814 Naval Air Squadron’s Menace Flight returned home this week after three months of anti-submarine patrols in the north Atlantic.
The aircrew and engineers flew back to RNAS Culdrose on Monday in their Merlin Mk2 helicopter, having operated from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset.
Families and friends were waiting at the squadron building of The Flying Tigers to greet them as they returned.
During the deployment, since the beginning of May, HMS Somerset joined the NATO aircraft carrier group led by HMS Prince of Wales, as well as monitoring Russian naval activity around the UK.
As an aside: The flight takes its name from the battle honours of 814 NAS, in this case the Second World War’s Operation Menace, the (ultimately unsuccessful) attack on Vichy French-controlled Dakar (now in Senegal) in July 1940, where 814 NAS crews flew Fairey Swordfish bombers from carrier HMS Hermes to disable the French battleship Richelieu.
Pictures: Royal Navy