Sea King Mk5

The distinctive Sea King Mk5 – painted red and grey – saves hundreds of lives each year on Search and Rescue thanks to the selfless acts of Navy crews above the stormy waters of the Western Approaches or the mountains of western Scotland. The helicopters operate from two bases – Culdrose near Helston in Cornwall, and HMS Gannet on the edge of Prestwick Airport near Ayr in Scotland – and provide 24-hour cover over the Irish Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel as well as the Cornish peninsula and the difficult terrain of the Scottish Highlands. Apart from two pilots (equipped with night vision goggles for difficult missions in the dark) each Sea King is crewed by an observer and an aircrewman, who’s also trained in first aid. We are called upon to perform a myriad of rescue missions: sailors in distress, downed aircrew (thankfully very rarely), flood victims, missing or injured climbers, tourists who’ve fallen down cliffs, people involved in road accidents, and medical emergencies.