[Closed] Bye bye Sea King

The end of an era.

Had the pleasure to fly with it a few times over the years. A fantastic machine but it's time is up, things have moved on.

There is a good BBC 1hr documentary on the Sea King. On iplayer for the next 27 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01r1z3g/the-sea-king-britains-flying-past

I read about Sea King going at Lossiemouth Scotland, is it the same in England now or the first part of a long roll out?
Some pics from a rescue I was partly involved in, North Wales.
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Had the pleasure to fly with it a few times over the years.

I'm gutted, spent 9 of the best years of my life working on MK5's and MK6's. Took me round the world. I'll miss seeing them. Still used to get excited when i see them up here. Even if that was the lesser crabfat yellow one!

Good Pics B.A.Nana Never needed it myself but living in Glen Coe and Kinlochleven you see it around often. One stormy night they dumped some fuel which drained into my water supply. The next 24hrs were not pleasant 😀

I've seen these big yellow ambulances many times over the years I've lived in the hills and have always been thankful for their presence and grateful that I've never needed one personally. I'm also grateful that one was available when it was required for friends in nasty situations.

However, as mentioned above, times move on. It's the skill of the pilots that we must not lose.

FWIW, most bars in most 'outdoor' pubs will often have a box for loose change. The MRTs, the Air Ambulance and other services all do a tremendous service for us.

I live about a mile from the leconfield base and have grown up seeing them fly over the house most days and the crews often waved to me as a child and now to my children. Will definitely miss the noisy yellow buggers.

On days they are on exercise and know they could be busy have seen them lunch somewhere tactical and park in a field.

Looks like July and 2016 for Scotlands changeover.

I'll never forget being out in the Glencoe hills one winter and watching them, from above, training by plucking some dude off Diamond Buttress in a gale with the rotors what must have been only a couple of feet away from the cliff.

and I'm glad I never had the pleasure, seen them out a few times but always managed to avoid needing the big yellow taxi.

Hahaha! Yeah I've always been in the right seat, floor, position. 2 of my staff are ex SAR guys, good lads hard workers and great patient care.

Having been in the Royal Navy as a aircraft engineer on both 771 and 819 SAR flight, I have had the pleasure of not only working and flying in them but I have also had the chance of flying one from Prestwick to Cambridge (Pilot was sitting in the right hand seat watching my every move), it will be a sad day for me when they go fully out of service.

Back in the days when Leuchars had one our neighbour was the winchman.

We were buzzed everytime it went up.

Always worth a watch when they are buzzing nearbye!

Heavy's a good lad, matt_! have had the pleasure of speaking to him a few times, as unassuming as they come despite his pedigree and background (multiple MRT missions, Lockerbie, numerous expeditions).

Will miss the clatter of the Sea Kings as they make their way overhead on a mission.

Mates wedding last year, a raf Chinook crew member had arranged a sea king fly by. Incredible watching a wedding with bass rock in the back ground and a sea king buzzing the wedding party.

Another stupid decision by the government to get rid of sar duties run by the military.

Now they Have to pay a company to do it instead.

I'm based at lossie and my mate is a winchman. Did you know their finishing party was cancelled as the powers that be wouldn't let them have one.

Had a summer full of fly by's when I worked near RAF Boulmer for a summer,mostly they just popped up had a look round an then headed off, on occasion they got as far above the power lines as they needed to before belting it off.
Got buzzed by the Anglesea one while me and a mate were on White Slab on Cloggy, it convinced him to make the exposed move as they were there anyway.
Big part of life in the outdoors though really worth remembering we were only there for practice.

Saved the life of a mate of mine at Glenshee one day, pilot managed to hover it with wheels on the frozen lochan so we could bundle him in and then low level to Ninewells where they prised his head open. As close as you get. Incredible skill, will never forget it.

Sea King rescue in progress:

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My mate was Wing Commander of 202 squadron and a SAR pilot for years, amazing tales of rescues he told, highs and lows. When I was leaving school as treat he arranged for one to land on the front lawn. I wasn't so popular when it flew off with most with most of the lawn stuck to the wheels leaving a 2 foot deep indelible footprint. 😆

Ah, I did not know about this. A family friend is an SAR pilot, wonder what's going to happen to him?

