A flight of four British Army Air Corps (AAC) AgustaWestland/Boeing WAH-64D Apache AH1 attack helicopters conducted a farewell tour across the United Kingdom on 25 March 2024 to mark the type’s exit from service.
The farewell flight, which involved 15 locations relevant to Apache operations, was conducted by the 4 Regiment AAC’s No 656 Squadron, which was the AAC’s first operational Apache unit.
Entering British service in 2004, the Apache AH1s were first used in combat in Operation ‘Herrick’, the codename for British operations in Afghanistan between June 2002 and December 2014, during which the Apaches became a highly valued asset in operations against the Taliban.
In 2011 the AH1s were also deployed during the military intervention in Libya as part of Operation ‘Ellamy’, when they operated from the flight deck of the Royal Navy helicopter carrier HMS Ocean.
Fifty of 67 Apache AH1s originally received by the AAC are being remanufactured by Boeing to the latest AH-64E v6 Apache Guardian standard through two contracts issued in 2017 and 2019 under the British Army’s Apache Capability Sustainment Programme (CSP).
The first two remanufactured Apaches were delivered back to the AAC at Wattisham Flying Station, Suffolk, on 26 November 2020, with all 50 aircraft due to be delivered by the end of 2024.
