Holiday Log!

[Ben Montgomery]

Well I'm on Holiday down in Helsford for the week, and thought I'd just keep up a small log of the Culdrose stuff over the top.


WF225 Sea Hawk F.1 was seen on the gate when we drove past yesterday.

I also saw the back end of a SAR Sea King in a hangar, and was pretty sure it was 28 (is that a Culdrose airframe) but was too busy looking for the serial to properly note the code, fool!


2nd July

Sea King HU.5 ZA167 just went over the top (serial from logs, as it seems to be the only Sea King up).

[Ben Montgomery]

Whoops! Typo - yeah, I meant Helford!

Thanks for the tie-up on 28, new one for me!

I'm thinking of heading down to Culdrose on Monday morning to the viewing area, is it normally quiet on a Monday morning (like most other UK stations!)? I know there are the three aircraft up at Waddington from CU so I guess they would come back?

[Ben Montgomery]

Cool, thanks for that!

Might head down Monday then and take my chances, see what happens!

I'm hoping to catch the Avengers outside at least, just to log them!

Do you know if the bus tour around the base if worth doing (is photography allowed, and if not - will you actually get to see many aircraft?)

Sorry for all the questions, I'm a newbie down this end of the country!

[BP2324]

Ben,
well worth going on the tour. Both occasions I have, the coach goes to all the aircraft ASP. Starts off with the Hawks and Jetstreams(as was then) they share an apron. Then drives on to the 771 Sqn ramp (SAR). Just before the trip to the station cinema you will drive past the Merlins. Towards the end of the trip if any of the Sea Kings ASaC.7 are home the bus goes around towards their hangars and finally stops at the dummy deck where if they are training on it should be the highlight of the trip.

If you sit at the back of the coach, there is more room, which allows you to swap sides to get the serial fairly easily. Ok for photos as well.
see viewtopic.php?f=34&t=35710" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope this helps. Have a good time.

Brian

[buzzer]

other airframes to see from the viewing encloser are the SHAR parked up by SAH hangars, allso i think there is still 2 GR3's under sheets towards the right hand side of the dummy deck? but thay might have gone by now?? allso as you drive along the St Kevern road towards helston, look in the doors of the first hangar on the right(W site.. W10 i think it is?) last time i looked there were 2 SHARs in there and a lynx.. climb up the grass bank for a photo if the doors are open..and if you pop to helston for a tesco trip? keep an eye out for the fire station doors being open.. there is a harrier nose on a trailer in there hideing

then if you got a spare couple of hours ?? wound be silly not to do the public foot path that just so happen to run rather close
to the fire pits out at predannack wound be silly to come all this way.. and not have a look

[Ben Montgomery]

Well we went down to The Lizard today, and saw Predannack off from the National Trust car park, but I couldn't persuade the rest of the family to wander over

Maybe later in the week, with luck!

Thanks for the tips and hints guys

[Ben Montgomery]

Spent the day at Culdrose today, which was fantastic!

First, to update for Sunday, we went out to Mullion Cove and saw two Merlins shuttling back and forth between Culdrose, and what looked to be the RFA Argus - I assume they were doing deck landing training. Also saw another 771NAS Sea King off somewhere, hopefully nothing serious!


As for today, we got to Culdrose about 10AM having already had a Merlin over Helford, and were pleasantly surprised to find the Tiger scheme Merlin sitting right in front of the viewing area, although even at 10AM the heat haze was a problem (fantastic weather again today, but I don't think it's due to last much longer....).

Myself and Monty (who I think will be posting some photos shortly) went on the bus tour at 2PM, and were very much surprised by how good it was! We were very lucky to see all four Avenger T.1s out on the line (having been taken out some 20 mins earlier, and put away about 30 mins after we went past!). Also had a look at the FRADU section, 771NAS (albeit from far off) Merlin Deep Maintenance Flight, Engineering Training School, School of Flight Deck Operations, and then briefly past some of the resident Merlin Squadrons.

Very pleased with SFDO, despite the fact that they were training, we were still able to go past and have a quick look in the hangars (from the bus).

Anyway, logged 56 aircraft, with several more Merlins that I couldn't ID too, so:

Guardian 85 - XV656 - Sea King ASaC.7
Dolphin 14 - ZH858 - Merlin HM.1
"?" 24 - Merlin - Landed far side so serial unknown
Rescue 193 - XV666/21 - Sea King HU.5
Blue 10 Flight - XX157+XX159 - Hawk T.1
Blue 12 Flight - XX240+XX337 - Hawk T.1
Mike 84 - ZH862(?) - Merlin HM.1
Mike 87 - ZH835 - Merlin HM.1
Tiger 68 - ZH860 - Merlin HM.1
Shawbury 50 - G-CEYO/00 - Squirrel HT.1


Other Fliers (noted during base tour, so no radio!)

