Prince William visits Arm Air Corp for first time as Colonel

The Prince of Wales, Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corp, today visited the 4 Regiment for the first time in his capacity as Colonel at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk.

The Prince became Colonel in May last year, when The King passed the role on to him during a joint visit to the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop. He was announced as the new Colonel the year previous, in 2023.

The Army Air Corp was formed in 1957 and is the combat aviation arm of the British Army. It is made up of a number of regiments, which can be recognised by the pale blue berets that they wear. They have a number of bases across the UK, in Somerset, Shropshire and Hampshire, as well as Suffolk.

Today’s visit was originally meant to take place in January. However, it was postponed following bad weather conditions which would have restricted the programme that had been planned for the Royal visit.

The Prince arrived at the base in a Wildcat helicopter, wearing the pale blue beret and army fatigues. He was taken to a tent, where he heard about the work being carried out by the Army Air Corp and what is happening at Wattisham. He spoke with members of the 664 Squadron, learning about overseas training, seeing the technology they use, and hearing about their newly required Apache AH-64E and the many new capabilities of it

The Prince watched a combat PT session, where he enquired after the pace of life for the soldiers and their families, before joining ‘Archer’s Breakfast’, a weekly social event held by 664 Squadron for its personnel and their families. The Prince handed out food to the soldiers and their family members, joking with them that his mouth was watering at the smell. “Nothing worse than the smell of bacon in the room and you cannot eat it” he joked.

During the breakfast, The Prince spoke with members of the squadron and expressed concerns about the accommodation. He promised them that he was “going to have a chat about accommodation, make sure they look at that”.

To end the visit, The Prince presented a King’s Commendation for Valuable Service to Staff Seargant Kenneth Robert Copeland for his exceptional service in West Africa. He also awarded soldiers their promotion from Corporal to Sergeant.

As he left, the former RAF and Search and Rescue Helicopter Pilot, took the controls of the Wildcat helicopter himself and flew from the base to home.