The Royal Navy's last search and rescue helicopter crews will carry out a final flight to mark the end of decades of service.

Crews at HMS Gannet have completed thousands of rescues since the unit was established 44 years ago, including the rescue of 12 people trapped on a bus caught in flooding on December 30.

Two days later, crews handed responsibility for search and rescue over to civilian helicopter firm Bristow, bringing military rescue to an end north of the border.

And on Thursday, the HMS Gannet team will say goodbye with a final flypast.

HMS Gannet commanding officer lieutenant commander Charlie Fuller said: "Over the years HMS Gannet has enjoyed immense support from communities the length and breadth of Scotland.

"The flypast is our chance to say farewell and hopefully people will come out to wave goodbye too."

From 10am, Royal Navy Sea King helicopters will fly over Prestwick, Glasgow, Garelochhead, Tyndrum, Lochaber, Oban, Inverlochlarig, Stirling, Edinburgh and Ayr before ending the trip with a visit to Troon at 2.30pm.

HMS Gannet was the busiest search and rescue flight in the UK last year with more than 300 rescues on its books. Prestwick crews broke the record for the most operations in a single year when they carried out 447 rescues in 2009.

The crew's last job - and its 313th of the year - was assisting police during an operation in Invergarry.

More than 70 years of military search and rescue came to an end in the north of Scotland when the last of Moray's "budgie yellow" Sea King helicopter fleet left Lossiemouth in April 2015.

The choppers, which were on hand during disasters including Piper Alpha and the Lockerbie bombing, have been replaced by modern Sikorsky S92s.

At the time, long-serving RAF Mountain Rescue Team member David Whalley described the Sea Kings were an "incredible" asset to Scotland's civilian rescue services.