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 […]
Category Archives: Cold War
USS Ranger – a supercarrier at risk
Sixty year ago, on 2 August 1954, the first truly modern aircraft carrier from the keel to the truck was laid down. The Forrestal-class supercarrier USS Ranger (CV-61) was the […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Aviation Historian – Issue 3 review
The Aviation Historian launched without fanfare in October 2012. This was a far quieter start than was deserved by a publication that is quite unique in the ranks of aviation […]
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 […]
Sea Harriers in the Med, 1995
I am indebted to Bryan Mulheran for the use of the following photographs from his collection. These images were taken aboard HMS Illustrious between April and June 1995, prior to […]
Supermarine Type 510 – The First of the Future
One of the catalogue of almost unremarked but nonetheless significant aviation ‘firsts’ in the postwar period was claimed by Supermarine, despite its star then being on the wane as an […]
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 […]
When God of Thunder became Mighty Hunter
The Avro Vulcan was a truly versatile aircraft, whether as a part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, a conventional bomber at low and medium altitude and even as a tanker. However, […]
Naval Air History 