On May 11th no less than four British Army Air Corps Apache AH1 helicopters would make a fuel stop at Eindhoven Air Base. The helicopters were on route from RAF Wattisham to Estonia for an exercise. The helicopters made a fuel stop at the Mil West platform. After departure the helicopters returned to Eindhoven due to an technical error on one of the airframes. It took almost a week before the helicopters departed to their destination after a major repair action. The helicopters were part of the Royal Army 4th regiment Army Air Corps (4th AAC).
The helicopters of the 4th AAC were assigned to the 656 Squadron AAC which is a squadron of the British Army's Army Air Corps. The unit was chosen as one of the AAC new Apache squadrons and started its conversion to this role in April 2004. The first phase was completed in October 2004. The squadron was the first operational Apache squadron in the Army Air Corps and was awarded fully operational status along with the remainder of 9 Regiment AAC in June 2005.
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