RNAS Culdrose has responded to recently raised concerns about Merlin helicopters flying over the town during evenings and nights.

The Naval Air Base near Helston has shared a social media post today (Thursday) explaining the purpose of night flying and efforts to minimize disruption.

The post addresses the common question, "Why fly at night? It annoys the locals, and we're not catching submarines over Cornwall, right?" The answer lies in pilot training, as they need to be prepared for any condition, including darkness. Since summer evenings are longer, training flights happen later.

The post also mentions that Culdrose (among many other things) is a base for the Royal Navy’s anti-submarine warfare helicopter fleet – which includes those squadrons which operate from its aircraft carriers, frigates, and other ships.

For 824 Naval Air Squadron personnel, they learn how to fly and operate the Merlin as a weapon – studying a range of topics such as tactics and sonar, as well as how to fly, navigate and plan missions using a range of equipment such as night-vision goggles and by their sight alone.

RNAS Culdrose said: “The job is more complicated if you think about how we operate at sea, with a tiny, pitching ‘airfield’ that’s not even in the same place when you come back – and especially in the North Atlantic, often in foul weather, and yes, day or night.

“The aircrew is just one part of a wider force and operates with other ships and aircraft from across NATO.”

However, Culdrose explained that hunting submarines is not just the purpose of the Merlin crews. They also deal with airborne surveillance and control crews, cargo transfers, medical evacuations, search and rescue, and other maritime patrol duties.

Culdrose also shared how it is continuing to minimise disruption when helicopters fly at night. They said: “You’ll find we go night flying most weekdays – how often depends on the training schedule.

“And yes, we do make every effort to limit the hours we fly at night, but it has to be dark and that often means flying later in the summer months.”

Another question which has been asked by the public is why the helicopters can’t just fly out to sea instead.

Although Culdrose said that the helicopters do fly out to sea, they also need to start with the ‘basics’ of circuits around Culdrose, to enable aircrew to handle the helicopter with the advantage of seeing a visible landmark out the window whereas at sea, there is often nothing to see.

Culdrose ends the post by asking members of the public to ‘spare a thought’ for those making the effort to maintain a world-class anti-submarine warfare fighting force.

It reads: “If you are lucky to live in this beautiful part of Cornwall, and you hear a Royal Navy helicopter flying at night, spare a thought for the huge effort that goes into maintaining a world-class anti-submarine warfare fighting force that can deploy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to defend the UK and our allies.”