VISIT to FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM, YOEVILTON
After a short delay caused by late arrivals due to an accident on the A303, all 13 Questers were gathered and greeted by our guide Nigel.
Our guided tour began with the history of the earliest commitment of the Royal Navy to aviation, both airships and planes in 1911. It was a great advantage to have improved reconnaissance. Landing gear now included floats, and in the early days the planes were catapulted from a warship and recovered after landing in the sea. The world’s first reconnaissance by a fixed wing aircraft was at the battle of Jutland.
Progress was made when merchant ships were fitted with landing decks, and then the Aircraft Carrier evolved before, during and after the WWII, to include steam catapults, armoured and angled decks.
There are 4 display areas covering early planes, those from the WWII including US Corsair and Hellcats, a Swordfish the type used to disable the German battleship Bismarck, and our Sea Fury.
Later planes with jet engines included the Buccaneer and the Sea Harrier.
Whilst not a plane flown by the Navy, a pre-production Concorde with test instruments is an attraction and was available to visit and observe how very narrow it was. The demise of the Air France plane flying out of Charles de Gaulle was explained, and the RR Olympus 593 engine was on display.
We could not to forget the part helicopters play in reconnaissance, air-sea rescue and troop support.
Altogether this was a very interesting visit.
Colin Ramsden
