Operation Tomodachi update, March 19 – from US Navy 7th Fleet

Photo: Sailors aboard USS Fitzgerald prepare to lower a rigid hull inflatable boat into the ocean to assist Japanese authorities with search and rescue and recovery operations.

Despite cold weather and aftershocks as strong as 6.1 in magnitude, 7th Fleet forces continued sustainment of life efforts in support of Operation Tomodachi.  A total of 12,750 personnel, 20 ships, and 140 aircraft are participating in Operation Tomodachi.  Seventh Fleet forces have delivered a total of 110 tons of relief supplies to date.

The Warlords of HSL-51, Black Knights of HS-4, and Battlecats of HSL-43 continued Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief efforts by delivering 29 tons of aid from ships of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group to locations ashore.  Helicopters rendered much needed materials to Hachinohe airport as well as landing zones that mark shelters for displaced persons.  Hachinohe serves as a staging point for further distribution of aid.

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First Lynx receives a makeover

WHEN it comes to the Navy’s fastest helicopter, this is Genesis.

This is XX910 and, depending on which source you use, is the first – or second – naval Lynx.

And to mark the Lynx’s 40th birthday, this prototype is being restored to how it looked back in the 1970s by a team from RNAS Yeovilton.

For the past decade the helicopter has been looked after by the Helicopter Museum in Weston-super -Mare.

They snapped up the prototype when it was no longer needed by the test pilots and evaluators at Boscombe Down. They picked up an aircraft which had been rather neglected – for a start XX910 was missing its tail boom.

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