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SAR Sea King callsign

Please post movements and activities for RNAS Culdrose and Predannack here
RichC

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by RichC » Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:28 pm

Yes, sorry you are correct, it is Newquay and St Athan for this neck of the woods.

Nick.M
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Location: Cornwall

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by Nick.M » Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:31 pm

kylegreetkernow wrote:It is my understanding that RN Merlins will always be quite capable of SAR due to their deployments on RN ships and aircraft carriers, in fact they are already used for this purpose and train in that aspect quite often.
You are correct, very occasionally you can hear the CU Merlins on a SAREX which can involve various scenarios including cliff winching and boat work usually in Fal Bay.

fencer
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Location: Bude North Cornwall

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by fencer » Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:43 pm

As Boscastle flood has been mentioned I have a slightly tangential request about the Canberra that flew over the village the next day .It was marked with yellow and black diagonal stripes on its underside and flew along the valley and over at right angles a couple of times.Am I right in assuming it was photographing?I would be grateful for any information on the aircraft and its 'mission' that could be regurgitated.

rh226
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Location: Melksham, Wiltshire

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by rh226 » Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:29 pm

If the underside markings were like those in the last but one photo of viewtopic.php?f=18&t=88241, then it would have been a target tower TT.18 model from 100 Sqdn, not a PR model.
Cheers, Bob

EGDR
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Location: Cornwall

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by EGDR » Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:43 pm

Nick.M wrote:
kylegreetkernow wrote:It is my understanding that RN Merlins will always be quite capable of SAR due to their deployments on RN ships and aircraft carriers, in fact they are already used for this purpose and train in that aspect quite often.
You are correct, very occasionally you can hear the CU Merlins on a SAREX which can involve various scenarios including cliff winching and boat work usually in Fal Bay.

My brother was a Merlin mechanic in the Navy. When he was embarked on Ocean he was always telling me about SAR practice, nothing else to do it on RN ships, the Lynx can be fitted with a winch but well, not very roomy :P

fencer
Posts: 194
Joined: Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:49 pm
Location: Bude North Cornwall

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by fencer » Fri Oct 18, 2013 8:36 pm

rh226 wrote:If the underside markings were like those in the last but one photo of viewtopic.php?f=18&t=88241, then it would have been a target tower TT.18 model from 100 Sqdn, not a PR model.
That was what I saw ,it just seemed that the aircraft was 'having a look' by the number of passes it made and the directions of said passes and the steady cruising speed. At the time I thought it odd because I thought Canberras had been phased out and it seemed out of place for a target tug, also I'd never seen a Canberra overheard before. :S

RichC

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by RichC » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:02 pm

The Canberras were quite frequent over Devon and Cornwall, but of the PR9 variant in the times/couple of years before retirement. They used to use the callsign SURVEY 39 or MARHAM 39 and used to call up London Mil saying they were on photo sorties and routed down towards Newquay quite often. Not sure about the Canberra over Boscastle but by the profile it sounds like a photo recce of the damage but i doubt that in target towing colours. They were all phased out by then (The Yeovilton Canberras) and only the Blue B2 and the PR9s existed (i think).

rh226
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Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by rh226 » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:18 pm

Rich,

You are right, of course. I set finger to keyboard a trifle too quickly. All RAF and FRADU TT.18s went in the early '90s.

The description of the TT undersides remains intriguing, though.
Cheers, Bob


EGDR
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Location: Cornwall

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by EGDR » Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:01 am

Looks like chiv may keep SAR after all then :thumbs:

I think I may have kicked off quite the thread here, very interesting guys. Just as an aside, does anyone know what will happen to 771 after the retirement? I have heard that they will continue on in a different role, but I am skeptical of this :S

Buz41
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Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:18 pm

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by Buz41 » Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:54 am

Chivenor will not have an SAR unit. North Devon will be covered by St Athen, which is opposite to what happens now as the south Wales area is covered by Chivenor.

As for 771 Sqn they evolved from Station Flight and were for military rescues in the days of Walrus & Sea Otter aircraft and the Dragonfly helicoptor. 771 as with Station Flight before them have always been responsible for all visiting aircraft. No doubt if disbanded one of the other resident squadrons will pick up the responsibility of guesting visitors.

Red Hound
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Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by Red Hound » Sat Oct 19, 2013 8:11 am

Going back to the Canberra discussion I wondered if operator of the aircraft was RAE/A&AEE/QinetiQ , whatever it was at the time. A quick internet search showed a Canberra TT18 in raspberry ripple topside and yellow black underside. Presumably that wouldn't mean the aircraft was purely used for target towing and Boscastle may have provided an opportunity to test new equipment in a real life situation. Speculation admittedly but it wasn't an RAF/RN TT18 hence my thinking of other possibilities.