He arranged to drop in to my niece's christening party, it was pretty spectacular!

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Northwind - Member

Sea King rescue in progress:

A mate of mine was partly responsible for getting that stuck on the Cairngorms 🙂

For sure its the end of an era

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Although its akin to a wounded tiger this is still my favourite image of the sea king, stuck in coire an t sneachda it reminded us not to rely on it when we go to the hills but that it too was vunerable to the elements and showed just how far the crews would push it in extreme conditions if you did get in trouble.

Just flew straight over the house, I presume on the way back from call out in Fort William, their last ever mission. I gave them a wave.

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Another stupid decision by the government to get rid of sar duties run by the military.
Now they Have to pay a company to do it instead.

Now how the CG manage their fleet is a separate question, but they have been successfully using this sort of lease arrangement for many years. you can argue the politics of public v private sector etc, but the reality is the CG operated helos have been more modern, faster, further range etc. If I need rescued from somewhere remote I don't really care who owns the chopper if it gets me to hospital ten minutes quicker.

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From Cosford last year, I'm going to miss seeing them over Snowdonia

Whilst it is great that the military have been able to help out for so long it's actually a killcordnd of odd situation to rely on for routine civi work.

But Search and rescue work was also training and keeping up the skills of military crews. Presumably some of the hours flow on SAR are now going to be now flown as training instead. And with the best will in the world training scenarios are never quite real life.

As child i only remember building two Airfix models- one was a Sea King (the other a Spitfire).

Always loved lying on a beach in North Devon, usually Woolacombe, and one would fly over low or land on the beach for a bit

We used to spend 5 weeks of the summer holidays in Cornwall, some days we'd go to the beach other days we'd just head down to Culdrose to watch the Sea Kings.

I'll never forget watching one of them land on the beach at Kynance Cove between the rocks and the beach, there can't have been more than 6 feet either side of the rotors. I got sand in my pasty (and didn't care)

One rescued Mrs Marin off the North face of Ben Nevis in winter about 7 years ago. She felt very guilty as said it was more fun than any winter climb she has done. Always liked seeing them flying above the hills but then feel guilty as someone is probably in the sh?t. Hope the replacement's are just as good.

Indeed, end of an era. Amazing aircraft and stunning work these guys do. Had a few friends who flew them for the Navy and SAR.

Interesting to read the first/second hand stories above too.

You used to able to call them up in the Solent and ask for a highline drill and they would come down and practice on you if they where available, sadly I never did it 🙁

@Marin from my understanding they are being replaced with much smaller helicopters which is an issue for sailors as they won't be able to evac a medium sized leisure yacht anymore and certainly not a commercial vessel.

Feel free to correct me here, but I believe the two types of replacement aircraft are bigger, faster, and have a greater payload!?

Range doesn't appear to be too hot on the Augusta

Actually, does anybody know the lift off and departure times for all 3 aircraft.

I've seen the Sea King lift off from a cold start, I gained a few grey hairs waiting to see it get off the ground.

IIRC the Sea King was 'reasonably' quick to get warmed up and off, but was slower in the air - the replacement (didn't realise there were two varieties) had a longer start-up but once in the air were quicker.

Sorry if I missed it, are they going to merlin?

One of my most memorable experiences as a Sea Cadet was having the opportunity to fly [i]in[/i] and subsequently [u]fly[/u] a Sea King of 771 Squadron when visiting RNAS Culdrose in the early 90s.

Replaced with Sikorsky S92 and Westland something's.

I have no doubt that the 'new' crew and choppers will be as dedicated to rescues. I also expect new kit to improve things in some areas.

My concern is the day after one of them damages itself on mission, and some Bristow bean counter starts being conservative on when they can go out in poor or marginal conditions.

I think the point about practicing SAR for RN and RAF is a good one - they still need to be out there doing this, and real rescues were best way of 'practising'.

