Herculean Support Task in the Middle East
Royal Air Force Lyneham
www.raf.mod.uk/raflyneham
20th July 2006
The Hercules C130 aircraft based at RAF Lyneham has been called upon to help support the assisted departure of British personnel from Lebanon. On a day where more than 60 people, most of them Lebanese civilians, were killed, the bloodiest day of the Middle East conflict so far. Lyneham's personnel were called up once again to aid the stricken families.

The crisis began on July 12th 2006, when Hezbollah fighters based in southern Lebanon launched rockets across the Israeli border. Guerillas seized two Israeli soldiers and demanded a prisoner exchange. In response Israeli planes bombed Hezbollah positions and troops crossed into the region for the first time since 2000. Next day Israel bombed Beirut’s runways and announced an air and sea blockade. On Saturday, Israel expanded its strikes in Lebanon and attacked for the first time the northern port city of Tripoli.

Five Hercules C130 aircraft departed the Station early yesterday with vital supplies for Cyprus including vehicles, stores and essential spares for all three Services.

These aircraft have all returned to base and a further five are due to provide a regular rolling relief pattern to deliver further supplies. Elements from the United Kingdom Mobile Air Movements Squadron and Tactical Medical Wing have also deployed to Cyprus and Beirut.

Ground Personnel from the Station and crews from all four flying Squadrons have been moved forward to Cyprus to assist the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the operation. The C130 crews and engineers have been working extremely hard as usual twenty-four hours a day in soaring temperatures back home to deliver the extra aircraft and get the loads out to Cyprus with a quick turnaround.

In the war-torn country, Israeli planes dropped more bombs on Hezbollah-controlled areas in Beirut's southern suburbs and continued their aerial bombardment of southern Lebanon, where all civilians have been ordered to leave. So far 327 people are known to have been killed in the onslaught, which has displaced at least half a million people.

We spoke to one of the Hercules ground maintenance personnel as he was busy preparing the next Hercules aircraft for another mission today. Speaking as he took a five minutes break to get some water "It is actually very rewarding to see all our usual hard work, that we do, day-in-day-out in all kinds of extreme weather, actually come to use. We hope that what little part we play here and in Cyprus will bring respite to the needy families"

"This hard work makes our job all that more worthwhile, and we hope we have helped. It just goes to show how valuable Fat Albert and Lyneham are to the worldwide peace effort"

This latest international support task will mean that aircraft will be rotating through the Wiltshire airbase at all hours. It will be expected that some additional out of hours noise will be experienced, but not to excessive. Lyneham Village Online has asked the local community to be patient during the effort being taken for the British evacuees and thank them for their consideration towards another one of Lyneham's world-wide support efforts. Something Lyneham is synonymous for.