People in Cornwall are invited to say a final farewell to the Royal Navy’s Hawk T1 jets this Thursday as these veteran aircraft are retired from service.
The Hawk's based at RNAS Culdrose will fly around the coast of Cornwall on Thursday for the very last time.
Hawk jet at RNAS Culdrose
Based out of Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose at Helston, the fast jets have been a mainstay for decades in training Royal Navy and NATO ships in air defence.
The BAE Systems Hawks have been used by the RAF for 40 years and the Royal Navy’s aircraft date from the 1990s. They were first based at RNAS Culdrose in 1994 and were incorporated into the re-formed 736 Naval Air Squadron in 2013.
Hawk jet at RNAS Culdrose
It was announced in the Integrated Review last year that the Hawk T1 was to be retired across defence, with the exception of the Red Arrows, and it was decided 736 Naval Air Squadron would be decommissioned at the end of March 2022.
On Thursday, March 24, two jets will take off from RNAS Culdrose and fly up to Plymouth, before turning around and flying clockwise around Cornwall. They will then depart for RAF Shawbury.
The schedule for Thursday is:
3.30pm x2 Hawks depart Culdrose and head towards Plymouth
3.40 pm Tregantle (western edge of Plymouth)
3.43pm St Austell
3.47pm Culdrose
3.50pm Penzance
3.52pm Sennen
3.54pm St Ives
3.58pm Newquay
4pm Padstow
4.04pm Bude
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