Members and many guests were enthralled by a presentation talk from Cmdr. Ben Franklin RN, the retiring commander of 829 Sqdn RNAS Culdrose, who was accompanied by his lovely wife Heather.

He spoke of his varied flying career, spread over 25 years in the Royal Navy and the dedication of the men and women he commanded, reflecting also on the vast changes in technology. The modern materials used in the construction of helicopters, such as the ’Merlin’, used mainly for submarine hunting, but easily adapted as a troop support carrier or for repatriating wounded ground forces. The same type of aircraft are occasionally deployed as gunships, to combat drug running or in the hunt for Somali pirates off South Africa and up into the Gulf.

Cmdr Franklin has now sadly completed his flying career and is moving on to another command at Portsmouth. He has inevitably reached a position which does not permit him to sit at the controls of these dangerous ‘Flying Machines’, but having met this tall, friendly, outspoken senior naval officer, I feel quite sure we haven’t heard the last of him!

The members of Penryn Rotary Club thank him warmly for the time and effort he put into his presentation and wishes him and his family well in the next phase of his naval career.