Boeing Chinook (UK variants)
| Chinook | |
|---|---|
| Chinook HC6A of 18 Sqn RAF in 2020 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Transport helicopter |
| Manufacturer | Boeing Defense, Space & Security |
| Designer | Boeing-Vertol |
| Status | In service |
| Primary user | Royal Air Force |
| Number built | 72 (all RAF models) |
| History | |
| Introduction date | 22 November 1980 (with RAF) |
| First flight | 23 March 1980 (HC1) |
| Developed from | Boeing CH-47 Chinook |
| Variants | HC1, HC1B, HC2, HC3, HC4, HC5, HC6, HC6A, HC7 |
The Boeing Chinook is a large, tandem rotor helicopter operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A series of variants based on the United States Army's Boeing CH-47 Chinook, the RAF Chinook fleet is the largest outside the United States. RAF Chinooks have seen extensive service in the Falklands War, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The Chinook, normally based at RAF Odiham and RAF Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England, provides heavy-lift support and transport across all branches of the British armed forces since the early 1980s. The RAF has a total of fifty-four Chinooks in active inventory as of 2025. In 2018, the UK issued a request to the United States to purchase fourteen additional rotorcraft. The Chinook is expected to remain in RAF service until the 2040s.