HMS Gannet 2.53

HMS Gannet is an establishment of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.The base hosted the only Fleet Air Arm Search and Rescue Flight in Scotland . The SAR Flight was decommissioned in March 2016, leaving the base to operate as a FOB and support to UK military.HistoryRAF PrestwickDue to the Second World War the Air Ministry requisitioned the civilian Prestwick Airport for the Royal Air Force renaming it RAF PrestwickA number of units were here at some point:RNAS Prestwick (HMS Gannet)The ninth and present HMS Gannet was established in 1971 at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire. Over the years Prestwick has hosted three Naval Air Squadrons: 814 NAS, 824 NAS and 819 NAS. 819 was decommissioned in November 2001 after being in residence for 30 years.RNAS Prestwick was added in January 1994HMS Gannet Search and Rescue FlightThe SAR flight was the last flight based at RNAS Prestwick.It operated two from three Sea King HU.5 helicopters in the military and civilian Search and Rescue role across Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland. The crews covered an area from Ben Nevis in the north, the Isle of Man and the Lake District to the south, east to Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and the Borders, west to Northern Ireland and extends 200mi west of Ireland over the north Atlantic, giving an operational area of approx. 98,000 square miles.