A FORMATION of Puma helicopters flew over Chepstow today to mark 50 years of service in the RAF.
The ten helicopters flew over Chepstow at around 3pm as part of their flypast around the UK.
They took off at about 10am in Oxfordshire from the RAF Benson base.
The helicopters were painted with a union flag on the tail and had a Puma 50 logo in place of the traditional RAF logo on the cabin door.
RAF Benson said on their Facebook page: “The first Puma helicopters were delivered into service in 1971.
“A formation of up to 10 Puma helicopters will depart RAF Benson [today] as part of a training sortie that will include flypasts of notable locations for the Puma Force over the past 50 years.
“This includes sites that hold historical significance for the Puma Force as well as those that provide support to delivering current Puma operational capability”.
The Puma helicopter is a a medium-lift support helicopter that has seen service in locations such as Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Mozambique and the Caribbean.
More recently they have been used to support flood relief efforts and have delivered supplies during the pandemic.
[from South Wales Argus]