XV670/17 - Sea King HU.5
ZH832 - Merlin HM.1
ZH854 - Merlin HM.1

Base Tour

ZZ500 - Avenger T.1 - 750NAS
ZZ501 - Avenger T.1 - 750NAS
ZZ502 - Avenger T.1 - 750NAS
ZZ503 - Avenger T.1 - 750NAS

ZH848 - MDMF
Unknown Merlin HM1 - MDMF
ZJ119/C - Merlin HC.3 - MDMF
JZ131/P - Merlin HC.3 - MDMF
2x Unknown Merlin HC.3 - MDMF

ZA111 - Jetstream T.2 - Fire Section

XX205 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Ramp
XX281 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Ramp
XX240 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Ramp
XX337 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Ramp
XX261 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Hangar
XX221 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Hangar
XX170 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Hangar
XX165 - Hawk T.1 - FRADU Hangar

ZA166/16 - Sea King HU.5 - 771NAS
XV673/27 - Sea King HU.5 - 771NAS
XV670/17 - Sea King HU.5- 771NAS
XV666/21 - Sea King HU.5 - 771NAS

WF225 - Sea Hawk F.1 - Gate Guard

XV706 - Sea King HAS.6 - ETS

ZH855 - Merlin HM.1 - Merlin Training School? <---(Not sure on Name, next to ETS)
ZH835 - Merlin HM.1 - As Above
"?"/82 - Merlin HM.1 - As Above

ZH804 - Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO
ZH811 - Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO
ZH797 - Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO
ZE690 - Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO
ZE692 - Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO
XZ440 - Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO
ZD611 - Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO
4x Sea Harrier FA.2 - SFDO - Believed to be ZH803, ZH813, ZH802, ZH798, one was with a special blue tail? Also ZH796, but according the the sheet we were given, that is with the Fire Section over in W site.

ZB603 - Harrier T.8 - SFDO
ZD990 - Harrier T.8 - SFDO

XV657 - Sea King HAS.6 - SFDO
XV654 - Sea King HAS.6 - SFDO
XV351 - Sea King HAS.6 - SFDO
XX510 - Lynx HAS.2 - SFDO

ZF641 - Merlin HM.1 - SFDO
AV511 - Merlin HM.1 Mockup - SFDO

ZH858 - Merlin HM.1 - 820NAS
Unknown Merlin HM.1 - 820NAS

ZH838 - Merlin HM.1 - 824NAS

ZA126 - Sea King ASAC.7 - 857NAS
Unknown Sea King ASAC.7 - 857NAS (High Vis markings, from Fly Navy 100 I think)

Any in red are unknowns.
Also, if anyone can confirm which Merlins wear 84, 82 and 17 on the nose, that would be much obliged (saw all three, but couldn't see the serial)



A fantastic day, and I can really vouch for the quality of the tour, certainly worth the £8.50!

[centaurus18]

XX165 was your missing FRADU Hawk - she was parked nose-on in the hangar, almost dead centre.
I missed XX205, she was on a compass swing whilst I was visiting the Unit.

[buzzer]

see CU is worth a trip down west. so how many of them did you make?? all the Avengers i guess?!
i can help with the lynx.. SFDO had XX510 in there hangar.. and XZ248 was over in W site hangar.. as of about 3 weeks ago..
and SHAR XZ440 and ZH796 were both over on W site.. so i guess 440 has been moved over?
qustion for you.. how "stripped out" did the jetstream look?
remour has it that the fire crew have taken it on charge,but for non distructive prepoise's!!! as thay fault at least one should be saved!!
if this is true or not.. i don't no!

[Ben Montgomery]

XX165 was your missing FRADU Hawk - she was parked nose-on in the hangar, almost dead centre.
I missed XX205, she was on a compass swing whilst I was visiting the Unit.

Yep, that ties up - cheers!

buzzer - Made all the Avengers, all the SHARs (bar two from Shawbury), all the Sea Kings, and most of the Merlins (only seen about 3 before today!). So a rather successful day for me!

I've marked down the Lynx on the above log, thanks for that. Do they both have fake HMA.8 noses on them - the one in SFDO did, and I thought it was slightly odd!

