Army Air Corps AAC Sqn Patch 659 Squadron Ops VI V IX Rare 2007

Army Air Corps Patch 659 Squadron Army Air Corps VI V IX Ops Very Rare 1999 4 Regiment Kosovo Film City Pristina Lynx AH7 Local Made Embroidered on felt 84mm by 84mm three and five sixteenth inches by three and five sixteenth inches.

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Squadron History  

659 Aviation Squadron was formed on 14 October 1969 at Osnabruk as part of 2 Division Aviation Regt with 6 Sioux and 4 Scout helicopters. 

On 1 June 1973 the Squadron was renamed 659 Squadron Army Air Corps and moved to Detmold as part of 9 Regiment Army Air Corps. Over the next 5 years the Squadron provided Sioux Helicopter Detachments on four month annual tours to Northern Ireland. The Squadron was disbanded in 1977 on being renamed 669 Squadron Army Air Corps.

659 Squadron was reactivated on 1 April 1978 at Detmold on the renaming of 655 Squadron Army Air Corps again as part of 9 Regiment Army Air Corps and provided Sioux Helicopter Detachments on four month annual tours in 1978 79 and 1982 83 to Northern Ireland. The Squadron was reallocated to 4 Regiment Army Air Corps in 1983 and with its Lynx helicopters provided valuable support to 4 Division deployed on Operation Granby Iraq 1990 1991.

The Squadron returned from Germany to Wattisham Airfield in 1995 and with its Lynx AH7 aircraft tasked as Light Utility Battlefield Squadron in support of 16 Air Assault Brigade deploying for operational tours to Bosnia and Petrovec Macedonia in February 1999 supporting the troop movement into Kosovo in June 1999 and operating from Film City Pristina Kosovo. The Squadron also deployed to 4 Regiments detachment in Sierra Leone. In 2007 the Army Air Corps was restructured into single type regiments and 659 Squadron Army Air Corps was reassigned to 9 Regiment Army Corps still supporting 16 Air Assault Brigade and relocated to Dishforth Airfield.

The Squadron deployed to Iraq for Operation Telic 12 in 2008. 659 Squadron deployed to Helmand Province Afghanistan in July 2010 with Lynx Mk9A becoming the first Squadron to deploy on operational missions with twin fit M3M 50 calibre machine guns. The Squadron deployed it Lynx Mk7 helicopters to Bardufoss Norway at the beginning of 2015 for Operation Clockwork cold weather training.

This patch dates from 1999.