The First Jet Carrier Landing – On This Day (or not?)
On this day in 1945, the first jet-powered landing on an aircraft carrier took place. Or did it? Ever since that time, there has been a debate over whether the […]
Author Archives: navalairhistory
Dauntless: The Battle of Midway review
Today (21 October 2019) is the release date for ‘Dauntless: The Battle of Midway’ on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download/streaming, and as a rare example of a feature film about […]
Fourteen hours over the Med in a biplane – Solo2Darwin
The story of aircraft over water can take many forms, but few can be more inspiring than the pioneering flights of aviation’s golden age. Amy Johnson has been a hero […]
Second Malta novella ‘Bastion’ published
The second of three novellas from Sharpe publishing, set during the Malta convoys in the summer of 1942, has been published. ‘Bastion’ sees the main character, Sea Hurricane pilot Edmund […]
RNAS Dale – a Fleet Air Arm ‘time capsule’
On Saturday 23 March 2019, I took a trip to Dale in Pembrokeshire with Fairey Barracuda Project volunteer Tony Jupp to see a remarkable ‘time capsule’ of life on a […]
Malta convoys novella ‘Harpoon’ published
I am pleased to announce the publication of the first of three novellas from Sharpe publishing, set during the Malta convoys in the summer of 1942, when the island was […]
Support Hawker Typhoon RB396 return to flight
What’s a Hawker Typhoon doing on the Naval Air History site? Hawker’s awesome fighter-bomber has more in common with the subject of this blog than you might think… To support […]
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 […]
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 […]
