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 […]
Category Archives: Pre-war fleet air arm
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 […]
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The mythical Griffin – a forgotten naval aircraft of WW1
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 […]
Naval aircraft, through their creators’ eyes
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 […]
The Unsung Ark Royal
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 […]
A recipe for obsolescence? British naval torpedo bomber development in the 1930s
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 […]
British naval anti-aircraft weaponry – a brief history
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 […]
The Flycatcher’s Rival – the Parnall Plover naval fighter
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 […]