EGDR
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Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by EGDR » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:00 am

Buz41 wrote:Chivenor will not have an SAR unit. North Devon will be covered by St Athen, which is opposite to what happens now as the south Wales area is covered by Chivenor..
Chiv is being reconsidered, read the article Rich posted ;)

fencer
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Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by fencer » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:57 am

Red Hound wrote:Going back to the Canberra discussion I wondered if operator of the aircraft was RAE/A&AEE/QinetiQ , whatever it was at the time. A quick internet search showed a Canberra TT18 in raspberry ripple topside and yellow black underside. Presumably that wouldn't mean the aircraft was purely used for target towing and Boscastle may have provided an opportunity to test new equipment in a real life situation. Speculation admittedly but it wasn't an RAF/RN TT18 hence my thinking of other possibilities.
Having looked at pictures of RAE Canberra B.2T WK128 in various in-flight attitudes it does seem very possible that it could have been that aircraft or one very similar. I accept it could have been a coincidence its appearance over Boscastle that day, but the number , frequency and directions of overflights that morning seemed intentional in relation to the village. Thanks for the suggestions Red Hound et al and apologies for interrupting the Seaking thread.

Buz41
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Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by Buz41 » Sat Oct 19, 2013 2:16 pm

kylegreetkernow wrote:
Buz41 wrote:Chivenor will not have an SAR unit. North Devon will be covered by St Athen, which is opposite to what happens now as the south Wales area is covered by Chivenor..
Chiv is being reconsidered, read the article Rich posted ;)
Yes I saw this item when it was featured on BBC Spotlight, but don't hold your breath. I predict that an SAR unit will not go to both Chivenor & St Athen, so I will put my money on the latter as the base.

EGDR
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Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by EGDR » Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:31 pm

I'm not saying it will definetly go there, it's just a possibility. It probably will go to St Athan though.

buzzer

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by buzzer » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:29 am

fencer wrote:
Red Hound wrote:Going back to the Canberra discussion I wondered if operator of the aircraft was RAE/A&AEE/QinetiQ , whatever it was at the time. A quick internet search showed a Canberra TT18 in raspberry ripple topside and yellow black underside. Presumably that wouldn't mean the aircraft was purely used for target towing and Boscastle may have provided an opportunity to test new equipment in a real life situation. Speculation admittedly but it wasn't an RAF/RN TT18 hence my thinking of other possibilities.
Having looked at pictures of RAE Canberra B.2T WK128 in various in-flight attitudes it does seem very possible that it could have been that aircraft or one very similar. I accept it could have been a coincidence its appearance over Boscastle that day, but the number , frequency and directions of overflights that morning seemed intentional in relation to the village. Thanks for the suggestions Red Hound et al and apologies for interrupting the Seaking thread.
RAE Llanbedr in south Wales were still operating there TT Canberras at this point. And it only being a short distance over the water for them my guess the crew were"having a closure look!!" When up on a sortie?!
Both of Llanbedrs Canberras were regular visitors in to St Mawgan for fuel.my guess is this day they did the same,just took a sight seeing detore on route ;)

Back to the topic in question.
Almost certainly in the case of a downed pilot,and its quicker for a Merlin from Culdrose to be on seen,he will attend along with the SAR from newquay..or were ever it is based ... this is how it's been done for years.primarily station flight was there to provide SAR cover the the based pilots. They weren't contracted for civilian cover.but no doubt they did from time to time.
It all changed when the department of transport contracted them for coast guard SAR Work to.
Back to the future situation ,if a bus full of school kids and nuns! got stuck in flood water,and was in danger of being washed away. I could safely say that a Merlin crew would be one of the many that would attend anyway possible to assist there rescue.Just like at boscastle!! ;)

EGDR
Posts: 1750
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Location: Cornwall

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by EGDR » Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:12 am

I always knew that if needed Culdrose would provide SAR for civilians with Merlins - it is their duty to protect the citizens of this country - they wouldn't refuse.

Aircraftpaulcornwall
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Location: Stithians, Cornwall

Re: SAR Sea King callsign

Post by Aircraftpaulcornwall » Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:52 pm

Hi buzzer and kylegreetkernow,
Both of you are most probably right!! At the end of the day, our Forces assets would do anything to rescue our civilian people - including myself!! --Paul :thumb:

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