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Created: 06 March 2024

Flying Tigers get Freedom of Borough

A COUNCIL salute to the brave men and women of the Royal Navy’s Flying Tigers helicopter squadron is poised to see landlocked Erewash grant them the Freedom of the Borough.

The authority is 70 miles from the sea but has long had a proud affiliation with the Royal Navy. The Flying Tigers are a frontline force that is tasked with hunting down enemy submarines.

The council’s relationship with the squadron has been forged as part of Erewash’s Armed Forces Covenant – which fosters closer community relations with those who serve.

The Freedom of the Borough will be bestowed on 814 Naval Air Squadron to coincide with the golden anniversary of Erewash council coming into existence as a local authority.

The borough was created 50 years ago by the 1974 merger of district councils in Ilkeston, Long Eaton and South East Derbyshire Rural District Council.

Some 200 personnel serve with the Flying Tigers. The anti-submarine Merlin helicopter force uses Sting Ray torpedoes. It gets its nickname from its tiger head badge – which bears the Latin motto: “In this sign thou shalt conquer.”

The squadron is based at Culdrose in Cornwall and also undertakes anti-piracy operations, search and rescue missions and humanitarian work such as evacuations and delivering aid.

Councillors will be asked to back the Freedom of the Borough at an Ilkeston Town Hall meeting on Thursday (7 March).

Leader Councillor James Dawson will explain how the status grants “the right, privilege, honour and distinction of marching through the streets of the Borough on all ceremonial occasions with colours flying, bands playing, drums beating and bayonets fixed”.

A message prepared on behalf of the Mayor of Erewash Cllr Frank Phillips will “extend a warm welcome to 814 Naval Air Squadron, and invite them to parade in the Borough when operational commitments allow”.

Also set to get the Freedom of the Borough is Cllr Robert Parkinson for devoting more than 50 years of service to the council and its residents from 1973 to 2023. He was the Council's Leader from 1976-90 and again from 2003-07 and also Mayor of the Borough during the 2010/11 civic year.