The inaugural Rhino Trophy contest saw 3 and 4 Regiment Army Air Corps’ squadrons put through their paces at Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk. The five elements of the competition tested the full range of skills required to operate the Apache – mission planning and communications, refuelling and rearming, and a simulated flight mission – as well as the soldier’s wider military skills of recovering bogged-in vehicles and a march and shoot.

The competition is named in honour of 6 Armoured Brigade, which had a Rhino as its symbol. The brigade worked with 3 Regt AAC in Germany in the 1980s to develop the British Army’s doctrine and techniques for operating attack helicopters.