Prince Harry completes helo training in U.S. - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Prince Harry completes helo training in U.S.

He came, he saw and he presumably conquered flight training exercises in the Arizona desert.

Then Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, quietly retreated to England with his royal military unit.

Capt. Harry Wales completed a two-month training mission in the United States before his departure on Tuesday, the British Army said in a news release Thursday.

Exercise Crimson Eagle included live-fire missions in Apache helicopters over the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range near Gila Bend, Ariz., as well as other training out of an Air Force base in El Centro, Calif. The training in desert landscape and conditions is designed to prepare pilots for deployment to Afghanistan.

The British media maintained constant vigilance over the prince’s U.S. activities, reporting on weekend visits to nightclubs in San Diego. But Capt. Wales adopted a low profile in Gila Bend, barely visible other than a night out for pizza with fellow pilots.

Carole Fox, co-owner of the town’s iconic Best Western Space Age Lodge, resorted to Brit-like discretion when asked if the prince had graced her establishment with his presence.

“He was on property,” she said. “That’s the extent of what we’re able to divulge.”