The Royal Navy Historic Flight stands down
Today marks the end of an era. The Royal Navy Historic Flight, charged with celebrating and commemorating the heritage of the Fleet Air Arm by maintaining historic examples of the […]
Fairey Barracuda progress
I visited the restoration of Fairey Barracuda DP872 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum last week, and saw the significant progress since I was there in July 2017. It’s fair […]
More forgotten naval prototypes – Vickers fighters
If you haven’t caught up with the latest Forgotten Naval Prototypes article on Global Maritime History yet, the link is here. This post covers the series of Vickers aircraft derived […]
Naval Air History on TV – Quest ‘Wings of War’
You can see Naval Air History’s Matthew Willis acting as an on-screen expert about naval aviation matters in Quest TV’s series Wings of War, Series 1, Episode 6 online now. […]
Fleet Air Arm Veterans Honoured at Navy Wings event
On 21 September, twelve Fleet Air Arm veterans were honoured at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, at an event dedicated to the immortal Fairey Swordfish and the men and women […]
From Essex Field to Atlantic Crossing
On 24 September 1916, the destiny of British airship flying changed dramatically. Until that time, British designers and constructors in government and private industry had lagged behind their German counterparts. […]
Long Live the ‘King
If all goes to plan on Wednesday 26 September, the last Westland Sea King helicopters in UK military service will make a farewell flight around the Devon-Cornwall peninsula, where the […]
HMS Queen Elizabeth – more trials, fewer tribulations
The Royal Navy continues its preparations to bring the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers into service. Today, another major milestone was passed with the first refuelling at sea from one […]
The first jet carrier landing
On 3 December 1945, Lieutenant Commander Eric Melrose ‘Winkle’ Brown (later Captain) made the first carrier landings and take-offs with a jet aircraft in history, when he flew de Havilland […]
Navy Wings at Night
The ‘Navy Wings’ charity, which supports the Royal Navy’s aviation heritage work, staged its first night photoshoot, arranged by Threshold Aero, on 26 October. The event marked the first time […]
Sixty seconds to save a Sea Fury
Sixty seconds was all Lieutenant Commander Chris Götke had to save a rare, important Hawker Sea Fury T.20 from destruction. Fortunately this highly experienced former test pilot was exactly the […]
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 […]
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 […]
Forgotten naval prototype aircraft
Matthew Willis is currently writing a series of blogposts for the Global Maritime History site about the weird, wonderful, and not-so-wonderful aircraft that were designed and tested for naval service […]
New series of blogs on Global Maritime History
The first of a series of new blogposts by Naval Air History author Matthew Willis was published today on the Global Maritime History site. The series takes a look at […]
New Test Pilot Biography Launched at BDAC Old Sarum
The first full-length biography of 1930s-40s test pilot Duncan Menzies (‘Flying to the Edge: The Groundbreaking Career of Test Pilot Duncan Menzies’ by Matthew Willis, Amberley Books) was formally launched […]
Hawker’s Fastest Fury – LA610
On 21 February 1945, the first Hawker Sea Fury flew, marking a new chapter in what would become an illustrious career, highly successful in combat and the pinnacle of piston-engined […]
In Memoriam, Sub Lt David Mitchell RNVR and Cdr David Hamilton RN
One of the best aspects of writing about historical naval aviation sadder is meeting deeply impressive people who have contributed to that history. One of the saddest aspects is the […]
Navy Wings at Night – Part 2
I wouldn’t usually blog on the same subject twice in quick succession (See part 1 of Navy Wings At Night), but there’s a reason for a second post on the […]
