Westland Sea King Mk 41 (c/n 768, 89+64 of the German Naval Aviation / Marineflieger, Marinefliegergeschwader 5), static display during spotter day at Galileo SAR Meet 2023, Nordholz, August 2023.
The end of August 2024 brings us another mark on aviation history – retirement of the Sea King rotorcraft from active service in the German Naval Aviation. That one of the most interesting helicopters of the late Cold War years, and the erstwhile backbone of anti-submarine, as well as search-and-rescue fleet in many seaside countries, consistently is vanishing from the skies, being succeeded by new generation aircraft.
The Sea King entered operational service in 1979 with the Royal Navy, and its main operators included the United Kingdom (both the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm), Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Germany, India, Norway and Pakistan.
The helicopter was manufactured between 1969 and 1995, with approximately 360 examples built. Its main variants included the anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare version, multi-role utility rotorcraft, search and rescue variant, as well as assault and utility transport helicopter, designated Sea King Commando.
In the 2010s, European operators of the Sea King began with withdrawing the helicopter from active service. The Royal Navy retired the rotorcraft in 2018, followed next year by Belgium and Norway in 2023. Germany remained the last operator of the Sea King fleet in Europe, although the retirement process was already launched in 2020.
The year 2023 marked the end of active duty of the Sea King rotorcraft with Marineflieger. In August of that year, the helicopters participated in their final live-fly exercise, Galileo SAR Meet 2023 held at Nordholz air base.
The event at Nordholz included also a spotter day, which was the final opportunity for aviation enthusiasts to see the German Sea Kings on duty. A milestone of fifty years of their active service in the country´s SAR service was commemorated by a special anniversary livery, applied on the helicopter with tactical number 89+63 (for more information and photos form the event, check our article Developing the better and effective rescue operations – Galileo SAR Meet 2023, issued in January of 2024). Over the next months, the SAR duties in German area of responsibility over the Baltic and North Seas were consecutively taken over by NHIndustries NH90 Sea Lion rotorcraft.
The official Sea King farewell event was scheduled for the end of August 2024. During this month, two helicopters carrying special liveries – the aforementioned ´89+63´ and ´89+58´, with ´Farewell Sea King´ painting scheme – performed a few flypasts in Germany. In addition, the final spotter event is planned to be held on 30th August, when both rotorcraft are going to be showcased for the last time.
According to the German Ministry of Defence, the last six airworthy Sea King helicopters of Marineflieger will be donated to Ukraine.
Although the Sea King rotorcraft were already featured within our Photo of the Week series, their retirement from active service in Germany creates another opportunity to focus on that type of helicopter.
This time, it is the rotorcraft ´89+64´ of Marinefliegergeschwader 5, the sole helicopter unit of the German Naval Aviation. The helicopter is carrying the standard Sea King camouflage of Marineflieger and was part of static display during the aforementioned spotter event at Galileo SAR Meet 2023.
For more information about the Sea King follow the links below:
