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at [email protected]http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #365 AUGUST 2018 // 9Crown CopyrightFirst Lightning sortie from Marham
THE FIRST UK-based
F-35B sortie has
been flown from RAF
Marham, Norfolk.
The milestone flight was
completed on June 28,
with Wg Cdr John Butcher,the officer commanding
(OC) No 617 Squadron
‘Dambusters’, at the
controls of Lightning
ZM148. The first four UK
F-35Bs had previously
arrived at the baseon June 6. Wg Cdr
Butcher said: “It was a
great forward step for
617 Squadron today in
launching our first flight
from our new permanent
home at RAF Marhamas we continue our work
to declare Lightning into
frontline service with
the Royal Air Force and
the Royal Nav y. Since
our first four Lightnings
arrived in the UK we havebeen working hard to bed
the aircraft into its new
operating base and over
the coming weeks the
aircraft will become an
increasingly familiar sight
in the skies over Norfolk.”RAF PHENOM T1 ZM
visits low flying area
17 (LFA17 ) in the Lake
District on the morning
of June 29 using the
callsign ‘Cranwell 31’.
This was the type’s
second visit to the UK
low-fly system but the
first for this airframe.
The UK ordered five
Phenom 100Es as part of
the Military Flying Training
System (MFTS) private
finance initiative awarded
to Ascent, a joint venture
between Lockheed Martin
and Babcock. Ascentappointed Affinity Flying
Training Services to
provide and maintain the
aircraft. The first four jets
were delivered to RAF
Cranwell, Lincolnshire,
in July, August, October
and November last year
and the final example,
ZM337, arrived at the
base on January 29.
The Phenom replaces
the Beech King Air 200
aircraft in the multi-
engine training role and
No 45 Squadron began
instructor pilot tuition on
Gareth Brown the new type on April 16.DA62MPP acquired for government ISR ops
DIAMOND AIRCRAFT
has delivered the first
DA62 MPP (Multi-Purpose
Platform) special mission
aircraft to launch customer
DEA Aviation’s Specialised
Airborne Operations,
based at Retford Gamston
Airport, Nottinghamshire.
Handover of G-WKTH
(c/n 62.029, ex-OE-FFT),
was announced by the
manufacturer on June 4.
DEA has a growing fleet of
intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (ISR)
aircraft operated daily
for long and demanding
missions on behalf of
the UK government and
European agencies.
The new DA62 will join
DE A’s eight multi-mission
DA42s, used in various
configurations for ISR
missions, aerial survey
and flight calibration.
DE A’s new DA62 MPP
features two in-housedesigned components,
the NEPTUN lightweight
maritime search radar
and the KOPERNIKUS
commercial satellitecommunication system,
an electro-optical and
infrared gyro-stabilised
gimbal camera, an L
Wescam MX-15 multi-sensor turret and an
automatic identification
system (AIS) receiver.
The operator station is
equipped with two HDoperator screens and a
mission computer with
onboard recording is
mounted in the rear mission
equipment compartment.Above: DEA Aviation’s DA62MPP G-WKTH, still wearing its pre-delivery registration, OE-FFT, at the factory on May 23 prior
to departure for Retford Gamston Airport. The aircraft is painted in an overall matt grey scheme to reduce refl ections and
observability. Diamond AircraftLow-level Phenom