Jetstream trainers bow out in Cornish skies

THIS is a sight you will see no more in Cornish skies as more than 30 years of faithful service by the trusty Jetstream trainer came to an end.

Six of the propeller-driven aircraft flew over Culdrose air station for the last time on Friday as 750 Naval Air Squadron paid tribute to an aircraft which has trained two generations of Fleet Air Arm observers.

With the final course of rookie observers trained on the blue-and-white-liveried aircraft now complete, and the next not due to begin until the summer, the Jetstreams are being retired.

Come June four King Air 350 Avengers (which looks remarkably similar to their forebears...) will provide 21st Century observer training.

Culdrose sailors take giant steps

A Sea King from 771 Naval Air Squadron lifts a metal stairway out of the English Channel – one of the more unusual ‘rescue’ missions the Ace of Clubs have been called to.

The steps in question lead from the top of rocks at Porth Kerris, near St Keverne on the Lizard peninsula, down to the sea.

They were used by divers from all three Services – the imaginatively-titled Porth Kerris building nearby, which is looked after by Culdrose staff, serves as the frogmen’s dedicated ‘clubhouse’.

Winter storms ripped the stairway off the rock and tossed them into the sea – prompting a two-stage rescue operation.

First a team from HMS Seahawk Sub Aqua Club moved the steps into deeper waters – where they’d receive less of a battering from the waves – by borrowing some special lifting bags from fellow divers in Falmouth.

DOING what they love doing right now are the men and women of 814 Naval Air Squadron – the Flying Tigers.

DOING what they love doing right now are the men and women of 814 Naval Air Squadron – the Flying Tigers.

The Navy’s No.1 submarine hunting squadron has flown 1,400 miles from its home at Culdrose in Cornwall to Sicily to take part in the world’s largest anti-submarine exercise.

Run by NATO, Proud Manta (it used to be called Noble Manta until this year) sees ships, aircraft and submarines from the USA, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey plus hosts Italy converging on the central Med for a week.

There are half a dozen submarines for the surface and air forces to ‘play’ with – and the first chance for 814 to do some serious pinging since last year’s trip to the USA with the Auriga task group, which proved extremely useful for the squadron.

800 Naval Air Squadron pass into history

ANOTHER day, another great name in the Royal Navy passes into history with the demise of the Fleet Air Arm's only fast jet squadron.

800 Naval Air Squadron formally decommissioned - alongside the rest of Joint Force Harrier - in front of 600 friends, family and veterans, plus the ranking officers of the Senior and Junior Services.

On a bitterly cold January day at RAF Wittering, near Peterborough, the Ensign of 800 NAS and the standards of their RAF sister formations 1(F) and IV Squadrons were paraded for the final time in their present incarnations as Harrier units.

The Harriers the men and women have flown and maintained made their final flight shortly before Christmas.

Proceedings at Wittering, the home of Harrier training until the shock decision to axe the jump jet in last autumn's defence review, were focused on the decommissioning (or disbanding in RAF terminology) of the three squadrons.

The head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, and First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope both thanked the squadrons for their commitment, dedication and, in times of war, blood shed for their nation.

It was, said Air Chief Marshal Dalton, "only adieu, not farewell" as the squadrons would one day re-form with new aircraft.