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In my eyes they're the only reason to have an air force now. Nervous about the privatisation bit of it but not too worried about new aircraft- the seaking isn't the most technologically advanced bit of kit and something newer may well save more lives.

Hopefully I'll never see inside one outside a museum, but I do have friends who have been in them, and have seen them working and it's very impressive. The speed of some of the rescues is phenomenal.

Jambalaya,

Apparently the sea kings were equipped to carry either 10 or 17 pax, depending on if they were navy or raf rigged. The s92 (larger of the replacements) is kitted for 3 stretchers plus ten walking, and the smaller aircraft is set up for two stretchers and six walking. One assumes that in speaking their needs they considered how often they have ever needed to evacuate those numbers without some other assets around - pretty rarely I'd imagine.

Everything in life is of course a compromise.

Oh, and the cg helos have also been willing to do practise hi-line rescues with volunteer vessels so one assumes that will continue.

My concern is the day after one of them damages itself on mission, and some Bristow bean counter starts being conservative on when they can go out in poor or marginal conditions.

Well, there may be some indicators already from the North Sea operations. Genuine query.

r RN and RAF is a good one - they still need to be out there doing this, and real rescues were best way of 'practising

Useful, but not necessarily "best"

Best would be picking up a bunch of Marines in a combat simulation?

To be clear, I'm not [i]for[/i] privatisation. But I'm not convinced it will be bad either, at least as far the actual rescue call-outs are concerned.

MattOAA

I think your concerns about the contractor getting scared are sensible but probably I'll founded. They've been running the same contract for CG helos for something like ten years, there has never been a suggestion that they pick and choose the work or leave the dodgy jobs to the military.

[url= https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6120/6339363127_ff1560e68a_b.jpg [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/aEbTNg ]IMG_0171.jpg" target="_blank">https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6120/6339363127_ff1560e68a_b.jpg [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/aEbTNg ]IMG_0171.jpg"/> [/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/25896460@N00/ ]Ewan Panter[/url], on Flickr

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Me as a younger man with my cab.

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I hadn't realised the kit cutbacks were so hard that they didn't provide shirts anymore.

Hahahahaha

Had a fly in one once as a schoolkid - amazing experience. Experienced looking at the ground through an open side door whilst banking and zero gravity when stood behind the pilot

Mates wedding last year, a raf Chinook crew member had arranged a sea king fly by. Incredible watching a wedding with bass rock in the back ground and a sea king buzzing the wedding party.

The last one I went to that wasn't my own, had Tornado's buzzing the party on full afterburner. I was pretty jealous.

I was lucky enough to be on Kinloss MRT at the same time as Heavy and learned a HUGE amount about mountaineering from him. I was also lucky to climb with him in the Falkland Islands during their winter. He'd been before with another Kinloss troop, Stampy, and put up some routes which he needed pics of.
He's a fantastic after dinner speaker if you are ever looking for one. One of life's genuine nice guys and very modest about all he's been involved with. Some of his photos of the seakings in action are awesome.

There was a dit going around 771 squadron at Culdrose that on a SAR shout at Mullion Cove (i think), a young lad on a lilo wasn't really paying attention and the tide had taken him a fair way out. So the duty SAR cab arrived and duly rescued the youngster and gave him back to his folks. A few days later the squadron C/O received a letter from the boys mother. The C/O might have imagined it would be a lovely letter of thanks to him and his men. No. The mother was demanding the Navy reimburse her for the lilo they left behind. So the C/O sent her a bill totalling around £8k or so for the cost of the shout.

She never replied.

Today, 1st April, we had R137 doing it's last shout looking for a missing walker on Ben Nevis, it departed around 10.30 and was replaced by the civilian SAR from Inverness R951, I believe that is the end for the Lossiemouth Seakings.

Wee-al, or should i say Big Al, I heard a similar story to that up at 819 except it was a rescue from a sail boat, the woman got upset because they never rescued her personal belongings from the sinking boat.

Loving the phots by the way, wish i'd gone on that detachment.