Wg Cdr Scott ‘Mox’ Williams, the UK’s senior national representative at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, is preparing to return home to the UK and establish the Lightning Force’s next unit – No 207 Squadron – charged with training British pilots on the fifth-generation fighter. Thomas Newdick spoke to him.
While No 207 Squadron is yet to be re-formed as the Lightning Force’s Operational Conversion Unit (OCU), under the Pooling Implementing Agreement (PIA), its personnel are currently busy working with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT) 501, which serves the US Marine Corps in the same role. Wg Cdr Williams toldAFM that the PIA will “ensure we have the required skills and experience levels to break away and form [No 207 Squadron].” Around 60 UK personnel are embedded within VMFAT-501, covering the whole spectrum of ranks and essential skills (pilots, mission support and engineering roles, etc) required to become a standalone squadron.
When interviewed in May, ‘Mox’ confirmed that No 207 Squadron – motto: Semper paratus, ‘Always prepared’ – was on track to be officially re-established and to return to active service at RAF Marham, Norfolk, on August 1. At the time, there …
