Tuesday 24th June 2003 was a sad day for JEFTS Church Fenton, as it marked the final training sortie carried out by the unit. The aircraft will be returned to Barkston Heath shortly afterwards. This brings to and end a five year stint at Church Fenton, the first aircraft arriving on detachment in 1998. As mentioned previously, the Direct Entry students that would otherwise have been trained on the Fireflies at Church Fenton will now be sent to “Direct Entry Flights” on various University Air Squadrons around the country (including Yorkshire UAS). It is not known if any other unit will move into the empty hangar space left by JEFTS.
To mark the disbandment of the unit, some commemorative photos were taken, and can be seen here. Both © Pete Anderson. Click each photo to enlarge.
The final sortie of the unit was carried out on Thursday 26th June, when 3 aircraft were flown back to RAF Barkston Heath for use with the remainder of JEFTS. On their way back, they completed flypasts at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Sherburn-in-Elmet and Breighton.
