Last last Royal Navy Sea Kings to retire Sept 2018.........

[Stratofreighter]

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Winter in the Frisia for Culdrose Sea King on its final mission over Europe

22/02/2018

For the last time a Royal Navy Sea King has appeared in European skies after completing its final mission on the Continent.

Winter in the Frisia for Culdrose Sea King on its final mission over Europe

For two weeks,
a helicopter from 849 Naval Air Squadron at Culdrose has been directing the actions of supersonic F-16 jets over the North Sea and northern Holland
– a key stepping stone for working with the UK’s new F-35 stealth fighters in a couple of years time.

It took the veteran helicopter eight hours to cover the 500 miles from its base in western Cornwall to Leeuwarden
in Frisia, north-eastern Netherlands.

A 40-strong detachment of air and ground crew was dispatched to the Dutch Air Force Base
for Exercise Skinners’ Gold 4 – an exercise the squadron has attended in previous run-outs.

The Sea King Mk7 flew eight night missions with its observer/radar operator in the back of the helicopter choreographing the movements of up to four Dutch jets
at a time either using voice commands (English is the common language of the skies) or by using the military’s data-sharing system, Link 16.

The Brits guided their Dutch colleagues
to intercept up to half a dozen ‘enemy’ jets at a time – which proved to be an invaluable training for 849,
particularly as the scenarios played out over Dutch and North Sea skies could not be recreated back in the UK.

With the exception of a couple of Baggers
– the name comes from the trademark radar sack/bag on the side of the fuselage –
operating in the Middle East,
the fortnight in Leeuwarden was the last overseas detachment for the squadron.

The helicopters are due to be retired in September,
bringing the curtain down on 49 years’ service with the Fleet Air Arm.

To put that into perspective, it’s the equivalent of a Spitfire flying on front-line duties for the RAF in 1987…

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