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| Thursday August 11, 2005 saw a Photo-Call being held at RAF Valley. One of Fighter Control’s photographers/reporters, James Shelbourn, visited the event and reports from what was an enjoyable day out.
Home Side: Royal Air Force [RAF] station Valley on Anglesey in North Wales, is home to number 4 Flying Training School [FTS]. 4 FTS is now the only advanced training and tactics unit, responsible for training all RAF and Royal Navy [RN] fast jet pilots to front-line Operational Conversion Unit [OCU] entry standard for Harrier and Sea Harrier, Jaguar, Tornado F.3 and GR.4, plus when it enters service, also the Eurofighter Typhoon. In addition, the unit trains its own Qualified Flying Instructors [QFI], Qualified Tactics Instructors [QTI] and Qualified Weapons Instructors [QWI], as well as providing training for exchange officers and foreign and Commonwealth pilots. Number 4 FTS comprises two Squadrons, numbers 19 Reserve [R] and 208 [R], both operating the T.1, T.1A, T.1W variants of the Hawk, together with the Hawk Synthetic Training Facility, which is operated under contract by British Aerospace [BAe] Systems. Number 208 [R] Squadron conducts advanced flying training and number 19 [R] Squadron provides tactics and weapons training. The station also parents two major lodger units, firstly C Flight of number 22 Squadron, one of the busiest operational Search and Rescue flights in the United Kingdom [UK], operating the Sea King HAR.3. Secondly, the Search and Rescue Training Unit [SARTU], which is part of the Defence Helicopter Flying School [DHFS], operating the Bell Griffin HT.1, training helicopter crews in the specialist techniques of Search and Rescue [SAR]. |
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| The Match:
Organised by the Valley Aviation Society [VAS], with the kind permission of the Station Commander, the Photo-Call held at RAF Valley on Thursday August 11 was aimed at the serious aviation photographer. Unlike some other similar Photo-Call events, where aircraft are only parked on a static line and stay put all day, this was to be an operational ‘live’ event, where the participants were to arrive during the morning and depart later in the afternoon, giving the attending photographers ample opportunities for picture taking! Sadly the weather did not assist on the day, not for the morning at least. A cloud base of 150 feet forced some aircraft to turn away and several aircraft, which had planned to take part in the event, cancelled their appearance on the day. This also meant that flypasts could not be carried out from RAF aircraft which were operating in the nearby area, something which was originally hoped for, in the days of planning the event. |
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| Away Team:
What did materialise though helped to make the day and enjoyable event. The cloud base started to lift by lunchtime and at least it did stay dry. Participants that did manage to arrive for the photo-call included a Tornado GR.4 from 617 Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, plus a Tornado GR.4 from number 14 Squadron, also from RAF Lossiemouth, which was painted in special markings for the unit’s 90th Anniversary. A 111 Squadron Tornado F.3 arrived from RAF Leuchars, plus three Jaguar GR.3As from RAF Coltishall, two from 41 Squadron and a lone example from 6 Squadron. Perhaps the highlights of the event were a pair of aircraft from the Irish Air Corps [IAC], a Pilatus PC-9 and an Aerospatiale SA365F Dauphin, as these are rarely seen on English soil. The Dauphin was particularly welcome, as this type is about to be retired from service. Another welcome arrival was in the shape of a United States Air Force [USAF] Rockwell B-1B Lancer, from the 7th Bombardment Wing [BW] at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, which also put in a rare appearance. It was actually already in the UK, operating out of RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, on a temporary deployment, so the aircraft was able to carry out one low pass at Valley before returning to Mildenhall. Final Score: As with most events, cancellations do happen but this was by no means any fault of the VAS. The weather didn’t really co-operate on the day and this resulted in the non-appearance of several planned participants. The 48th Fighter Wing [FW] F-15s from RAF Lakenheath, which made an attempt to land early morning, gave up and returned home. The expected Belgian Air Force [BAF] F-16 and Alphajet, RAF Canberra, Harriers, Puma and Spitfire also failed to materialise, along with the Army Air Corps [AAC] Lynx but the photographers who attended the event still managed to get something out of the day. The VAS did a great job of organising the photo-call and it really was an event worth attending. The more this event is supported, hopefully in the future, the better it will get. Tickets were generously priced at £15 per head, with all proceeds going to a local children's hospice, ensuring that it is not only an event which the photographers benefit from but also more importantly, those local children that are in need, also do and that can’t be a bad thing at all, can it? |
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Arrivals/Static Display/Departures:
Flypasts:
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| With sincere thanks to Valley Aviation Society and all the personnel at RAF Valley for making this event happen. |