THE men and women of HMS Seahawk are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the famous air station this month.

Better known to the world as RNAS Culdrose, or simply Culdrose, the air base just outside Helston on Cornwall’s Lizard peninsula begins its seventh decade with two days of ceremonies and services.

The 2,000 or so Service personnel will form up for ceremonial divisions on June 26 in front of Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Adrian Johns, the head of Naval aviation.

The diamond jubilee ceremony will be followed by a drumhead service, led by the Chaplain of the Fleet the Ven John Green, to pay tribute to the sacrifices made by Culdrose personnel since 1947.

On a lighter note, a 60th birthday cake has been baked for the air station, featuring the badge of every squadron to fly from Culdrose.

And that should be a very big cake; in its 60-year history, the airfield has been home to some 30 naval air squadrons.

Presently calling Seahawk home are: 700, 750, 771, 792, 814, 820, 849, 854, 857 NAS, plus the Hawks of FRADU (the Fleet Requirements Air Direction Unit); between them they clocked up 35,000 ‘movements’ on the airfield in 2006.

Aircraft from some of those squadrons will fly over Helston on Thursday June 28 while air station personnel marched through the market town to celebrate their freedom of the borough.

Helston, not surprisingly, has close ties with Culdrose; the airfield is the largest employer locally with 1,000 civilians working on the site. The base is thought to pump around £100m into the local economy each year.

And despite the misconception, Culdrose is not constantly fog bound. In fact, according to its weathermen, there’s only fog on average one day in every 20.

The best way of all to celebrate any anniversary is, of course, with a beer.

Cornish brewery Skinners has teamed up with Culdrose and produced two limited edition beers – Falklands 25th and Fleet Air Arm Ale – with 10 from each bottle going to Seafarers UK.

Looking to the present and future... a realistic – and also environmentally-friendly – £1m fire and rescue simulator has just opened.

The fire trainer recreates the intense fire, heat, smoke and chaos of a blaze inside a ship –but in a safe and controlled environment.

The simulator replicates four compartments on one deck, with a hallway and stairwell leading to six more compartments on an upper deck.

Using propane gas to generate flames and heat and vegetable oil smoke generators, sailors get a feel for a real fire situation, but are protected by various safety systems such as emergency lighting, smoke extraction systems, emergency power isolations and extra external escape doors.

The new simulator forms one strand of training at the School of Flight Deck Operations where aircraft handlers are taught not merely the art of moving aircraft and helicopters safely around a flight deck, but preparing for the worst-case scenario.

Moving to oohs and aahs rather than ouches... tickets are now on sale for the air station’s Air Day which this year takes place on Wednesday August 1.

Given the 60th anniversary of the air station, many of the aircraft which have flown at Culdrose over its proud history will be putting in appearances including a vintage Skyraider (pictured below), similar to those flown by the Fleet Air Arm in the ’50s, a Sea Prince, Sea Fury, Wasp helicopter, and Seafire fighter.

Bringing the air day up to date, a Harrier GR9 flown by the Naval Strike Wing will be dropping in, as will RAF Eurofighter and Tornado jets.