Dambusters

In early November The Dambusters made the long transit to northern Norway, where two Jets performed a live weapon drop. Poignantly the location of this live drop happened to be only 50 miles away from where some of the original Dambusters of 617 Squadron bombed and sunk the formidable Tirpitz almost 78 years prior, a feat still as astonishing today as it was then as Hitler himself considered the German Battleship “unsinkable!” *see editor’s note

However, November was all about Operation ACHILLEAN and the Squadron embarking on HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH. The main focus of the Operation was to regain and initially qualify all Squadron pilots to launch from and land on the carrier in the many challenging weather conditions that the North Sea could provide. In addition to achieving Carrier Qualifications for all pilots, whilst onboard

617 Squadron also carried out Joint Expeditionary Force Air Operations activity. During this activity Norwegian F-35As carried out simulated air attacks against the Carrier Strike Group and the 617 Squadron jets valiantly defended, providing an excellent opportunity to further strengthen ties with our Norwegian partners. These experiences will stand the Squadron in good stead prior to future deployments, should that be on HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH or HMS PRINCE OF WALES.

617 Squadron returned to the familiar setting of RAF Marham where work began at pace by both the engineers, who were busy carrying out post embarked servicing of the jets and the pilots, whose focus was solely on regaining currencies in the simulators by conducting emergency procedure missions and tactical skills. Once the jets were serviced and the pilots currencies updated, The Dambusters were tasked to carry out one last Exercise before 2022 drew to an end. We provided Offensive Counter Air sweeps for 4th generation striker aircraft comprising of two UK Typhoons and two French Rafale, supported by French air to air refuelers.

Following a welcome period of rest and recuperation over the festive break, The Dambusters were back in at the deep end hosting several Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) as part of Ex EARLY RESOLVE. These JTACs are the ground personnel who call in airstrikes during Close Air Support (CAS) missions. This CAS Exercise in the local area used lots of different fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, with 617 Squadron flying a number of day and night missions. Alongside this The Dambusters were tested through the means of tactical flying checks when the Lightning Force standardisation visit (LSV) occurred; mainly performing CAS as part Ex EARLY RESOLVE, but also in Basic Fighter Manoeuvres and

Tactical Intercepts sorties. In the station-based Full Mission Simulators pilots were further tested by performing Annual Handling Checks. As expected there were no issues, although the pilots were very grateful when the LSV was over!

Looking forward, 617 Squadron have another busy year ahead with further deployments planned. We’ll tell you more about those in future articles.