RAF Presentation Team lands in Elgin

More than 50 people braved the November chill last night to attend a briefing by the Royal Air Force Presentation Team in Elgin.

The team’s remit is to give audiences of all kinds – from members of the public to businesses and civic leaders – a flavour of who the RAF are, what they do and how they do it. The evening underlined that the service’s fundamental role remains to provide ‘the UK’s first line of defence in an uncertain world’, with the Station Commander of RAF Lossiemouth, Group Captain Paul Godfrey, highlighting the regular intercepts of Russian aircraft made by Lossiemouth-based aircraft of the RAF quick reaction alert.

The audience also heard plans for the expansion of Lossiemouth to accommodate an additional Typhoon squadron and exciting news about the build-up of the new P-8 Poseidon force of maritime patrol aircraft due to begin in the next few years. A lively and wide-ranging Q&A session followed, with topics ranging from nuclear deterrence (no longer with the RAF) to female pilots (increasingly with the RAF!). All in all it provided a fascinating insight into the RAF in Scotland and beyond.