April 17th   RNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk)

On this day in 1947, HMS Seahawk / RNAS Culdrose was commissioned as a satellite of RNAS Predannack on the Lizard peninsula under the command of Captain Godfrey Charles Dickins, RN. It is worth noting that, although the airbase is known as RNAS Culdrose, all naval bases are run on along the lines of a seagoing vessel and so it is also known as HMS Seahawk.

In the original, 1943, planning the base, initially to be known as HMS Chough / RNAS Helston, was intended to operate for only ten years as a wartime air base.  The airfield, built on the requisitioned Culdrose Farm, was designed to guard the Western Approaches of the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel and to provide search & rescue services.  With an initial complement of 1500 personnel (transferred from RNAS Dale in Pembrokeshire) who lived in huts, the original airfield had three runways and twenty-three hangars.  It now has a complement of over 4000 and uses RNAS Predannack (May 7th) as a satellite airfield, mainly for training and for emergency landings.

   



                                                                                                                                       Previous                                 Next