RAF Valley, Thursday 19th January - Night Flying Operations

A few weeks ago, myself and Jack were very grateful to be able to visit RAF Valley, to do some photography of the night flying that was being undertaken that week. Many thanks go to Sqn Ldr Dave Williams and all at RAF Valley who were as always very welcoming to us.

RAF Valley nestles away in the North-west of the idyllic island of Anglesey, and is located 5 miles south of Holyhead. Opened on 13th February 1941 as RAF Rhosneigr, after the nearby village and train station, the base was renamed RAF Valley on the 5th April 1941. The first aircraft based at RAF Valley were Hawker Hurricanes of No. 312 ( Czech ) Squadron, who had moved there from Speke, now the present Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Amongst the many other units formed and based there was No. 350 ( Belgian ) Squadron, who are still in operation today, and who fly the SABCA F-16AM Fighting Falcon, a license built version of the General Dynamics product of the same name, and who last visited RAF Valley in August 2015 for the Enthusiast’s Day.

Since the early 1950’s, the base has been operating in it’s current, and most well-known, role. That role is Advanced Flying Training. On 15 August 1960 No.4 Flying Training School (4FTS) reformed at RAF Valley with the Vampire T11 to replace No.7 Flying Training School. Their replacement, the Folland Gnat T1, arrived in November 1962. The squadron also had it’s own aerobatic display team, “The YellowJacks”, who along with “The Red Pelicans”, of the Central Flying School at RAF Little Rissington, were the forerunners of the current Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the world famous “Red Arrows”. In January 1967, Valley saw the arrival of the Hawker Hunter F.6 single-seater and the T.7 twin seat trainer aircraft, which supplemented the Gnat in providing Advanced Flying Training for the students of 4FTS.

The BAE Hawk T.1 arrived at RAF Valley in October 1976, quickly replacing both the Gnat and Hunter aircraft in the role of advanced fast-jet training, and continued to provide it for the best part of 40 years. In 2009, the RAF began to receive the first of the new Hawk T.2, an aircraft that is a completely new build, and is as far away from the Hawk T.1 it is designed to supersede as can be possible. Amongst the many plethora of new features are a Hands-On-Throttle-And-Stick ( HOTAS ) System, designed so that the main functions the pilot requires to successfully undertake their mission are all at their fingertips, so they don’t have to spend time looking down in the cockpit instead of flying the aircraft or prosecuting a target, a huge advantage compared to the Hawk T.1A it replaces. Three Multi-Function-Displays ( MFD’s ), twin mission computers that display simulations of a wide range of sensor and weapon systems, a full IN/GPS navigation system incorporating moving map displays, allow the pilots to train in systems that are akin to what they will experience on their frontline aircraft, whether it be the Eurofighter Typhoon or F-35 Lightning II. The aircraft also has a sensor simulation capability, designed to undertake realistic Electronic Warfare training against simulated Surface to Air Missile (SAM) systems, a facility that pilots on the T.1 never had the chance to train on, and one that is designed to improve pilot survivability on the battlefield. A new 7 station wing, a Rolls Royce-Turbomeca Adour Mk.951 turbofan with Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) that produces 6,500lbs of static thrust and various strakes on the exterior of the airframe, designed to improve low speed handling and as seen on the T-45 Goshawk for the U.S Navy, are further modifications to the design, that will enable Royal Air Force and Royal Navy student pilots of the next 30 years to, coupled with the intensive synthetic training facility present at RAF Valley, experience the world’s most advanced fast-jet training system, one that simply put, is a world-beater.

No IV (R) Squadron provide the Advanced Fast Jet training at RAF Valley with the BAE Systems Hawk T.2, and work in conjunction with Ascent Flight Training – a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Babcock, at the forefront of the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS), working successfully to enable student pilots to graduate the system and progress onto either the Eurofighter Typhoon or the F-35 Lightning II. There is a very good reason that the high standards of training seen at RAF Valley and the plethora of graduates have seen the station be given the nickname of “The Pilot Factory”.

Along with No IV (R) Squadron, No 202 Squadron are based at Valley, and they are also an essential part of training within the Royal Air Force. The unit takes selected pilots and crewmen from the Defence Helicopter Flying School (DHFS)’s No. 60 Squadron at RAF Shawbury, which is responsible for multi-engine advanced rotary wing flying training with the Bell Griffin HT.1, and trains them for the role of Search and Rescue. The squadron also provides essential mountain flying training for all three services, as sometimes rescues may need to be undertaken in hazardous, dangerous and very changeable conditions. Those from the RAF that successfully graduate are destined for No 84 Squadron, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, tasked with supporting the island with Air-Sea Rescue cover.

