Well I have probably been reading too much into the events of Tuesday Night, when I was out on a Mountain Leader Training Expedition. At the time I thought very little about the sheer number of helicopters in this remote Cwm, after all the need for pilots trained in mountain flying is at a premium.
However it was announce earlier in the week that Prince William had pass his advance flying course elsewhere and had returned to RAF Valley to convert to the Seaking, and if successful go operational in one of the 6 Search and Rescue flights across the country.
This go me thinking, was the first PUMA aircraft i saw actually special forces checking the valley for Scally Ban Agents of Terror (Caernarfon Branch Obviously), before HRH came in for his training flight?
I then remember a quote from Williams father when he was interviewed about flying helicopter in the Falkland Conflict. He said that it seemed whenever he came into land his was always the most popular aircraft for soldiers to get onto. So he asked a soldier why was his the most popular aircraft? “Is it because I am the Prince of Wales?”. To which the soldier replied, “No, it because your the Prince so your aircraft will be better maintained than the others!”
