U3A Roseland and District

What we do

Day trips and outings are free to all members of U3A Roseland and District unless there are admission charges stated.

Report of visit to RNAS Culdrose - Tuesday 28th April 2009

Eighteen members were privileged to visit Culdrose for an official tour of the facilities conducted by base staff.

All of us in this area will be familiar with the red and grey Sea King helicopters of 771 Naval Air Squadron which is tasked primarily with military and civilian Search and Rescue in an area covering the Cornish peninsula, the Isles of Scilly, Western English Channel and the South West approaches within a 200 nautical mile radius.

However, Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose is also one of the largest helicopter bases in the world with operational responsibilities for surveillance, anti submarine warfare and advanced training of pilots, observers, engineers and ground crew.

We started with a fascinating introduction to the Sea King from one of the engineering instructors in part of the training workshop and had the opportunity to tour the aircraft used to teach military personnel about maintenance routines. All of us were astonished to see the workings of one of the 2 very small Gnome jet engines which provide enough power to lift up to 9,500 kgs!

Next we visited one of the maintenance hangers to see operational engineers working on some of the Search and Rescue squadron's helicopters. Since we learned that these aircraft require approximately 16 hours of maintenance for every 1 hours flying time, this is clearly a vital task.

In addition to being home to active helicopter squadrons, Culdrose also provides training for navy fighter controllers and our next stop was at the hanger where the Hawk jet trainers which are used in live practice exercises are maintained. Because 2009 is the centenary of Royal Naval flight operations, most of these aircraft were painted in a special livery to celebrate the event.

Another major facility at Culdrose is the School of Flight Deck Operations where all training of the naval personnel who will be responsible for the handling of aircraft on a flight deck aboard ship is carried out.  We had a chance to see the Sea Harriers which are used for real life exercises and also the 'Dummy Deck', which is a life sized concrete replica of an aircraft carrier's deck, where trainees can learn the skills they need without the danger of losing an aircraft overboard.

All in all a very interesting and instructive visit which also left us all with a better understanding of why our homes seem to be visited by overflying helicopters on a daily basis and why we are sometimes nearly deafened by screaming jets chasing each other around the sky!