Impressive: huge Merlin helicopter eaten by C-17 cargo

June 11, 2013 David Cenciotti Helicopters 6

After flying more than 18,000 hours in Afghanistan, moving more than 7,900 tonnes of kit and stores and transporting over 130,000 personnel since 2009, RAF Merlin helicopters have finished their deployment in the Helmand region, where they have primarly flown troop transport missions.

***STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.001 TUESDAY 4 JUNE 2013*** FINAL OPERATIONS FOR MERLIN HELICOPTER FLEET AS UK DRAWDOWN IN AFGHANISTAN CONTINUES

The following images where released by the UK MoD, and show one of the large, partly disassembled choppers (the same used for the 2012 Olympic opener and latest 007 movie) inside a RAF C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft used to bring the Merlins back home.

***STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.001 TUESDAY 4 JUNE 2013*** FINAL OPERATIONS FOR MERLIN HELICOPTER FLEET AS UK DRAWDOWN IN AFGHANISTAN CONTINUES

Image credit: Sergeant Barry Pope, Crown copyright

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About David Cenciotti 3890 Articles
David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.
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