From the Queen’s last flight to delivering deadly cargo

LESS than a month after flying the Queen’s coffin from Edinburgh to London for the sovereign’s state funeral, this RAF C-17 Globemaster was delivering essential military aid to boost Ukraine’s fightback against Vladimir Putin. The C-17 carried 35,000lb of highly explosive warheads – 62 precision-guided Brimstone missiles, each capable of destroying a Russian tank or bunker position from 25 miles away – to an unidentified air base in Eastern Europe, near the war zone.

The aircraft, recently rechristened Lizzie in honour of her late Majesty, was flown by 32-year-old Flight Lieutenant Searle, 99 Squadron’s only female pilot. She said: ‘I’ve flown six of these missions since the middle of this year. So much is at stake – we just want to play our part. The RAF has really stepped up.’