Prince's training not expected to be in Yuma

Prince Harry of England will be in Arizona and California for Apache helicopter training in the near future, but he is not scheduled to train at Yuma Proving Ground, a YPG official stated.

“We have done a great amount of checking ... and have no reason to believe he is coming to YPG,” said Chuck Wullenjohn, YPG public affairs officer.

“Helicopter flight training rarely takes place at YPG. As far as we have been able to determine, when this type of training is conducted within Arizona, it generally takes place at Marana or at the contractor's facility in Mesa.”

The 26-year-old captain is a pilot in the British Army Air Corps. He served in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008 and is the third in line to the English throne.

Harry is scheduled to spend three months in the United States working on his military aviation skills, his spokesman Nick Loughran confirmed to the media.

According to Loughran, Harry “will be coming to the states at some point in the next couple of months for a handful of courses … in parts of Arizona and California.”

Loughran said the prince will train for about three months.

According to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, Apache pilots will participate in Exercise Crimson Eagle in Arizona, “where the terrain and altitude are similar to that which the Apache teams will soon be working in when they go out to Helmand Province” in Afghanistan.

The British military is no stranger to the Yuma area. The Royal Air Force recently used the Million Air-Yuma forward operating base at Yuma International Airport as a jumping off point for Chinook helicopter combat training missions in the desert Southwest.

In July, the RAF 18 Squadron, along with RAF 27, prepared for combat deployment in Afghanistan by using the Imperial Valley, Yuma County and the Colorado River as a replica of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence stated.

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.