There are two new faces in charge of the search and rescue helicopters that fly from RNAS Culdrose.

Lieutenant Commander Chris Canning will oversee their day-to-day running after taking over as the commanding officer of 771 Naval Air Squadron at the Helston naval base.

A trained cabinet maker, Chris joined the Royal Navy in 1990 and has seen active service during the civil war in Sierra Leone, after being based at RNAS Culdrose in 1998.

He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in October 2002 and appointed to Britannia Royal Naval College in July 2003.

Returning to RNAS Culdrose in 2005 he took up an appointment first as the executive officer and senior observer of 771 Squadron and then observers and senior upper yardmen aviator’s career manager.

For the last two years he has worked at Navy Command Headquarters in Portsmouth and said he was “absolutely delighted” to be returning to Culdrose.

He said: “Last year was the busiest year on record for the search and rescue unit and this year has already been busy with 82 call-outs and 67 lives assisted. For me personally 771 is the Crown Jewels of the Fleet Air Arm and it is a great privilege to be leading such a professional outfit.

“I am looking forward to renewing old acquaintances within the local emergency service community having previously served with the unit as its second in command and on a personal note it is great to be back at home.”

Chris is married to Nicola and they have two young children, Harvey and Felicity, with the family living in Helston. His appointment comes at the same time as Commander Pat Douglas takes over command of the entire Sea King force at Culdrose, which includes control of the search and rescue helicopters Helston and at Prestwick in Scotland.

He is also in charge of the airborne surveillance and control helicopters normally based at Culdrose but currently on operations in Afghanistan.

No stranger to Culdrose, Commander Douglas has spent nine years there in the past, most recently as the commanding officer of 849 Naval Air Squadron two years ago.

Born in Virginia in the USA and educated in Bath, where his wife Katherine and young daughter Emily live, Commander Douglas joined the Royal Navy in 1988 as a seaman officer.

After training as a pilot he took part in three Gulf deployments flying anti-submarine warfare Sea Kings and after joining HMS Manchester he organised fire station manning during the fire service strike and conducted counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.

In 2003 he was appointed as the operations officer in HMS Iron Duke taking part in exercises in Norway and a deployment to the South Atlantic. Most recently he has been in command of 849 Naval Air Squadron, the airborne surveillance and control operation conversion unit.