DHFS, RAF Shawbury; 15 Jul 08

RAF Shawbury, in Shropshire, is home to the Defense Helicopter Flying School (DHFS), the basic training centre for the UK's military helicopter crews. New pilots are introduced to rotary flying on the Squirrel HT1, with the basic, single engine helicopter training squadron being designated 660 Squadron, Army Air Corps. In addition to the role of training future helicopter pilots, the unit is also responsible for introducing ab-initio helicopter loadmasters to the basics of rotary flight, and also assists in the training of future Harrier pilots, who receive experience of hovering and low speed flight.

Ab-initio helicopter pilots complete a 10 week course with 660 Sqn before moving on to the advanced single engined training squadron, designated 705 Squadron, Royal Navy. This squadron has a long history of helicopter training for the RN, and was responsible for "The Sharks" display team during the 1980s and 90s.

After the initial training, Army Air Corps and Royal Navy pilots move to their tactical training with their respective branches and continue their training there. For RAF crews, destined for larger, multi-crew helicopters, the final part of the training course is conducted on the Griffin helicopter, as part of 60(R) Squadron.

On foundation of the DHFS in 1997, the RAF Advanced Rotary Training Squadron was designated 60(Reserve) Squadron. The unit previously operated the Wessex helicopter at RAF Benson, and before that was a communications squadron in Germany, equipped with the Percival Pembroke.

Today, 60(R) Sqn is responsible for teaching RAF Support Helicopter crews, both pilots and loadmasters. The course is taught on the Griffin HT1 helicopter, a twin engined version of the ubiquitous Bell UH-1 'Huey', also equipped with a 4 blade rotor head. Students spend 36 weeks on 60(R) Sqn before moving to their allocated operational types to begin their conversion training.

During July, I was able to visit 60(R) Sqn and photograph some of their operations. On the day of our visit, several aircraft were detached to RAF Honington - part of the course involves a deployment exercise - but there were still many movements.

It was particularly pleasing to be able to photograph "Spades", a Griffin normally flying with 84 Sqn at RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus. This unit has 4 Griffins for search and rescue (SAR), but "Spades" is currently on loan to 60(R), after major servicing at Shawbury. Painted in a smart, pale grey colour scheme, this helicopter has become a familiar sight at airshows this year, and even won the Concourse d'Elegance award at RIAT 08. We were lucky enough to photograph a hot refuelling and crew change during our visit.

Although the primary reason for our visit was to spend time with 60(R) Sqn, RAF Shawbury is an extremely busy base, with Squirrels providing most of the movements.

RAF Shawbury is also home to 6 Flight AAC, flying Gazelle helicopters, and we photographed one of their cabs perfoming engine runs.

Our final port of call was the engineering hangar, where several Squirrels and Griffins were undergoing maintenance. These included 2 newly acquired Squirrels, being prepared for service with DHFS.

This was a very pleasant visit, and I'm grateful to several people for their time and effort in hosting us, namely Master Aircrew Chas McHugh, Master Aircrew Phil Davies, and Fg Off Charlie Emerson. Thanks also to OC 60Sqn, Sqn Ldr Al Dawson.

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