RAF Valley is also home to the Mountain Rescue Team, which was formed in 1943. During the Second World War, it became increasingly clear that pilots and crews of aircraft that came to grief all over the UK and her surrounding waters were surviving the initial crashes, but only to perish due to their injuries or exposure to cold whilst awaiting rescue and assistance, of which used to be very slow to react to an incident of this magnitude. It used to operate closely with the station’s 22 Squadron ‘C Flight’, which before it’s disbandment in 2015 flew the Westland Sea King HAR.3A, mainly rescuing injured climbers and mountaineers in Snowdonia and the surrounding landscape, and the crews of boats up and down North Wales’ vast coastline if they ever got into peril. Given the island’s long association with shipwrecks and disasters, most notably the Royal Charter disaster on 25th October 1859, it seems fitting that the station still retains an element of rescue and assisting those in need, even if the main bulk of the UK Search and Rescue role is now taken up by the Coastguard and Bristow Helicopters.

An essential requirement of any pilot, whether it be a student flying their first sorties or a seasoned pilot recapping and revising flying practises, is night flying. The ability to safely operate and navigate an aircraft to it’s main objective, and successfully undertake the mission and return to base, is a practice that has been widely used since the early days of the service. Every few months, particularly in winter months when student and instructor pilots can make use of longer hours of darkness, RAF Valley undertakes night flying, to complete a pilot’s training and to upgrade their capabilities. On January 19th, we attended RAF Valley to photograph some of the scheduled night flying that was due to take place, to see what goes into taking a student who may never have undertaken night flying training before, and transforming them into a hugely capable pilot, with the word at their feet.

Having liaised through Sqn Ldr Dave Williams, the station’s Media And Communications Officer, we met up with our guide for the evening, SAC Chris Thompson-Watts, one of the two station photographers. During our time awaiting for the night flying to begin, we discussed with himself and the other station photographer, Cpl Pete Devine, some of our previous shoots, what we all wished to achieve from our photography, and they showed us a few more helpful tips with regards to our photography, tips that we will definitely put to good use in the future. At approximately 1645 hrs, we made our way to IV (R) Squadron’s headquarters, where unfortunately due to the prevailing weather conditions of a low cloudbase and poor visibility, the squadron was unable to fly that night, so it was a case of getting a few quick images before the aircraft were pulled into the hangar for the night. As I’m sure we have all experienced, the Welsh weather can be annoying and irritating at times, but as always, the safety of the crews comes first and foremost.

Having departed the squadron’s flightline we headed up to No. 202 Squadron, on the other side of the airfield. Their operations that night were unaffected by the weather that had curtailed IV Squadron’s, so we got set up on the ASP outside the squadron buildings, and awaited the first helicopter to start up and head off to conduct it’s essential training. Having never photographed a helicopter at night with it’s blades running, we eagerly looked forward to seeing what we could achieve, and the results were exactly what we were hoping for.

The squadron’s Griffin HT.1 is the military version of the Bell 412EP helicopter, a further development of the famous “Huey” series of helicopters that Bell manufactured, and one that became famous with their exploits in the Vietnam War. It is mainly used in the Advanced Rotary Flying Training role, with the HAR2 variant operated by No 84 Squadron on SAR operations at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which is where the pilots who graduate from 202 Squadron will be heading once they finish their training. The aircraft has been in RAF service since 1995, and since 2003 with No 84 Squadron, replacing Gazelle and Wessex helicopters that had been serving in the roles. 202 Squadron’s headquarters moved to RAF Valley in 2008, and originally the unit was set up into three flights, with A Flight operating from RAF Boulmer, D Flight at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and E Flight flying from RAF Leconfield. The squadron provided search and rescue operations with the Westland Sea King HAR.3A, before the role of UK SAR was granted to Bristow Helicopters in 2012. The aircraft was retired from UK SAR duties last year and it is a very much missed sight in UK skies.

Despite the Sea King being retired last year, No 202 Squadron continue to train crews for SAR operations in Cyprus, as no replacement for the aircraft has been given at the time of publish of this article. With the arrival in the next few years of either the Airbus Helicopters H135 or H145 at RAF Valley, to replace the Griffin HT.1 in the role of mountain and maritime flying training for the UK Armed Forces, via Ascent flying training, one would hope that the squadron will be around for a very long time to come, as it would be a real shame to see all the experience the crews have gained through training and operations lost. Valley itself will be expanding, with new hangarage being built for the aforementioned aircraft, and for the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II arriving in the next 18-24 months. Add to this that the main runway is in the last few months of resurfacing work, and it truly is an exciting time for RAF Valley, and for the UK MFTS.

After our night photography was completed, it was time to head back over to the office of the photographers, and to see what we had all achieved that night, as well as take a few helpful tips on how to further improve our editing techniques. You can read as many books and articles on how to process properly, but nothing beats being shown tips and techniques in person, as both Cpl Devine and SAC Thompson-Watts shown us on their images they had taken recently.

A thoroughly enjoyable night was had by all, and we would like to once again issue a very special thank you to Sqn Ldr Dave Williams, Cpl Pete Devine and SAC Chris Thompson-Watts for the opportunity, and for the assistance they have provided to us, it really does go a long way, and we are very grateful for it!

*History of the station was adapted from the station’s history on the website, and from the author’s own knowledge. Images produced with kind permission of RAF Valley.*