By Moreno Aguiari
During a recent trip to South West England, I had the opportunity to visit the Fleet Air Arm Museum – thirty years after my first visit as a young man! Located at RNAS Yeovilton, the Fleet Air Arm Museum is one of the largest aviation museums in Europe, celebrating British naval aviation from 1909 to the present.
In 1963 a small enclosure was created beside the perimeter fence at the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, to allow the public to view flying activities on the airfield. One year later, the new Fleet Air Arm Museum, housed in a single hangar, was opened by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. It began with just three aircraft, but over the years has grown into a nationally significant collection of over 100 airframes, and many thousands of artifacts, photographs, and archives.
Incorporated into the National Museum of the Royal Navy in 2015, the Fleet Air Arm Museum is now proud to display the heritage of British naval aviation and is a world leader in historic aircraft paint conservation, as well as being home to the UK’s Concorde 002 prototype. [Click on the photographs to reveal the captions.]
A lot has changed since my last visit, using the best of digital technology, and immersive exhibits like a reproduction of a carrier flight deck. Visitors are transported through 100 years of this unique aviation history, from the pioneering years of the First World War all the way through to the modern HMS Queen Elizabeth carriers.
‘The Aircraft Carrier Experience – Airfield at Sea’ is truly an immersive experience giving visitors the opportunity to experience the flight deck of a working aircraft carrier, and see naval aircraft in their natural environment. The whole hall has been converted into a mock-up of the fleet carrier HMS Ark Royal as it would have appeared in the 1970s, with the addition, also, of older historical aircraft such as the Supermarine Seafire. The visitor is ‘flown’ from Hall 2 ‘onto’ the carrier through a converted (vibrating) Wessex helicopter cabin.
The lineup of aircraft is in chronological order, starting with replica Sopwith Pup N6452, then Supermarine Seafire F.17 SX137, Supermarine Attacker F.1 WA473, de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2 XS590, Blackburn Buccaneer S.1 XN957, British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA.2 XZ499 and a McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1 XT596 ready to be ‘launched’ off the carrier. The exhibit includes a reproduction of the HMS Ark Royal deck and operations rooms, enhancing the immersive experience for the visitors. [Click on the photographs to reveal the captions.]
One of the most significant airplanes exhibited at the Fleet Air Arm Museum is the Corsair KD431, an example of aircraft preservation. In 2000, David Morris, the Curator of the museum made a bold decision. The outer paint layer was carefully removed in a process akin to an art restoration, layer by layer, to see if the as-built aircraft scheme could be uncovered, and also the wartime finish, if either remained beneath.
The process, which was meticulously documented, and published in the book ‘Corsair KD431 — The Timecapsule Fighter’ (in two editions) was a mammoth undertaking. The end result revealed what is probably the last truly original Corsair fighter left in existence and one of very few Second World War aircraft displayed in such original condition. We have published a detailed article about this aircraft here.
Hall 4 is dedicated to test flying, with the aircraft exhibited demonstrating how advances in design and technology allowed the British aircraft industry to lead the world up to supersonic flight. Concorde epitomized the glamour of the transatlantic jet age during the 1970s and 1980s, and rightly is remembered as proud achievement in Britain’s (and France’s) aeronautical history. [Click on the photographs to reveal the captions.]
A rare and historically important aircraft on exhibit, Concorde 002 is the second prototype of this Anglo-French supersonic airliner. She was assembled in Britain and made her maiden flight from the British Aircraft Corporation’s plant at Filton, Bristol, on 9 April 1969, with the first French prototype Concorde 001 flying from Toulouse, France, a month earlier on 2 March 1969. On completion of her test program, she arrived at RNAS Yeovilton in July 1976 and was placed on permanent display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum. The aircraft interior is open to the public.
Visitors can see into (but, for safety reasons, not enter) the restoration workshop between Hall 3 and Hall 4. In 2023 the projects currently underway are a Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber and a Gloster Sea Gladiator biplane fighter.
Not a single complete Barracuda aircraft exists today, but this remarkable project, to bring a Barracuda back, has been underway since the 1970s. Led by the Fleet Air Arm Museum, the ambitious mission is to reconstruct a complete (non-flying) Barracuda aircraft. The Barracuda Live: The Big Rebuild presentation opens in September 2023 , showcasing Barracuda DP872’s reconstruction in the museum’s new Arthur Kimberley Viewing Gallery. To learn more and support this particular project click HERE.
With four exhibition halls, over ninety aircraft, more than 2 million records, and 30 thousand artifacts, the Museum is Europe’s largest naval aviation museum and definitely a must for any aviation enthusiast. The Fleet Air Arm Museum is a charity that relies on funding from many sources to preserve the rich history of the Royal Navy. To learn how to support the museum, click HERE.
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