AirForces Monthly – July 2018

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http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #364 JULY 2018 // 9

Merlins support Wyvern Tor

THE ROYAL Navy’s 846

Naval Air Squadron provided

additional Merlin helicopters

and crew as rescue cover

for the annual Te n Tors

hiking challenge that

took place on Dartmoor,

southwest England over

the weekend of May 12-13.

The event is organised for

teenagers by the British

Army and supported by

the RN under the exercise

name Wyvern To r.

This year, 846 NAS’s

standard two support aircraft

were joined by helicopters

and crews taking part in

Exercise Merlin Storm 2018-

1 which, run concurrently

from Royal Marines Base

Chivenor, Devon, concludes

ten months of flying training

for the latest students,

bringing together scenarios

learnt in classrooms and

simulators as well as on

mountains and ranges.

RAF Atlas

deliveries

resume

AFTER A gap of six

months, deliveries of the

A400M Atlas C1 to the

Royal Air Force have

restarted. The latest to

arrive, ZM418, flew from

the final assembly line at

Seville-San Pablo Airport,

Spain, to RAF Brize Norton,

Oxfordshire, on May 4, and

brings the total delivered

to date to the RAF to

19, out of 22 on order.

The previous delivery,

ZM417, arrived at Brize

Norton on October 19 last

year, and only ZM419,

ZM420 and ZM421 now

remain outstanding.

The RAF has meanwhile

cleared the Atlas C

for medical evacuation

duties. The type will

now be able to carry up

to 66 low- to medium-

dependency, or four high-

dependency, stretcher

patients. Dave Allport

RAF TYPHOONS based
in Romania have flown a
first live scramble of their
current deployment. The
FGR4s from N o II (Army
Cooperation) Squadron
on deployment at Mihail
Kogălniceanu air base
scrambled on May 4 to
intercept a Russian Il-
electronic intelligence aircraft
heading west near NATO
airspace over the Black Sea
The Coot was tracked as it
departed northeast, but the
aircraft did not come within

visual range of each other

Under NATO’s Enhanced Air

Policing (eAP) programme,

four RAF Typhoons

returned to Romania on

April 23, where they come

under the command of

135 Expeditionary Air

Wing (EAW). The RAF will

continue its eAP role in the

region until September.

BAe 146

gains ‘RAF

100’ titles

AMONG THE latest

aircraft to adopt ‘RAF100’

titles for the air force’s

centenary is BAe 146 CC

ZE700 – seen arriving at

London Southend Airport,

as ‘Kittyhawk 19’, from

Edinburgh Airport on May

17. The jet, one of two CC
    variants operated by No
    32 (The Royal) Squadron,
    stayed less than an hour
    before departing for RAF
    Northolt, west London.
    Another recent recipient of
    ‘RAF100’ titles is Tornado
    GR4 ZG752 ‘129’.

Right: An RAF Typhoon FGR

from No II(AC) Squadron with

a Romanian MiG-21 LanceR

over Mihail Kogălniceanu.

Crown Copyright

Two 846 NAS Merlins break as part of a four-ship formation over Dartmoor. Rich Pittman

RAF Typhoons in

action in Romania

Keith Burton