Yep, XZ440 was the only one I could actually read the serial from, the rest I was going by nose markings, so this was definitely in the SFDO hangar. I guess the four I listed were the ones in the back of SFDO then - interested to know which one has the blue tail though, as I can't find any photos of the four listed with a blue tail!

The Jetstream actually looked very very well preserved. Only thing of note is that the engines are gone (someone wanted them, but not the airframe) - other than that, it looks perfect! (I'll pop up a photo when I get back home so I can upload photos).

[Seaking93]

Re the Jetstreams engines, they were actually leased and on stand down of the fleet all engines had to be returned to the owners as per the contract

[Ben Montgomery]

Thanks again!

Popped in for ten minutes this morning on the way to Falmouth, and caught 4 merlins on the deck (ZH860, 858, 864 and one coded 83 on the nose) on deck, as well as two Hawks (XX165 and XX240) departing.

ZA126 was also about, and we just saw QinetiQs A109, QQ100 dropping in for a visit before we had to leave.

From Falmouth, saw 771NAS Sea King coded 22 over the harbour (again, an ID would be greatly appreciated as my book is out of date - must buy a new one! )

[buzzer]

Thanks again!

Popped in for ten minutes this morning on the way to Falmouth, and caught 4 merlins on the deck (ZH860, 858, 864 and one coded 83 on the nose) on deck, as well as two Hawks (XX165 and XX240) departing.

ZA126 was also about, and we just saw QinetiQs A109, QQ100 dropping in for a visit before we had to leave.

From Falmouth, saw 771NAS Sea King coded 22 over the harbour (again, an ID would be greatly appreciated as my book is out of date - must buy a new one! )

oh you dimound! what time this morning were you there? i was there till about 8.30 this morning.. then had to go to a job couple of miles away.. spotted what looked like a A109 of towards CU but did'nt think to much of it.. but when driving back to falmouth later on seen it again.
so what time did you spot it? as i hope the times tie up.. wound make another one to cross of my list
EDIT: just a thought.. that 3 weeks in a row now we have had a visitor from QinetiQ.? gazelle last week, and navajo the week before??

oh and last time i clocked it a 771 seaking coded 22 was ZA167 Was listing to him later on A/A with the head set coms.. doing winching in falmouth harbour..very interesting.
and merlin coded 83,was ZH839.was couple of mouths ago, but bet its still the same machine?!

[bertieb]

Glad you are enjoying your sojourn in this part of the country - a little r+r goes a long way. Did you catch the Apache at 1326 landing on the dummy deck? It was refueled and then was doing circuits on the DD as I was leaving at around 1400.

[Ben Montgomery]

Buzzer - I saw the A109 arrive some time around 11:30, didn't catch the departure though!

bertie - No sign of the Apache - do you mean today or yesterday (just had an Army Air callsign on Culdrose approach)?


Today we saw another one of 771NAS' machines out over the water near Falmouth harbour doing winching practise. Also had a Merlin over the top of Helford, coded 502 beneath the cockpit windows, first time I've seen a code there!

[bertieb]

Today Ben - I was hoping you caught the reg!

[Ben Montgomery]

Sorry, I didn't! I've even forgotten the callsign, though I think it was AAC965. (Assuming this was the Apache and not some other AAC Helo).

I've found that the Merlin coded 83 was ZH855, one of those that went to the Waddington Show - yet another new one for me

I've also just answered my own question, and found that 502 is ZH841.

[buzzer]

Buzzer - I saw the A109 arrive some time around 11:30, didn't catch the departure though!

bertie - No sign of the Apache - do you mean today or yesterday (just had an Army Air callsign on Culdrose approach)?


Today we saw another one of 771NAS' machines out over the water near Falmouth harbour doing winching practise. Also had a Merlin over the top of Helford, coded 502 beneath the cockpit windows, first time I've seen a code there!

that was about the time i was leaving the job,and spotted a 109.. so look's like i have a made it

[Ben Montgomery]

Returned home this morning, and on the way past Culdrose, the Fire Section door was open and I spotted the last Sea Harrier and Lynx - great stuff!

There were also three Merlins out by the tower, but didn't ID them.

Thanks for all the help over the week guys, very much appreciated!

[Tiger 1]

Hi Ben Montgomery

I was also down in Cornwall last week and must at some point been very close to you guys.

I visited a couple of times on Tuesday and did the bus tour on Thursday.

I noticed in your logs that you noted two RAF Merlins in the MDMF... I did not log these two my self on the Thursday tour but did note in Shed W9 three RAF Merlins that were coded ( W ) ( B ) ( AB )

Could these be the three you saw but did not read off in your report.

Best rgds

Tiger 1