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Category Archives: Pre-war fleet air arm

Vickers 141

More forgotten naval prototypes – Vickers fighters

December 13, 2018by navalairhistory Leave a comment

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 […]

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Interwar history, Pre-war fleet air arm, Prototypes, Test flying

Forgotten naval prototype aircraft

September 5, 2018by navalairhistory 3 Comments

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 […]

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History and its lessons, Interwar history, Pre-war fleet air arm, Prototypes, Test flying

New Fairey Flycatcher book published

July 26, 2016by navalairhistory Leave a comment

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 […]

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Interwar history, Pre-war fleet air arm

Fairey Swordfish – fluke victor?

July 7, 2015by navalairhistory 12 Comments

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: […]

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Fleet Air Arm, History and its lessons, HMS Ark Royal, Pre-war fleet air arm, WW2 History

Blackburn Skua book reprinted

March 27, 2014by navalairhistory 1 Comment

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 […]

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Fleet Air Arm, Pre-war fleet air arm, Restoration and preservation, WW2 History

Prototypes and trials, HMS Illustrious

September 13, 2013by navalairhistory 2 Comments

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 […]

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Cold War, Fleet Air Arm, HMS Illustrious, Pre-war fleet air arm, Prototypes, Supermarine Specials, WW2 History

Fleet Air Arm Museum reserve collection

March 15, 2013by navalairhistory Leave a comment

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 […]

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Cold War, Falklands conflict, Fleet Air Arm, Golden age of flight, Pre-war fleet air arm, Restoration and preservation, WW1 History, WW2 History

The mythical Griffin – a forgotten naval aircraft of WW1

January 22, 2013by navalairhistory 1 Comment

In 1917-18, a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft was developed for naval use, which successfully operated from one of the first aircraft carriers and saw service in a combat zone. Ninety-five years […]

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Fleet Air Arm, History and its lessons, Pre-war fleet air arm, WW1 History

Naval aircraft, through their creators’ eyes

November 6, 2012by navalairhistory 1 Comment

The magazine adverts of the 1930s-40s provide a fascinating view of how naval aircraft manufacturers saw themselves, and wished others to see them. During this period, artwork in the aviation […]

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Air displays, Fleet Air Arm, Golden age of flight, Pre-war fleet air arm, WW2 History

The Unsung Ark Royal

October 11, 2012by navalairhistory 2 Comments

When the current HMS Ark Royal (R07) leaves Portsmouth early next year for a Turkish scrapyard, it mark only the second time in 99 years that there will not be […]

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History and its lessons, Pre-war fleet air arm, WW1 History, WW2 History

A recipe for obsolescence? British naval torpedo bomber development in the 1930s

September 17, 2012by navalairhistory 8 Comments

The Fleet Air Arm led developments in torpedo attack using landplanes flying from aircraft carriers between the two world wars. How is it then, that until the last two years […]

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Golden age of flight, History and its lessons, Interwar history, Pre-war fleet air arm, WW2 History

British naval anti-aircraft weaponry – a brief history

June 28, 2012by navalairhistory Leave a comment

With reference to the Explosion Museum of Naval Ordnance, Gosport All the photographs of preserved naval AA weapons below show items in the extensive collection of the Explosion Museum The […]

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Cold War, Falklands conflict, History and its lessons, Pre-war fleet air arm, WW1 History, WW2 History

The Flycatcher’s Rival – the Parnall Plover naval fighter

May 13, 2012by navalairhistory Leave a comment

The Parnall Plover is a footnote in the Fleet Air Arm’s record. The Plover lost the competition to equip the FAA with a single-seat fighter to the Fairey Flycatcher, and […]

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Golden age of flight, Interwar history, Pre-war fleet air arm

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Naval Air History News

The first of three novellas from Sharpe Books was released in June 2019 – ‘Harpoon’ chronicles the struggles of a Sea Hurricane pilot on the vital Malta convoys of 1942. Available from Amazon

Matt Willis’ publications

A full list of Matthew Willis' non-fiction publications can be found here

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Categories

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