T
HE COMMANDING
OFFICER of the Royal Air
Force’s No 617 Squadron,
Wg Cdr John Butcher,
carried out his rst F-35B
ight at Marine Corps Air
Station Beaufort, South Carolina,
on November 27. Known as the
‘Dambusters’, No 617 Squadron
is scheduled to re-form with the
Lightning II at RAF Marham next
summer. RAF pilots and maintainers
will continue to train in the US
until summer 2019 when No 207
Squadron arrives at Marham.
This squadron will serve as the
operational conversion unit (OCU)
for the F-35B and will train personnel
locally in the UK. Tom KaminskiWg Cdr John Butcher in the cockpit of
a UK F-35B fl ight at MCAS Beaufort,
South Carolina. Crown CopyrightAUSTRALIAN SEAHAWKS AND
SQUIRRELS RETIRED
THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN Navy
(RAN) retired its eet of S-70B-
and AS350BA helicopters from
service on December 1. The RAN
had operated the S-70B-2 variant
since receiving the rst of 16
aircraft in 1988; it was replaced by
the latest MH-60R version of the
Seahawk. The S-70B-2 completed
its nal operational deployment
to the Middle East aboard the
Anzac-class frigate HMAS Arunta
(FFH 151) in August 2017. The Navy
purchased 24 ‘Romeos’, which arenow in service with 725 and 816
Squadrons at HMAS Albatross in
Nowra, New South Wales.
The Squirrels had own almost
180,000 hours since entering
service with the Navy in 1984.
They have been replaced by 15
EC135T2+ helicopters that were
delivered to the Australian Defence
Force (ADF) Joint Helicopter School
at HMAS Albatross in 2016 and
2017 under Project AIR 9000 Phase
7 Helicopter Aircrew Training
System (HATS). Tom KaminskiFIRST F-35B FLIGHT FOR
‘DAMBUSTERS’ BOSS
NO 617 SQUADRON PREPARES FOR UK RETURN
MEXICAN NAVY PANTHER
DELIVERIES COMPLETE
AIRBUS HELICOPTERS HAS
completed deliveries of the
AS565MBe Panther to the Mexican
Navy. The nal two from an
order for 10 were handed over
during a delivery ceremony at the
company’s facilities in Marignane.
With its order for 10 units in
2014, the Mexican Navy became
the launch customer for this new
version. The rst four helicopters
were delivered in 2016 and theremaining six during the course of- Stationed at three naval bases
in the Mexican states of Veracruz,
Sonora and Michoacan, the
helicopters perform an average of
300 ight hours for reconnaissance,
patrol missions and training ights.
Around 30 Mexican Navy pilots
have been trained on the type,
many of them receiving speci c
training in search and rescue and
night vision goggles.
The AS565MBe Panther’s mission equipment includes a cargo hook,
a rescue hoist, forward-looking infra-red (FLIR) for night-time rescue
missions and a total of four stretchers for medical evacuation.
Anthony Pecchi/Airbus HelicoptersRoyal Australian Navy AS350BA Squirrels from 723 Squadron prepare to
land after completing a six-ship formation fl ypast over HMAS Albatross on
November 1. LSIS Justin Brown/Commonwealth of Australia[NEWS] WORLD
18 February 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
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