Prince William, the future King of England, will be undergoing fast-track training in order to earn his Royal Air Force wings. One of the stipulations is that he must abstain from drinking alcohol for the entire training period, which is four months.
The Air Force calls it their ‘bottle to throttle’ ban. William will train five days a week and be expected to study in the evenings. This elite training college, Cranwell, is in Lincolnshire. He will be known as Flying Officer William Wales. While he will be wearing an Air Force uniform, he will continue to be under the command of his Army regiment, the Household Cavalry.
Prince William will take an abbreviated course that is tailored to his individual needs. He will start flying in a Tudor elementary training aircraft before moving on to the faster Tucano, which handles similarly to a jet aircraft. His eventual goal is to pilot the Squirrel helicopter – which is used by all three branches of the British service. If successful, the future king will earn his RAF wings in April 2008. His father, Prince Charles, took similar training in 1971.
The new training regimen will keep Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton from enjoying their usual weekend partying. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Seems likely Kate will be patiently waiting for her man to return.
We’ve got pictures of the training crew and aircraft that Prince William will learn to pilot – so keep reading.