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 […]
Tag Archives: aircraft carrier
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: […]
HMS Caroline – a naval aviation pioneer
The veteran WW1 cruiser HMS Caroline, now subject to preservation as a museum ship, is a little-known pioneer of naval aviation. As restoration work is now underway, much attention will […]
USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71
Last month, the US Navy supercarrier USS Theodore Roosevelt visited the UK. This provided an excellent opportunity for UK naval aviation enthusiasts to see at first-hand what the largest and […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
