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Prince William flies solo during his RAF attachment

17th January 2008

Prince William described the thrill of flying solo for the first time today as he continued an intensive Royal Air Force (RAF) course in Lincolnshire.

Prince William, who is on a four month attachment with the Royal Air Force, piloted a light aircraft around an airfield at RAF Cranwell where he is stationed with 1 Squadron of 1 Elementary Flying Training School.

William, who is a Lieutenant with the Household Cavalry (Blues and Royals) is fulfilling a long held ambition and following in the footsteps of his father, The Prince of Wales, who earned his wings more than 35 years ago.

The Prince, who was only eight days into his flying course when allowed to fly solo, said: "The course is going really well. It's been a bit frustrating with the weather but considering the short space of time I've had here, it's quite nice to go up as much as we have."

The Prince's training is part of a four-month attachment with the RAF to help him get to grips with the service's ethos, traditions and military role as he prepares to head the Armed Forces one day.

He is following in the footsteps of his father The Prince of Wales who earned his wings more than 35 years ago at RAF Cranwell.

Talking about flying solo in the propeller-driven Grob 115E light aircraft known as the Tutor, Prince William joked: "God knows how somebody trusted me with an aircraft and my own life. It was an amazing feeling, I couldn't believe it.

"I was doing a few circuits going round and round then Roger my instructor basically turned round and said 'right I'm going to jump out now' and I said 'what, where are you going?'.

"He said 'you're going on your own' and I said 'there's no way I'm going to do that' but he said I was ready for it and jumped out."

"The next thing I knew I was taxiing down the runway and I was sitting there saying 'oh my god this is a bit odd, there's no one in here'."

The Prince described flying on his own as an amazing experience.

He said:  "Going solo is one of those things - if you had a list of the top 50 things to do before you die, it would be in there."

During his attachment Prince William is known as Flying Officer William Wales.

He remains loyal to the Army but after a few weeks with the RAF has come to respect their professionalism.

The 25-year-old royal said: "My veins run through and through with Army blood.

"But the RAF have got completely different principles and ethos and are a great bunch of guys and very professional.

"I relished the opportunity to come and be here."

Before taking the controls of the light aircraft this morning, William attended a series of briefings, which all the trainee pilots go through before any flying session.

First the Prince joined around a dozen other Flying Officers from his class for a detailed meeting about the weather in the Lincolnshire area.

A one-to-one meeting with his instructor, Squadron Leader Roger Bousfield, followed, where the experienced pilot told the Prince: "The aim of today's sortie is to fly normal circuits and landings."

He joked with William, who flew solo after eight and a half hours flying time: "We'll be doing some aerobatics, I know you like that."

After checking the plane's technical log and collecting helmets and parachutes, the pair walked out to the aircraft through the rain.

Describing the process of flying around the airfield, The Prince said: "The circuit's quite small, so the minute you take off you're doing something to turn. The minute you've finished turning, you've got to then straighten out.

"You've got to get all your landing checks done by the time you get to the next corner with the wind behind you and it blows you along really quickly.

"And then you've got to turn again to come in to land. So there's a lot going on in the aircraft all the time."

After 40 minutes' flying, cut short because of the bad weather, the Tutor plane landed and when the waiting media shouted at the Prince to pose for a picture as he headed inside, William joked: "I've got work to do" and pointed to his watch.

The Prince has fitted in well with the other Flying Officers on his course.

Classmate Mark Shipley, 22, from Swindon, Wiltshire, said: "It was kind of surreal the first time I met him, but now we play football and have drinks with him.

"William is working even harder than us because he has got such a short space of time to cover his course."

After his initial training, the Prince will move to 1 Flying Training School at RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, where he will get to grips with the faster Tucano T1 plane and finally progress to RAF Shawbury in Shropshire to learn to fly the Squirrel helicopter.

The Prince's "bespoke" shortened course has been designed to show him different elements of RAF pilot training which would normally last from three to four years.

William's father, The Prince of Wales, completed his flying training course at RAF Cranwell from March to August in 1971 and graduated that year as a Flight Lieutenant.

His uncle, the Duke of York, flew Sea King helicopters during the Falklands War in 1982. Andrew used his aircraft as a decoy target, trying to divert deadly Exocet missiles away from British ships.

William, who went solo after only eight and half hours' flying time, has impressed staff at 1 Elementary Flying Training School.

He has already flown in formation with another aircraft and was described as having natural ability by his instructor.

Sqn Ldr Bousfield said: "To get William to go solo is fantastic. He's worked very hard and has coped marvellously to pick it all up and that's been backed up with some natural talent in the air.

"He's got good handling skills and learns lessons really quickly and keeps hold of those lessons, which makes it easier for the next time we're in the air.

"His course members have been really relaxed with him and have got quite attached over the last couple of weeks."

If the Prince completes all aspects of his RAF training, a graduation ceremony to present him with his wings will be held in April.

Click here to read about Prince William's military career.

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