Military Aviation – Royal Air Force Puma Retirement (Part 2) – The History of the RAF Puma Force

After 54 years of sterling service, the Royal Air Force’s Puma helicopters completed their final flights last week as the type headed into retirement, in the UK at least. Gareth Stringer looks back at the Puma’s history with a selection of photography from the GAR archives and friends.

The Puma’s legacy in Royal Air Force service will not be forgotten, and while it is tempting to refer to the type as a workhorse, I almost feel that in many ways underplays the Puma’s innovative design that, along with a large slice of international cooperation, resulted in a highly capable and widely used asset that will continue to serve elsewhere.

Developed in the mid-1960s by Sud Aviation in response to a requirement for an all-weather, utility helicopter for the French Army, the RAF recognised the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma’s potential and selected it for its own medium-lift support helicopter role. A joint manufacturing agreement between Aerospatiale in France and the UK’s Westland Helicopters that lead to the purchase of Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters by the UK and of the Westland Lynx by France, also resulted in Westland manufacturing a range of components and performing the final assembly of the Pumas ordered for the RAF.

Powered by two Turbomeca Turmo turboshaft engines and initially operated by a single-pilot and one crewman (later two pilots and one loadmaster), the Puma could accommodate up to 16 soldiers on transport / logistic duties or a maximum of six stretchers when configured for casualty evacuation.

The aircraft could carry up to 2,500 kg of cargo either internally or externally and, although not without its foibles (see forthcoming GAR features for more!), Puma was designed with a deliberate surfeit of power to enable high speed, excellent manoeuvrability, strong hot and high performance and dependable single-engine flight characteristics even at maximum all-up weights.

Other notable design innovations included an automatic blade inspection system, and an advanced anti-vibration measure built into into the main gearbox and rotor blades. Puma was night operation capable and excelled in inhospitable flying conditions in almost any climate.

It was this performance and versatility that resulted in the RAF’s history with the Puma being a long and storied one and the aircraft served in a wide range of operational environments throughout its career.

The first two Pumas for the Royal Air Force were delivered on 29th January 1971 and the first operational squadron, 33 Squadron, formed at RAF Odiham on 14th June that year. In total, the RAF would order 48 Puma HC Mk 1 and until the 1990s RAF Pumas were normally based at RAF Odiham (33 Squadron and 240 Operational Conversion Unit), RAF Gutersloh (230 Squadron) in West Germany and No. 1563 Flight at RAF Belize in Central America.

During ‘The Troubles’, a Puma detachment was usually stationed at RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland but in 1994 230 Squadron relocated to Aldergrove, providing a permanent presence in the region. This it did until 2009 when the squadron relocated once more, this time to RAF Benson. It joined 33 Squadron which had moved up to Oxfordshire from its long-time home at RAF Odiham back in 1997. Pumas also saw service, in some shape or form, with 18 Squadron, 27 Squadron, 28 Squadron, 72 Squadron and 84 Squadron.

As previously mentioned, globetrotting Royal Air Force Pumas frequently saw active service much further afield, mainly due to its aforementioned adaptability but also due to the ease of which it was transportable in the likes of C-130 Hercules and, later, C-17 Globemaster aircraft. It was for this reason and thanks to that supreme versatility that the Puma often assisted with disaster relief, humanitarian service and as a peacekeeper.

Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus, Iraq, Afghanistan, Belize, Jamaica, the Persian Gulf, Mozambique, The Caribbean, Zaire, Borneo……the list of Puma ops goes on, and the force also served with distinction for the duration of the First Gulf War, providing troop mobility across the theatre and working, as it often did during its career, with the UK’s Special Forces.

Following the purchase, in 2002, of six ex-South African SA 330L to supplement the force, the RAF decided to extend Puma’s service life and an extensive upgrade programme took place which saw the first of 24 (originally 30) Puma HC Mk2 entering service in late 2012.

Upgrades included two Turbomeca Makila engines, new gearboxes, tail rotors, engine controls, a digital autopilot and flight management system, improved defensive aids suite and ballistic protection for both crew and passengers. The HC Mk2 Puma doubled the aircraft’s payload with three times the range of the trusty Mk 1 and, like its predecessor, was deployed across the globe for tactical troop transport and humanitarian missions.

All of which brings us to 31st March 2025 and the Puma’s official withdrawal from service, an event covered here on GAR just a few days ago with ‘Warlock’, a flight of three aircraft, touring notable Puma locations in the UK on 26th and 27th March, finishing back home at RAF Benson.

Puma’s replacement is currently being procured under the New Medium Helicopter programme and a contract for this project should be awarded this year. Puma will undoubtedly be a hard act to follow.

As we said at the beginning, the Puma’s RAF legacy will endure, and it is one of versatility and capability, with the aircraft and its crews serving brilliantly on combat, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in some of the world’s most hostile environments, for more than 50 years.

A job well done – and one that may well continue even further for those airframes if rumours of RAF Pumas being donated to Ukraine (and we must emphasise that it really is nothing more than a rumour) turn out to be true.

Keep your eyes open for the next part of our Puma retirement series when we look back at flying the Puma in the 1980s.