You are here:

Chiltern Air Support Unit

Casualty receiving assistance / Pilot
Helicopter

Thames Valley Police arrested a man on suspicion of fraud and vehicle crime offences in Oxfordshire on Wednesday (4/1) thanks to the help of the Force helicopter.


A man has been fined and has had to forfeit his laser pen after he shined it at a Chiltern Air Support helicopter in Iver.


Chiltern Air Support Unit, under a consortium agreement, provides operational air support to Thames Valley Police, Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary through a tripartite funding arrangement between the three forces.

Pilot

The Unit has two helicopters that cover the five counties of the three forces – Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. One helicopter is based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire and the other is based at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire.

The RAF Benson base is staffed by Thames Valley Police officers and the RAF Henlow base by Herts and Beds officers. A Unit Executive Officer is in charge of the unit with each base run by a police sergeant. Three pilots at each base complete the line up.

In this section, you can learn about the history of the Unit, and the helicopters’ equipment such as the thermal imaging/video camera systems. There are also some frequently asked questions about the Unit, and brief details of any notable flights that the Air Support Unit has flown.