A NEWLY qualified naval airman has just set sail for the first time on HMS Price of Wales.

Able Rate Cameron Fallows, from Grangetown, Middlesbrough is a former student at Eston Park School and Middlesbrough College.

The 21-year-old said: "I wanted to join the Royal Navy to travel the world and meet the people who will be my friends for life."

The job will see them joining the £3.2bn aircraft carrier on an intense period of operational training, which will see the vast warship operating with the new F-35B stealth jet as well as helicopters from the Army and RAF.

Able Rate Fallows recently qualified as a naval airman, and joined the navy’s aircraft handlers’ branch. He was one of five sailors to complete training at the Royal Naval School of Flight Deck Operations at RNAS Culdrose, Helston, in April and travelled to Portsmouth to join HMS Prince of Wales as she prepares for the next few months at sea.

Able Rate Cameron Fallows said: "I first joined the Royal Navy in May 2020, and I have just finished my phase two training which was on the 28th of April 2021, as soon as I finished my training I travelled straight to the Prince of Wales which was due to sail one day after my arrival.

"The first 24 hours at sea has been pretty eventful and hectic as there is a lot to do for myself and I have been getting used to routines being on eight hours back to back shifts."

He added: "The Royal Navy is important to me because it takes away that same four walls feeling from a normal civilian life. There is always something unique around the corner with this job. Another reason is that I wanted to be the first person in my family to be in the Royal Navy and do my grandmother and myself proud.’

Lt Cdr Graham Blick (Ship’s Flight Deck Officer) said: "It’s fantastic to have AB Fallows onboard HMS Prince of Wales. So far, it has been nonstop journey for Cameron, having only recently completed Basic Naval Training at HMS Raleigh, professional training at the Royal Navy School of Flight Deck Operations (RNAS Culdrose) and now being part of a Ships Company responsible putting the Royal Navy’s newest aircraft carrier through its paces.

"As an Aircraft Handler, AB Fallows will need to demonstrate tremendous self-belief, self-discipline and the highest standard of mental and physical fitness to operate onboard HMS Prince of Wales, assisting with the safe movement, launching (taking off) and recovering (landing) of aircraft. These attributes are, of course, exactly the same attributes that a fighting force such as the Royal Navy expects from all its servicemen and women, particularly when operating with helicopter and fast jets (F35) on a busy high tempo flight deck."

The 65,000-tonne leviathan is the second of the Royal Navy’s two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and is the largest, most capable and powerful surface warship ever built for the Royal Navy and will be a future flagship for the next 50 years.