northolt

His Royal Highness Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh made an official visit to RAF Northolt on Friday 17 March.

The Duke made the visit in his capacity of Honorary Air Commodore for the unit, which is home to 33 units from across Defence and wider Government.

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As part of the visit programme The Duke received an update on operations on the unit and met 120 personnel from all three Armed Services and Civil Servants. Corporal Loz Prior, who works on the unit as a Physical Training Instructor was part of the group that met The Duke, he said: ‘I felt immensely proud to be part of the occasion. A big part of my role is to ensure that our people are fit to do their job, and His Royal Highness was very interested in the various ways we manage to achieve that. It was a real honour to meet and speak with a member of the Royal family.’

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The Duke last visited RAF Northolt in March 2015, when he awarded a new standard to 32 (The Royal) Squadron as part of the unit’s centenary celebrations.

Editor: Squadron Leader James Tenniswood

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