5 Regiment Army Air Corps

The creation of 5 Regiment Army Air Corps (AAC) occurred on 01 December 1993 in Northern Ireland, where the Regiment has spent its entire life. The work conducted by 5 Regiment has been pivotal in the history of the AAC as a whole and there are many that say Northern Ireland cemented the AAC's position as a professional aviation organization and that the experience gained paved the way for the many successful deployments and operations since.

There has been a connection between Northern Ireland and the post-war Army Air Corps from the beginning. On 14th February 1957 new aircraft arrived at RAF Aldergrove in the shape of the five Auster Mk 6s of 1913 Light Liaison Flight. They soon became 13 Flight 651 Squadron, of the newly revived AAC.

The Joint Helicopter Force Northern Ireland (JHFNI) was established on 1st April 2000 and this brought all service helicopters in the Province less than one command and control authority centrally located at Aldergrove.

5 Regiment AAC 1993 - 2008

Op Banner Days

During Op Banner, the Regiment's main role was to support the security forces in Northern Ireland, the British Army and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). For command purposes, the Army in Ulster was divided into three main areas in line with police regions. 8 Infantry Brigade covered the north and west, which included Londonderry and Enniskillen. 3 Brigade was responsible for the south and east - Armagh and Newry. 39 Brigade's area of responsibility extended around Greater Belfast and to the north as far as Larne.

5 Regiment AAC 2008 - Present Day

The Regiment saw another major change to its composition in 2008 with the arrival of 651 Sqn AAC from Odiham. 1 Flight AAC became integrated into 651 Sqn AAC and they operate both the Islander and the Defender. The squadron continues to carry on the traditional 1 Flight AAC liaison tasks and provides essential cover for compassionate cases.

Both 651 and 665 Sqn AAC regularly deploy aircraft to the UK mainland to support training for operations, this has included all recent final training exercises for the Brigades deploying to Afghanistan as well as assistance to other flying units.

The Regt’l groundcrew are proving to be extremely versatile, as they have been deploying to support various AAC locations around the world, such as Canada, Belize and Brunei. However, they have also been deploying as individual augmentees in roles such as drivers, signallers and infantrymen with a number of units in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The future of 5 Regiment AAC is looking bright and extremely busy with the ongoing activity showing no signs of relenting and the CO is looking forward to taking his Regiment from strength to strength.