The Fleet Air Arm in the Battle of Britain
The involvement of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm is relatively little known and while numerically small, had a significant impact on the Battle. Two squadrons of the Royal Navy’s […]
HMS Queen Elizabeth
At approximately seven o’clock on the morning of 16 August 2017, the Royal Navy’s newest and largest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, entered her home port of Portsmouth for the […]
The Fleet Air Arm over Dunkirk
The involvement of the RAF in the Dunkirk evacuations is well recognised now (even if it wasn’t at the time by those on the ground) – less well known is […]
Up close and personal with the Barracuda restoration
I’m indebted to the wonderful team running the Fairey Barracuda restoration at the Fleet Air Arm Museum for allowing me to spend Yeovilton Air Day with them. Thanks to William […]
The Night the Zeppelin fell to Earth – WW1 centenary
On the morning of 24 September 1916, two vast, skeletal wrecks lay sprawled across the Essex countryside – the remains of two of the German naval air service’s newest and […]
The Hawker Sea Fury and HMS Illustrious
My thanks are again due to Dave Bull for sharing his collection of classic photographs with Naval Air History. These photographs date from the immediate postwar period when the battered […]
Fairey Swordfish – fluke victor?
A friend who has no small knowledge of military matters put the following to me recently: ‘We all have different perspectives and experiences and mine lead me to say this: […]
Sea Hawk Swansong
It’s hard to know whether to envy or pity the Fleet Air Arm aircrew who take part in the bundle of naval flying tasks known as Fleet Requirements, as these […]
Sea Harriers in the Med, 1995
I am indebted to Bryan Mulheran for the use of the following photographs from his collection. These images were taken aboard HMS Illustrious between April and June 1995, prior to […]
Fairey Barracuda wreckage and recollections
The Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, has amassed a huge amount of Barracuda wreckage over the years, in the hope of gathering enough to rebuild a full aircraft. A plan […]
Falklands Air War – Aviation Xtended podcasts
I was delighted to take part in two recent episodes of the aeronautical podcast Aviation Xtended to mark the 35th anniversary of the end of the 1982 Falklands conflict. This […]
Matt Willis joins British Naval History
Naval Air History’s Matthew Willis has joined the British Naval History team with a regular blog – see posts here The first post ‘The Flying-off Platform- an Evolutionary Dead End?’ […]
New Fairey Flycatcher book published
My book on the Fairey Flycatcher published by MMP Books is now available. For more information and to buy, see the MMP site Reviews include: ‘Matthew Willis has delivered a […]
Naval aviation in the Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland, fought a century ago, is principally remembered as the biggest clash of battleships ever – one of the last hurrahs of the mighty surface fleets before […]
Review ‘Bloody Paralyser’ by Rob Langham
Bloody Paralyser: The Giant Handley Page Bombers of the First World War Rob Langham Fonthill Media April 2016 In this centenary period for the First World War it is particularly […]
Two (and a bit) new blogs on ‘Hush Kit’
Naval Air History has recently contributed to two pieces on Hush Kit, ‘the alternative aviation magazine’ The 11 Worst X-Planes When music is terrible the artist will often describe it […]
Captain Eric Brown – a personal reflection
There’s very little I can add to the many tributes to the incomparable Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, written by those far better placed than me to assess the great man’s […]
Farewell to the Vulcan – a Photographic Odyssey
The ‘Twitter V-Force’ website has published a guest blog written by Matthew Willis: Farewell to the Vulcan – A Photographic Odyssey
Sopwith Pup book available!
I’m delighted to announce that my book on the Sopwith Pup WW1 biplane fighter is available. The Sopwith Pup, as it is unofficially but universally known, was one of the […]
