Camilla launches new £7.5m air ambulance named in her honour

The Duchess of Cornwall speaks with air crew during a visit to Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust's base in Newquay

20 July 2020

The Duchess of Cornwall kept her cool as two paramedics raced off to an emergency call as she unveiled a new air ambulance named in her honour.

Camilla on Monday pulled back a Covid-19 facemask on a new £7.5 million chopper for Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust.

The naming ceremony was briefly interrupted by an alarm sounding alerting paramedics to an emergency call-out.

Two of paramedics, who lined-up to show their top-of-the-range chopper, made their apologies and took to the skies.

Camilla, 73, said: "Oh you have to go, of course. Not in this one?"

The call-out was a patient 20-miles away in Falmouth who had suffered head injuries and a seizure.

On hearing the news, the unruffled duchess added: "Fingers crossed."

The Duchess of Cornwall

The AW169 helicopter was blessed by Bishop of Truro The Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen.

The duchess has been patron of the charity for 10 years.

On seeing the tartan nose cone mask, Camilla remarked: "Oh, she has a facemask on. It is a rather smart mask."

She congratulated the trust for raising the funds after hearing members of the public donated £2.7m of the total cost.

And after pulling back the tartan face mask and seeing it was named in her honour, she added: "Very smart, very nice in gold.

"God bless all that fly in her. I will keep an eye out in the sky."

The Duchess of Cornwall during a visit to Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust's base

The duchess was all smiles as she was led inside the state-of-the-art helicopter - designed to give paramedics a 360-degree access to the stretcher.

She joked: "Shall I lie down? Don't cart me off."

Camilla was also presented with a bottle of Heli Gin and met air crew and also Lord Lieutenant, Colonel Edward Bolitho and CEO of the Cornwall Air Ambulance Paula Martin.

She was introduced to six-year-old Leya Raper who was saved by the air crew as a baby and since raised more than £1,000 for the charity.

The Duchess of Cornwall and Chairman of Board of Trustees Mark Carne speak with Leya Raper

Leya was flown to hospital as a baby with severe breathing difficulties after falling ill at Bude rugby club in 2014.

The youngster has spent lockdown making wish bracelets to fundraise for the lifesaving charity and has so far raised over £1,000.

Mum Casey Raper, 29, of Bude, said: "She congratulated Laya for everything she had done."

Paramedics Thomas Hennesy Jones and Martin Bunt flew off in the trust's aging MD 902 Explorer which will be replaced by the new Duchess of Cornwall chopper.

A trust spokesman said the helicopter was on the scene within minutes and the patient had suffered a seizure and head injury.

The Duchess of Cornwall has been the trust's patron since 2010 and opened the base in Newquay two years later.

The trust is the oldest air ambulance in the UK after launching 33 years ago.

Its team is called to more than 1,000 seriously sick or injured people every year in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

During Covid-19, the Air Ambulance and Critical Care Cars have continued to fly. But the closure of their charity shops, local schools, businesses and tourism, has hit the trust's fundraising and finances.

The Duchess’s helicopter went into service on April 1.

New Heli Appeal, the public fundraising campaign raised over £2.7 million to help bring the new aircraft to Cornwall, and the remainder came from the Trust's reserves.

The new helicopter was designed by the charity and locals and boasts red with yellow chevrons.

It has St Piran’s flag and Cornish language prominent features on the livery. It is the first time the charity has owned and not leased its own helicopter.

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