Paphos People

The Royal Navy’s 65,000 tonne huge aircraft carrier, nicknamed Big Lizzie, arrived in the US this week.

The purpose of her visit is to conduct trials with US F-35B fighter jets, which are expected to carry out 500 landings.

The honour of landing the first of the training jets on to the carrier will go to one of three British pilots taking part in the US deployment.

They are a Royal Navy commander, an RAF squadron leader and a civilian test pilot accompanied by a major from the US Marine Corps.

Speaking ahead of the journey to the US, Commodore Andrew Betton, commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group, said that the carrier would be provided full protection in the face of Russian threats during its journey.

Such a shame a few crew members have made news headlines: ''the six sailors were charged with drunk and disorderly conduct and three were charged with resisting arrest''.

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