Defence Helicopter Flying School

The Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury, a Royal Air Force station near Shrewsbury, England, trains aircrew from all three of the Armed Forces.

Squadrons
The DHFS has three flying squadrons:
 * 660 Squadron, Army Air Corps and 705 Naval Air Squadron - These are 'parallel' training squadrons teaching Basic and Advanced single-engined helicopter flying to students from all 3 Services. The Sqns take alternate student intakes.
 * No. 60 (R) Squadron RAF,  - 60 Sqn is the advanced rotary wing training squadron, teaching mainly RAF student pilots and crewmen.

Training
Training is undertaken on the Squirrel HT1 and for the Royal Air Force students the Griffin HT1 (a twin engine modern version of the famous "Huey" helicopter). Training is typically 6 months for the Army and Navy and 18 months for the RAF.

In addition, Search and Rescue training for all RAF aircrew takes place at RAF Valley on the Search and Rescue Training Unit (SARTU)

All aircrew instruction is carried out by Central Flying School (Helicopters) (CFS(H)) Instructors. These Instructors are a mix of military personnel and CFS(H) accredited contractor personnel. FB Heliservices is responsible for the provision of the CFS(H) accredited contractor personnel

Helicopters and Synthetic Training Equipment
All the Defence Helicopter Flying School Helicopters and Synthetic Training Equipment are owned by FB Heliservices, a consortium of Bristow Helicopters and FR Aviation, who provide 40% of the instructional staff, all the ground school and simulator staff, carry out all maintenance and provide support services.