A Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Helicopter Takes On NATO Duty

A Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) helicopter is spending the rest of the year flying from a German frigate on NATO duty.

Yeovil's 213 Flight will deploy on taskings with German Navy frigate FGS Lubeck.

It flies the FAA's newest helicopter, the Wildcat, which has replaced the Lynx, which went out of service in March. 

The summer deployment of the crew from RNAS Yeovilton has been in the pipeline for years.

They got their chance after a German Lynx helicopter experienced a crack in its tail, grounding the aircraft.

They'll take part in a joint exercise off the coast of France before the deployment, which will see them take part in operations in the Mediterranean before returning home in time for Christmas.

The aircrew and engineers have been learning German for the last six months in a bid to keep up with their new colleagues, while for some it's a baptism of fire - as this is their first sea deployment. 

They've been assigned a German engineer to help them intergrate seemlessly though, both among the crew and in ensuring the Wildcat has everything it needs to operate.