Since then it’s flown from a clutch of destroyers and frigates as part of the ship’s flight assigned by its parent squadron (most recently 815 NAS), reading like a who’s who of the late 20th/early 21st-Century RN: Brilliant, Charybdis, Sirius, Lancaster, Marlborough, Newcastle, Exeter, Portland, Montrose, Cornwall.

Over its three-and-a-half-decade career, XZ692 has undergone numerous modifications to keep pace with changes in the war in the air and sea, finally converted to the apotheosis of the Lynx, the Mk8.

After 7,325 flying hours – that’s more than 43 weeks airborne – XZ692’s final flight was a quick 50-mile hop up the A303 to the Army Air Corps base at Middle Wallop, where it’ll be dismantled to provide spare parts for the remaining Lynx fleet which is due to be phased out by 2017.

Lynx  mk 8

Fleet Air Arm

RNAS Yeovilton

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