During the Easter holiday period the RAF detachment in the Falkland Islands continues to deliver air operations in the South Atlantic.
One element of the air operations is a Quick Reaction Alert response carried out by the Typhoons of 1435 Flight. The flight is made up of RAF personnel who serve at the Mount Pleasant Complex on a rotational basis from the Typhoon Force front line squadrons.
The daily flying here provides us with great training opportunities that we don’t often experience in the UK. Intercepting the various aircraft of Mount Pleasant Complex and the Islands keeps our Quick Reaction Alert skills sharp. Having a dedicated Voyager tanker is real bonus too, extending the time we are airborne and able to defend the Islands if required.
Squadron Leader Murphy,
Officer Commanding 1435 Flight
Warrant Officer Eaton, the flight Warrant Officer is responsible for the airworthiness management of the Typhoon aircraft, workforce planning, together with the welfare, discipline, and standards of all the Flight personnel.
It is great to see the whole team pull together to make sure our jets are able to launch. Seeing the aircraft in the sky over the islands, either individually or in formation, always gives everyone a sense of pride in a job well-done.
Warrant Officer Eaton
Flight Warrant Officer
1435 Flight consists of engineers, support staff and pilots, who maintain and fly the Typhoon FGR4 aircraft based at Mount Pleasant Complex. The primary role is Air Defence and Quick Reaction Alert, much like in the UK. They are poised 24/7 to intercept any unidentified aircraft around the Falkland Islands, a role the flight has been undertaking at Mount Pleasant Complex since 1986 with Phantoms, then Tornado F3, and now Typhoon. All of the personnel are deployed to the Islands individually from Typhoon squadrons at RAF Lossiemouth and Coningsby and spend between six weeks and six months at Mount Pleasant Complex depending on their role.
Chief Technician Clarke is responsible for managing and controlling all engineering work carried out on the 1435 Flight Typhoon aircraft.
The pace of life in the Falklands is slightly slower than back in the UK, with fewer of the pressures of life and less need to meet dynamic operational flying programmes.
Operating in the Falklands however brings its own challenges with logistics and communications. The islands are beautiful and deploying here gives us the opportunity to explore and meet new and interesting people.
Chief Technician Clarke
All the personnel of the Flight are used to routinely deploying around the world. The UK Typhoon force is very busy, the majority of those currently with the Flight have previously served on Operations in places such as Cyprus, Romania, Estonia, Iceland, as well as exercises all over the globe, in addition to most having deployed to Mount Pleasant Complex before.