Sea King ENDS ITS REIGN

摘要

The Royal Navy (RN) retired its last Sea King ASaC7 (SKASaC) airborne surveillance and control helicopters on September 25, bringing down the final curtain on the Sea King's near 50-year career in UK military service. The last three airworthy ASaC7 aircraft with 849 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) - ZE420 '89', XV714 '88' and ZA126 '91' -flew from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, Cornwall to HMS Sultan near Portsmouth on September 26 for disposal. A fourth airframe, ZE422 '92', was transported to Sultan by road. ZE420 and ZA126 had previously undertaken a farewell flypast around Southwest England on September 19 in company with a Merlin HM2 helicopter. The Merlin HM2, equipped with the Crowsnest mission package, is to take on the airborne surveillance and control role for the RN's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.