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NEWS ABOUT: Royal Air Force

Prince Harry in Calif. This Week for Training

'Capt. Wales' to be treated like any other pilot

(Newser) - Prince Harry will arrive in California this week but he won't be getting the red-carpet treatment his brother received earlier this year. The prince is coming to America for two months of helicopter gunship training at bases in California and Arizona, CNN reports. "He will be Captain Wales... More »

Helmet Lets Pilots Shoot Targets With a Glance

Turns out looks can kill

(Newser) - Equipped with new headgear, British fighter pilots can knock enemies from the sky with a mere gaze. The $390,000 Striker helmet shows pilots nearby radar-detected targets. The pilot merely looks at a target to choose it, then speaks to fire. It’s one of the biggest technological advances the... More »

Prince William to the Rescue!

Ladies warned not to call in bogus emergencies

(Newser) - Prince William can’t actually go to war like his younger brother Harry, so the future king is doing the next best thing: He’s joined the Royal Air Force’s search and rescue program, where he’ll pilot a Sea King rescue helicopter. “This is a very exciting,... More »

Churchill Ordered Air Force to Hide UFO Encounter

Were aliens checking us out during WWII?

(Newser) - Winston Churchill ordered the Royal Air Force to keep secret a suspected UFO encounter during World War II because he feared public hysteria and loss of religious faith, according to newly released documents. "This event should be immediately classified since it would create mass panic and destroy one's belief... More »

Brit Princes Yearn to See Front Lines

William, Harry living together during pilot training

(Newser) - Prince William is older, but Prince Harry went to war first—and, he says, “if Harry can do it then I can.” Harry, joining his brother at the media event yesterday, said his helicopter training is the “easiest way of getting to the front lines,” People... More »

Stolen RAF Files on Drug Use, Sex Spark Blackmail Fears

Data bares UK officers' foibles

(Newser) - Top British military officials are at risk of blackmail after three Royal Air Force hard drives containing revealing vetting details were stolen, the Daily Mail reports. Files on the drives told of “criminal investigations, drug abuse, use of prostitutes, and extra-marital affairs,” said a Ministry of Defense memo.... More »

British Town Honors War Dead With Silent Farewells

Impromptu silence as soldier's hearse passed grew into tradition

(Newser) - A lone man's silent salute to a military hearse grew into a tradition that now involves thousands who line the streets of a small British town, the New York Times reports. The bodies of UK troops killed in Afghanistan pass through Wootton Bassett on the way from the nearby air... More »

British Military Blasted Over White Male Toy Soldiers

(Newser) - The British Defense Ministry is under fire for backing a new line of all-male toy soldiers, reports the Guardian.The promotional campaign for the new toys is also all-white. The figures were created with the help of senior officials from Britain's army, navy, and the Royal Air Force. They carry... More »

Brit Dog Walker Reported Close Encounter of the Alien Kind

1989 tale in recently released in UFO files

(Newser) - Another tale from the UK's recently released military files on UFOs comes from a dog-walker, who reports encountering an extraterrestrial who spoke in a Scandinavian accent. It was classified as a "genuine call" by a Royal Air Force phone operator, reports the Telegraph. The alien, appearing in human form... More »

'Naked Runway Challenge' in Prince Harry's Future

Harry will streak, William to drink from toilet

(Newser) - Princes William and Harry will engage in some undignified behavior in a bid to earn their “drinking wings” as they train to become helicopter pilots, the Sun reports. As part of the RAF's traditional initiation, William will drink beer out of a toilet, and Harry will run naked across... More »

Blinded Pilot Lands After Mid-Flight Stroke

Pilot recovering sight, but still in serious condition

(Newser) - An amateur pilot who suffered a stroke and went blind as he flew over North England landed his plane without a scratch, the Independent reports. Jim O’Neill, 65, was initially unable to follow instructions from civilian traffic controllers, but was guided to safety by British military planes. He remains... More »

Prince William Will Fly to the Rescue

Royal plans to be search and rescue pilot

(Newser) - Prince William’s next military stint  will be as a search-and-rescue pilot for the Royal Air Force, the BBC reports. Having served with the army and navy, the prince learned to fly with the RAP this year and said today, "I now want to build on the experience and... More »

Wills Lands Splashy Training in Caribbean

Commanders decide against deploying prince to Persian Gulf

(Newser) - Instead of heading to duty in the Persian Gulf, one Sub Lieutenant Wales is set to embark on several weeks of training in the Caribbean with Britain's Royal Marines and Royal Navy. Prince William "commendably wanted to be as close to the front line as possible," says a... More »

Britain Opens X-Files Vault

ET, phone the home office: 90% of UFO sightings are bogus

(Newser) - Britain has released the first batch of secret files on reported UFO sightings, Reuters reports, and concluded that 90% are bogus. The Defense Ministry's Flying Saucer Working Party found that the other unexplained 10% posed no security threat. It has investigated some 11,000 reports dating back to the '50s... More »

For Britain's Young Princes, a Role Reversal

Harry's Afghan tour, Wills' chopper antics flop public perception

(Newser) - It seems like only yesterday that William was Britain's standup prince, brother Harry the misled stoner in an SS uniform. But after revelations that William landed his RAF helicopter on his girlfriend’s lawn, and that the younger Harry served actual combat in Afghanistan, the tables have turned, the AP... More »

Prince Pilots Chopper to Gal Pal's Home

Military defends 'royal heir farce'

(Newser) - British officials have defended allowing Prince William to land a military helicopter on a field next to the home of his girlfriend’s family after the media blasted it as “ridiculous and inappropriate,” the BBC reports. “This was a routine training sortie"—and no one entered... More »

Brown Upbraids UK Public for Taunting Troops

PM irked that some personnel advised not to wear uniform off base

(Newser) - After reports that officers in Britain's Royal Air Force advised members against wearing uniforms in public, Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged troops to show their colors, the Telegraph reports—and chastised citizens for the verbal abuse that prompted the guidelines. Brown said troops should “have the respect and gratitude... More »

Woman Held in Bomb Threat on British Oil Rig

Officials evacuate 539 workers; incident not terrorist-related

(Newser) - British authorities have detained a 23-year-old woman in connection with a bomb threat that caused an evacuation of hundreds of oil workers from a North Sea oil rig, the BBC says. The woman had been working aboard the platform, which is located about 130 miles northeast off the coast of... More »

British Jets Intercept 8 Russian 'Bears'

Kremlin's renewed long-range recon flights buzz Britain, Norway

(Newser) - British fighter jets intercepted eight Russian recon bombers today as they approached British airspace in the latest long-distance forays to display Vladimir Putin's renewed virility in air power. Authorities said the aircraft did not enter British airspace, the Guardian writes. Norwegian planes monitored the same eight bombers in international airspace... More »

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