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 […]
Category Archives: Fleet Air Arm
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 […]
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?
An acquaintance 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: […]
Postwar Fireflies and Seafires, HMS Illustrious
I am once again indebted to Dave Bull for sharing his fantastic collection of images of HMS Illustrious with Naval Air History. These photographs date from the immediate postwar period […]
The Rarest Seabird – FAAM Grumman Martlet
During the early part of 1940, Britain and France were scrambling to acquire sources of modern fighting aircraft from wherever they could. At that time there were serious fears that […]
Farewell HMS Illustrious
HMS Illustrious, the Royal Navy’s flagship, returned to her home port of Portsmouth on 22 July 2014, for the last time. Earlier that day she had handed over her duties […]
Fleet Air Arm twins, HMS Illustrious
The following series of photographs from the Dave Bull collection (see previous post for images of prototype naval aircraft) depicting postwar naval aircraft landing on aircraft carriers, believed to be […]
Blackburn Skua book reprinted
One of my non-fiction books, a history of a WW2 naval dive bomber known as the Blackburn Skua, has just been reprinted by MMP Books. For more information on the […]
Happy Birthday Sea Vixen XP924
Wednesday 16 October 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the first flight of de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2 XP924. ‘Foxy Lady’, as she is known by her operators DS (Drilling […]
Prototypes and trials, HMS Illustrious
Naval Air History is very lucky to have been given access to Dave Bull’s wonderful collection of photographs of aircraft on HMS Illustrious in the late 1940s-early 1950s. The first […]
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 […]
An event in the early career of Captain Eric Brown
With the anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic making headlines, the legendary Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown has come to even greater prominence. Captain Brown flew a Grumman Martlet fighter […]
Fleet Air Arm Museum reserve collection
The Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton has the biggest collection of naval aircraft in Europe. The main collection is unquestionably impressive, but the museum also holds a reserve collection […]
Barracuda interview on Airplane Geeks
The aviation podcast ‘Airplane Geeks’ programme for 30 January 2013, Episode 233, features an interview with Matt Willis on the Fairey Barracuda. You can listen to the episode online here […]
Naval Air History 