Departure
90%
vs 95% ▼ 5
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
RNAS Culdrose, known to the Royal Navy as HMS Seahawk, lies beside the town of Helston on Cornwall's Lizard Peninsula and is one of the largest helicopter bases in Europe. It is the home of the Merlin Helicopter Force and a major Fleet Air Arm training centre, with a long main runway equipped with an ILS that makes it a notable, if restricted, military field for the simulator pilot to study.
RNAS Culdrose (ICAO: EGDR), commissioned as HMS Seahawk, is a Royal Navy air station situated beside the town of Helston on the Lizard Peninsula in southern Cornwall. It is described as one of the largest helicopter bases in Europe and serves as the principal home of the Merlin Helicopter Force, the Royal Navy's carrier-borne anti-submarine warfare helicopter fleet. For a simulator pilot the field is of interest for its long, ILS-equipped main runway, its unusual three-runway military layout, and its role as a major rotary-wing training establishment rather than for any civil traffic.
The airfield sits immediately beside Helston in Cornwall, on the Lizard Peninsula, at coordinates 50.0854, -5.2541 and an elevation of 259 feet. As an active Royal Navy air station it is not open to public or civil use. Predannack Airfield, nearby on the Lizard Peninsula near Mullion, is operated by the Royal Navy as a satellite airfield and relief landing ground for Culdrose.
Culdrose has three physical hard runways, all lit. The main runway, 11/29, is 5,975 feet long, with an ILS serving runway 29. The secondary runway 18/36 is 3,426 feet long, and runway 06/24 is 3,398 feet long.
Published frequencies for Culdrose are APP 134.05 MHz, ATIS 23.185 MHz, GND 122.1 MHz, OPS 572.5 MHz and TWR 122.1 MHz. Runway 29 is equipped with an ILS.
The station lies immediately adjacent to the town of Helston on the Lizard Peninsula, a useful landmark for orientation. Predannack Airfield, a Royal Navy satellite airfield and relief landing ground near Mullion, lies nearby on the same peninsula and is associated with Culdrose's flying operations.
Admiralty surveyors began preliminary work on land near Helston in 1942, and the station was commissioned as HMS Seahawk on 17 April 1947 under the command of Captain G C Dickins RN, five years after the initial surveys. It is noted locally as the only present-day military airfield in the country to have been built entirely new since the Second World War on land not previously used for flying. Originally intended to last only about ten years as a wartime airfield, it was first planned as a Naval Fighting School before taking on other roles, including trials of the Navy's first jet aircraft, training of airborne early warning crews, and service as a home base for carrier-based aircraft; over time its emphasis shifted from fixed-wing to rotary-wing flying. In 1958 HMS Seahawk was granted the Freedom of the Borough of Helston, and an annual parade thanking the town has continued since, marking its sixtieth anniversary in 2018. From 1968 the station was one of the designated locations for Plan PYTHON, the government's continuity-of-government plan in the event of nuclear war. In more recent history, on 18 May 2012 a British Airways Airbus A319 carrying the Olympic Flame from Athens landed at Culdrose with dignitaries including Seb Coe, Princess Anne and David Beckham aboard, before the flame began its journey through Cornwall towards the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Culdrose remains an active Royal Navy air station and the primary base of the Merlin Helicopter Force, comprising 814 and 820 Naval Air Squadrons flying the AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 in the anti-submarine and carrier-protection roles. The station also hosts 824 Naval Air Squadron, which trains new Merlin aircrew and engineers, 750 Naval Air Squadron, which trains Royal Navy Observers and RAF Weapon Systems Officers on the Avenger T1, and 700X Naval Air Squadron, the Royal Navy's specialist drone unit operating the ScanEagle RM1 and RQ-20 Puma. Non-flying units include 1700 Naval Air Squadron, a substantial Air Engineering Training School with a dedicated Survival Equipment Section, and the Royal Naval School of Flight Deck Operations, which trains all personnel involved in aircraft handling aboard carriers. The base is currently undergoing a major £135 million redevelopment under a wider training contract with Ascent Flight Training, including new simulators and facilities, intended to significantly increase mission aircrew training capacity for the Royal Navy and RAF. Culdrose is a major contributor to the Cornish economy and one of the largest single-site employers in the county. As an active military station it is not open to the general public.
