RNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk)

RNAS Culdrose
Helston, Cornwall
Two Sea King helicopters at RNAS Culdrose in 2010
EGDR Location in Cornwall
Coordinates	50°05′10″N 05°15′21″W / 50.08611°N 5.25583°W / 50.08611; -5.25583
Type	Royal Naval Air Station
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Navy
Website	RNAS Culdrose
Site history
Built	1947 (1947)
In use	1947–present
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: EGDR
Elevation	82 metres (269 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 07/25 1,028 metres (3,373 ft) Asphalt 12/30 1,831 metres (6,007 ft) Asphalt 18/36 1,051 metres (3,448 ft) Asphalt
Sources: World Aero Data

Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS Seahawk; ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy airbase near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall UK, and is the largest helicopter base in Europe. It currently has three major roles: serving the Fleet Air Arm's front line Sea King and Merlin helicopter squadrons; providing search and rescue for the South West region; and training divers for the Royal Navy.

Admiralty surveyors first started preliminary surveys of land near Helston in 1942. RNAS Culdrose was built by John Laing & Son and commissioned as HMS Seahawk five years after these initial surveys. The station was originally designed to be a wartime airfield lasting about ten years.

The initial plans were for Culdrose to serve as a Naval Fighting School, it soon developed other roles. These varied roles included such things as the trials of the Navy's first jets, training of airborne early warning crews and as a home base for carrier-based aircraft. Over the years the station's emphasis changed from fixed wing aircraft to rotary wing, although its main role remains largely the same.

From 1968 it was one of the designated locations for plan PYTHON, the plan for continuity of government in the event of nuclear war.

On 18 May 2012, British Airways flight BAW2012 carrying the Olympic Flame, from Athens International Airport, landed at RNAS Culdrose. The aircraft, an Airbus A319 painted yellow and named 'The Firefly', carried dignitaries including Seb Coe, Princess Anne, and David Beckham. The following day the Olympic Flame started its first leg from Land's End, through Cornwall, to Plymouth. Its final destination was the Olympic Stadium in time for the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The airbase puts £100 million into the Cornish economy and is one of the largest single-site employers in Cornwall.