Flamborough RNLI crew take part in a joint exercise with a Royal Navy Merlin helicopter

Several RNLI members were winched to the Royal Navy helicopter. Photo taken by Rod Newton

Flamborough RNLI’s volunteer lifeboat crew had the opportunity to take part in a joint exercise on Sunday (June 26) with the crew of a Royal Navy Merlin HM Mk2 helicopter from RNAS Culdrose.

The helicopter was in the area to take part in the Armed Forces Day event which was held in Scarborough.

The exercise, which was authorised by the Ministry of Defence and the RNLI, had been requested by one of the Royal Navy Air crew. He was a local man who had previously served as volunteer crew with Flamborough RNLI.

Air crew members visited the RNLI station on Saturday to discuss the exercise. Photo taken by Rod Newton

The air crew visited the station on Saturday evening for a briefing with the volunteer crew, where details of the exercise were discussed.

During the exercise, which took place off North Landing and Speeton, several volunteer RNLI crew members were winched from the Flamborough Lifeboat B-820 Elizabeth Jane Palmer on to the Merlin helicopter.

Dave Freeman, Flamborough RNLI operations manager, said: “It was an extremely worth while exercise, valuable training experience for crew members.”

Volunteer crew member Josh Maskill said: “It was good to work alongside Royal Navy personnel on such a valuable exercise.

“The professionalism and teamwork of both crews was second to none.”