RNAS Culdrose goes ‘supersonic’

Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose recently hosted over 250 school children from the region acting as a ‘hub’ in the national ‘Bloodhound Challenge’

The primary and secondary school students spent the day at the base racing their own rocket cars inspired by the Bloodhound project, a supersonic car which will attempt to set a world land speed record.

As well as enjoying the thrill of high speed racing and competing against their peers, the students were also treated to a wide range of interactive stances to show case the variety of roles undertaken by the Fleet Air Arm.

This included taking part in fitness drills, demonstrations of survival equipment at sea, completing mental agility tests and seeing inside a helicopter.

Throughout the day the pupils also had the opportunity to speak to military personnel about their potential future careers in STEM (science, engineering, technology and maths), and the event was the ideal opportunity to promote engineering in a ‘live’ environment.

Lieutenant Helen Forster who organised the day said: "STEM is essential to both the Royal Navy and the UK, with engineering generating 26% of the total UK GDP.

"We designed a fun packed day which allowed the students to see what we do at RNAS Culdrose, interact with STEM concepts and to portray some of our proud Naval heritage.

"It was a great day enjoyed by children, teachers and sailors alike! Events like this are a chance for our sailors to explain what they do and hopefully inspire the next generation.”

Commander of Air Engineering Jeff Bell had the honour of announcing the winners at the end of the fun packed day and awarding them with their prizes. St Hilary was the winning Primary School and Helston Community College was the winning secondary school, both with the fastest cars in their category.

Lieutenant Forster summed up the success of the event by saying: “We came away from the day incredibly impressed with the student’s designs, and their infectious enthusiasm."