814 Naval Air Squadron – The Flying Tigers – has a new commanding officer, who has returned to the squadron where his frontline career began nearly 20 years ago.
Commander Ed Holland (pictured left) handed over command of the Merlin Mk2 helicopter squadron to Commander Ben Kerley today.
Commander Kerley said: “I am delighted to be back at Culdrose and it’s a huge honour and privilege to command 814 NAS – which was my first frontline squadron nearly 20 years ago – and lead such a professional team, which is delivering in spades in operational capability.”
After joining the Royal Navy in 2002, Commander Kerley trained as a helicopter pilot and completed his Merlin anti-submarine warfare training in 2007.
He has had a varied career and served around the world, initially with 814 and 829 squadrons, where he was a flight commander, and on deployments in both of the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. He also managed the merging of ASaC squadron 849 with 820, as well as roles in officer training at Britannia Royal Naval College, and as an aviation warfare officer at Flag Officer Sea Training (better known as FOST).
It now takes over command of The Flying Tigers, based at RNAS Culdrose and which deploys flights to warships to conduct anti-submarine warfare patrols mainly around the UK and north Atlantic.
