RAF Cranwell News

RAF College Cranwell Tours HMS Queen Elizabeth

A TRI-service contingent of instructors and trainee pilots, from No 3 Flying Training School based at RAF College Cranwell and RAF Barkston Heath in Lincolnshire travelled to Portsmouth to visit HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Victory last month.

The aim of the visit was to introduce staff and students to the Royal Navy’s newest and most advanced warship, informing them about the way in which aviation is organised at sea, life on the maritime Front Line and also about the history and ethos that has shaped the senior service.

Once aboard, students were given a capabilities brief detailing the unbelievable flexibility held within HMS Queen Elizabeth’s steel structure, protecting the UK’s interests on the global stage.

Personnel were shown around the flight deck which covers an incredible four acres (equivalent of four football fields!) capable of carrying up to forty F-35 Lightning aircraft, as well as state of the art weaponry and communications systems, HMS Queen Elizabeth also boasts a cinema, a games room, five gyms, a chapel and medical centre.

Students on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth
Students on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth

In sharp contrast the team visited the Royal Navy’s most senior ship HMS Victory, the differences between the two vessels was incredible; superbly demonstrating how the culture and tempo of warfare has adapted and evolved over the centuries from a relatively slow and strategically challenging art of warfare to a much faster and dynamic era of maritime history.  The opportunity to view the behemoth that is HMS Queen Elizabeth from the poopdeck of HMS Victory was an opportunity not to be missed.  The visit culminated with an invitation to HMS Victory’s wardroom. 

Sub Lieutenant Harvey Ashdown said:

“Members of all three services, all equally likely to serve on HMS Queen Elizabeth were honoured to have been given this tremendous opportunity and were enthused by the exciting future for UK carrier aviation”

Students on board the HMS Victory
Students on board HMS Victory

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