P-8A Poseidon: RAF Welcomes Sixth Submarine Hunter Aircraft
The Royal Air Force has welcomed its sixth submarine hunter P-8A Poseidon aircraft.
Named Guernsey's Reply, the aircraft landed at its base of RAF Lossiemouth.
The name honours the long link between Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, 201 Squadron and Flight Lieutenant Herbert Machon OBE.
He left Guernsey shortly before the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands in 1940 before flying Spitfires for the British Military.
In honour and memory of his friends and family back home, he named his MK XVI Spitfire 'Guernsey's Reply'.
Specialising in anti-submarine warfare, the P-8A is the RAF's multi-role maritime patrol aircraft and can be used to identify and track enemy submarines around UK waters.
P-8As can also carry out search and rescue missions when deployed from their base in Moray.
The RAF's eventual nine Poseidon aircraft will cost £3bn in total and are expected to be in the UK by the end of 2021.
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