RNAS Culdrose 22.05.14 (Pic heavy)

[Leebee0]

Hi All

While I was on holiday in Cornwall last week I decided to head down to RNAS Culdrose. Not much is ever posted on this busy Station in fact it is the biggest Helicopter Base in Europe! Maybe its the remote location why little is seen from this Base. Located just 10 miles from the Lizard Point the most southerly place in Britain.The Base dominates the town of Helston and covers an area almost as big as the town. It takes almost 10 mins to drive around the base from Helston to get to the public viewing area which was great to see they had one but not so good is that it now seems to be abandoned by the Base. The coffee shop has closed down and the Base tours that are advertised no longer seem to take place which is a real shame. If anyone knows anymore on this please comment.

Anyway I headed from Newquay to Helston which took over an hour but is only 25 miles? not easy to get to maybe thats why not much is posted.

These are my pics from Thursday 22 May 2014.

First a look around the Base its self all pics were taken from the Public Viewing area.










Control Tower




814 SQN Flying Tigers Hanger







Some general shots of the Airfield and Hangers the first pic is the Public Viewing Area














Ok lets get to some Aircraft and the flying that took place

Here are Merlin HM1 ZH864 of 820 SQN & ZH842 of 824 SQN on the pan about to undertake some training sorties




With 842 having lived off and doing low level training in the back ground ZH838 of 814 Tiger SQN dropped in






Its interesting just to point out that ZH838 was also in the Static at Waddo last year!




Nice Catch now a Sea King MK5 of 771 Naval Air squadron XZ920












Another nice catch was this Hawk T1.A XX170 of 736 Naval Air Squadron. This Aircraft took part in Joint Warrior in Spring 2014 and operated out of Lossiemouth.This was one of two Hawks that flew in but I filmed the other rather than taking stills of it. I missed a great run in and break by the two Aircraft as I was talking with an old lady lol.




Next to depart is Merlin HM.2 ZH853 of 824 SQN







Then finally ZH864 came out again took off and returned around 30 mins later here is a series of photos showing take off then landing. I am really quite proud of these pictures i think they came out ok . Please leave me your comments on your thoughts.

So take off


















The Return











Overall it was an excellent base visit if you can get there its well worth a visit. Hope you enjoyed looking through this selection. Please leave comments as i thought a few were quite good lol.

Thanks for looking

Lee

[Crew chief]

Hi Lee.

I had a very good tour round the base last September they let us in some of the hangers one of which was full and I mean full of sea harriers all looked to be in very good nick. It would be a real shame if the café and the tours have stopped running as it seemed always busy the few times I visited and good pr for the station.

Mark.

[Spitfire]

Hi All

While I was on holiday in Cornwall last week I decided to head down to RNAS Culdrose. Not much is ever posted on this busy Station

I live in Hayle Lee - and was once the Manager of a Building Society in Helston and all I can say about Culdrose is that it's fine if you like grey helicopters

I've been to many many Culdrose Airdays and it's degenerated to probably the worst airday in the country - you get to see helicopters from every angle and that's about all nowadays.. I've even been to several airdays (with work) where its been so foggy nothing has flown all day

I see Merlins overhead everyday - they sound like trains The occasional 771 SAR SeaKing flys over - sometimes very low level over my office in St Ives ... and we do see those Black Hawks from FRADO every now and then - but it's nowhere near as busy as it was when there were Jetstreams and Gazelles here ...

You do get very bored with Merlins - believe me

[Leebee0]

Hi mark

That's a real shame there was nothing in the coffee shop and no tours were taking place otherwise I would have gone on the tour . Talk soon mate.

Hi Spitfire

I get your point that if you live close enough to something after time you will get bored of it and seeing it every day is even worse lol. Living in the Midlands and not that far from RAF Shawbury you can sometimes not even notice the Merlins (green ones) and Apache Helicopters although you don't see them everyday .

For me though Culdrose offered something I would never see here in the midlands and being Royal Navy Aircraft it makes them an even rarer sight for me. even in North Cornwall being there all week I only saw one Merlin. I really enjoyed my visit there and I fell on a lucky day where I saw almost every type stationed there including the new Navy Avenger . It was much busier than I was expecting after being told some days nothing happens there.

I will edit my video and put that on shortly which includes all the Aircraft types I saw.

Cheers

Lee.

[Ray C]

My wife & I love this part of the UK....However I agree with David it's "Death By Helicopters"

But, sat outside the Shipwrights Arms with a pint of Doombar looking across the Helford estuary......Bliss"....