Flight Lieutenant Joanna Watkinson is a Merlin helicopter pilot with 28 (Army Co-operation) Sqn based at RAF Benson. The 28 year old is originally from Reading. She has been in the RAF for 6 years, and on the Merlin Force for 2 years.

What are you doing out here on Merlin Vortex?

We’ve actually come to train to transfer the skills we’ve learnt from quite a few years flying in Iraq and some lessons we’ve learnt from the Chinook Force, and put them all into the training that we can use when we deploy to Afghanistan later this year.

Have you been to Iraq yourself?

Yes I have, twice with the Merlin Force.

What’s it like being one of only a handful of women on the Merlin Force?

To be honest I think it’s something you don’t really notice. You start your officer training and there’s two or three girls on your flight and you just go through training and get used to the fact that you’re one of very few girls around the place. The boys are the boys, they always will be, and I get on with them really well, but it is quite nice when you’re flying with some other girls around the place that you can be close friends with.

What’s it like out here, have the Americans been welcoming?

They’ve been absolutely brilliant. The facilities around here, the stuff they have here is just absolutely epic. And the landscape, the mountains that we fly in, it’s just amazing scenery. It’s an amazing training opportunity to be able to fly here, although I have not been to Afghanistan yet, I’ve heard it’s extremely similar to the landscape.

Being a helicopter pilot is not an average career choice for a girl so what would you say to anyone going for it?

If you want to do it, do it and don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do it because unfortunately there will be people that will always turn round and say “oh you can’t do that, you’re a girl”. I’ve had a few people tell me that in the past and I’d like to see them one day and go “hah, told you!”.

What’s the best part of the job for you?

Everything! It’s a lifestyle. People always say the cliché that it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle and it really is. It is something that you get up every day and you come away to places like California for training and I don’t think there’s any one aspect that I would say is better than everything else.

What’s so special about the Merlin?

It’s the first aircraft I’ve ever flown. I know that everyone always has a soft spot for the first operational aircraft they’ve flown but I love the fact that the Merlin is a new aircraft, still developing. It’s got all the computer wizardry inside of it so it’s a very technological aircraft and I really like flying it. For me I find that it’s a very natural aircraft to fly.

What about the training out here, I’ve heard the dust landings are quite hard?

If you do it right you can just about see what you’re doing, but it’s much better to train out here and do these dust landings whereas when I first did my dust landing training it was in Iraq. Luckily we had a training area we could use but when you’re going out on operations and that’s when you’re getting your first chance of doing the dust landings it’s a little bit more stressful. The guys that are coming through are getting a brilliant opportunity now to do the dust landings here in a completely safe environment.

It’s really weird, when I was younger I was always interested in space and astrophysics and stuff like that but I never really thought I could become a pilot. I always just thought that it was one of those make-believe dreams that you could possibly one day be a pilot. I went to University and found the University Air Squadron and they offered to teach me to fly for free. I thought, “Oh, I’ll give it a go” and about two or three weeks in I thought “this is awesome, this is what I want to do” so I carried on doing it and applied. When I left University I did well enough at selection to be offered a place.

Why choose the military?

My uncle was in the army, my grand-father was an RAF pilot, my other grand-father was an army logistics officer, and my grandmother was one of the first females ever to be awarded a commission in the army, she was a nurse. So there’s a lot of forces history in the family but I don’t think as an only child girl I was ever going to follow down the same thing. My Mum, Dad and Step-Mum are all immensely proud. All my family are very proud.

Flight Lieutenant Christian Royston-Airey, 31, is a navigator with 78 Squadron and is in El Centro to complete his pre-deployment environmental training prior to deployment to Afghanistan. His role is as the mission manager, looking after the non handling aspects of the flight. This could be mission planning, communication with air and ground forces, and the general running of the mission.

“In a dust landing my role is to complete all the checks and then the ‘talk down’ – checking the height and speed of the aircraft, talking to the pilot and the crewman to talk down the Merlin down as a team, using the instruments and external visual references.” Christian is married, from his hometown of Hythe, Southampton.

He joined the RAF 8 years ago and has spent 5 years with the Merlin Force, currently undertaking the additional task of the Officer Commanding Headquarters Flight for 78 Squadron at RAF Benson.

“First time I got airborne here I realised just how similar the landscape and climate are to Afghanistan – its provided a very realistic training ground for how demanding the conditions will be. It’s the best pre afghan training area I’ve ever seen. I’ve trained in Morocco and Kenya, but the Americans are very can-do, helping us in whichever way they can. The people are the best part of this job – like minded enthusiastic colleagues that you work with.”

“The Merlin is exceptional in terms of its performance – the state of the art technology is very rewarding to work with. You are training to do a job – knowing that it will be a worthwhile job, and that you are playing an important role, making a difference whilst out on operations.“

Editor: Lesley Woods