Operations
No. 4 Flying Training School takes RAF and Royal Navy pilots from 1FTS at RAF Linton-on-Ouse and trains them to fly fast jets, prior to training on an Operational Conversion Unit. 4 FTS is divided into two squadrons; 208 Sqn provides legacy Hawk T1 advanced flying training and tactical weapons training. All RAF and RN students now train on 4 Sqn flying the modern Hawk T2.
Valley is also home to C Flight of 22 Sqn with Sea King helicopters. These are busy in the Search and Rescue role, rescuing people from ships in the Irish Sea, from the mountains of nearby Snowdonia and elsewhere. The mountain rescue work in Snowdonia is coordinated with the North Wales Mountain Rescue Association.
The base is also home to SARTU (Search and Rescue Training Unit), part of the Defence Helicopter Flying School, using AW139 and Griffin helicopters, and newly home to the relocated headquarters elements of both 22 and 202 Squadrons.
RAF Mona, also on Anglesey, acts as a relief landing ground.
HRH The Duke of Cambridge, second-in-line to the British Throne, is currently assigned to C Flight, 22 Squadron at RAF Valley, as a co-pilot flying the Sea King search and rescue helicopter.
Squadrons based at RAF Valley include:
- No. 4 FTS
- 4 Sqn
- 208 Sqn
- RAF Search and Rescue Force HQ
- 22 Squadron (HQ and C flight)
- No. 202 Squadron RAF (HQ)
- 203(R) Squadron
- Defence Helicopter Flying School
- Defence Helicopter Flying School Search and Rescue Training Unit
- RAF Mountain Rescue Service
Read more about this topic: RAF Valley
Famous quotes containing the word operations:
“Plot, rules, nor even poetry, are not half so great beauties in tragedy or comedy as a just imitation of nature, of character, of the passions and their operations in diversified situations.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“It may seem strange that any road through such a wilderness should be passable, even in winter, when the snow is three or four feet deep, but at that season, wherever lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are continually passing on the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost as a railway.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)