The long farewell to the Sea King Mk41 multi-purpose transport helicopter
Tomorrow, Thursday 18 July 2024, a media event will take place at the naval air base in Nordholz.
SeaKing Mk 41 Photo: Daniel Angres
The first plans for the procurement of helicopters for the German Navy began in 1964. The first Sea King of the naval aviators flew for the first time in England in March 1972, built by the British company Westland. The Sea King has been in Search and Rescue (SAR) service since 1975 and still flies missions over the North and Baltic Seas today. In its early days, the Sea King was outstandingly modern and it still demonstrates its qualities today. The main task of the multi-purpose transport helicopter is the SAR (Search and Rescue) service in the German sea areas. In addition to their base in Nordholz near Cuxhaven, the naval aviators also use outstations on the North Sea islands of Borkum and Helgoland, as well as on the Baltic coast in Warnemünde. The Sea King Mk41 can land on all ships in the German fleet that have a flight deck. The task force providers can also accommodate it as an on-board helicopter in their hangar. From 2020, it will gradually be replaced by the NH 90 Sea Lion naval transport helicopter.
Its numerous missions in natural disasters made the "King" a legend. For example, Marinefliegergeschwader 5 (MFG 5) was deployed with its Sea King Mk41 during the snow disasters in Schleswig-Holstein in 1978/79 and on Rügen and Hiddensee in 2010, as well as during the floods in 1997 (Oder), 2002 (Elbe) and 2013 (Elbe, Danube). The Sea King carried out an international humanitarian aid mission during the tsunami disaster in Indonesia in 2004/2005. The SAR helicopters have flown 14,645 SAR missions to date.
During its 50 years of service, a total of 349 crew members flew on the Sea King Mk41, including 199 pilots, 88 air operations officers and 62 on-board mechanics. Sea King Mk41 will land in Nordholz for the last time on 31 August 2024 at the decommissioning ceremony.
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Is there an opportunity to take photos in Nordholz on that day? Open day etc. perhaps?
Thanks for the info...
Too bad, a legend is finally going into well-deserved retirement. Let's hope that his successor is just as reliable. 49 years in service and still fit for duty. Are there actually any figures on how many lives the Sea King has saved in those 49 years? I hope that one or two machines will be preserved for posterity.