RNAS Yeovilton Air Museum
6th October 2012
After almost 6 weeks without an air show or aircraft museum it was time to fix that this weekend. RNAS Yeovilton was where one of the air shows was held, but the entry to the show did not in-clude entry to the museum, and in any event, there wouldn’t have been time to do it justice. After that, it was a short drive to Wells Cathedral, which is one on the prettiest Cathedrals we’ve seen in England.
The Yeovilton Naval Air Museum is touted as one of the better Naval air museums, so well worth a look. Given that this was Mark's trip he'll do the writing - not that Cal would ever get bored in an aircraft museum ☺.
I was looking forward to the opportunity to see some classic British aircraft, along with some outstanding WW II Naval aircraft. So when we got there I was like a kid in a lolly shop – there were so many cool aircraft. The first thing that struck us as we entered the main hanger was Concorde. Whilst it wasn’t as big as the Duxford Hanger No 1, it is still a large hanger with plenty of room left over for other exhibits (and this is but one of about 4 hangers).
So, where to start . . . Highlights? Nah – too many of them:
Experimental aircraft always get me excited – I absolutely love (and need to revisit) the experimental aircraft Annex at the USAF museum in Dayton. However !!! The Fleet Air Arm Museum not only holds Europe’s largest collection of Naval aircraft, but it also houses a number of serious experimental aircraft.
The first that we encountered was the Handley Page HP115, which was a special build aircraft designed to research delta wing shapes at slow speed as part of the Concorde development programme (she had a max speed of only 215 kts). She first flew at RAE Bedford on 17 Aug 1961 and flew for a total of 500 hours (with a maximum endurance of 40 minutes that’s quite a few flights).
Also contributing to the Concorde programme was the Fairey Delta II. The FD II first flew on 6th Oc-tober 1954, and was the first aircraft to exceed 1000 mph in level flight (bloody Imperial units). It actually flew at 1821 km/hr (1132 mph) in March 1956 – trouble is I don’t know what the altitude was so I can’t work out the meaningful airspeed such as kts true or Mach number. It was capable of Mach 1.7 (Mach 1 is approximately 1200km/hr at sea level). The aircraft on display is no longer the original a converted Fairey Delta II, but was modified by the British Aircraft Corporation in 1964 as part of the Concorde programme to test the stability and handling of the ogive delta wing at high speed (that is, the wing was not a straight delta – see left picture below). The aircraft was re-designated as BAC 221 and flew a total of 273 times.
Cal and I also got to sit together in a Vampire T.22 cockpit. I had to wait patiently as some kids went through (and couldn’t resist pointing out the various controls to one kid who was really in-terested – such is part of sharing the passion – who knows where people end up). Those darned bears kept cropping up – had to fight for space in the cockpit.
At least there was plenty of room in Concorde 002 (or on the windshield outside) for the bears. I’m still kicking myself for not splurging out on myself, and spending the £1000 eleven years ago to fly on Concorde to New York after she was grounded following the Paris incident. But life is full of those events – and also has a way of finding the other things that compensate (like being at the controls of an F/A-18 when I flew the aircraft through the sound barrier – still smiling at that ☺). So, in keeping with the experimental aircraft, Concorde 002 is exhibited as she flew – never for passengers, and complete with the high tech escape ladder!!
More experimental aircraft! – the Hawker P1127 was built as part of the hugely successful Harrier programme. The P1127 (XP831) first flew on 19 November 1960, and achieved vertical take-off and vertical flight by the end of the year. This aircraft (designation XP980) first flew in 1963 was used in all sorts of tests including pilotless crash barrier trials – so it’s amazing she still exists!
Those darned bears get everywhere!!! Maybe they’ll get sucked into the engines :-0 Oh no !!!!
Bored yet? Lots more to come. I’ll curb my enthusiasm as there are only a few classics left ☺.
After Hall 4 it was off to Hall 1 – Fly Navy 100, celebrating 100 years – from the Short S27 to the Sea Harrier. Aircraft also included the Sopwith Pup (replica), Supermarine Walrus and Helicopters from the Falklands conflict – 30 years ago.
This particular Lynx helicopter served in both the Falklands and the first Gulf war. She served on both HMS Invincible and Hermes – on the latter fitted out with an ESM (Electronic Support Measures) kit and used as a decoy for Exocet anti-ship missiles. “I’m a helicopter, now I look like a ship – come kill me”. Gutsy move. Also flying from HMS Alacrity (don’t you love the names for British ships) this aircraft was on the receiving end of machine-gun fire from an Argentinian gunboat. Her pilot, Lt Rob Sleeman, only avoided a bullet, which came through his windscreen by turning his head.
In the Gulf war she sank 5 Iraqi warships (not big ones) using Sea Skua missiles. Over three days at the end of January 1991, flying off HMS Gloucester she also carved a place for herself in history, sinking or damaging five Iraqi warships with Sea Skua missiles – hence the tally on the fuselage. The successes off Iraq led to 216 Flight becoming ‘216th Airborne: Death or Glory’
On to Hall 2 – World War II and one of the reasons for coming. The Fleet Air Arm has a Vought F4U Corsair. This aircraft (designated KD 431) is a Mk IV and is thought to be the only Corsair in the world with her original WWII paint. In January 2000 a restoration project started to strip the 1963 paint – and 5 years later the project was complete – right down to the propeller damage.
Not surprisingly, this aircraft is roped off – but there were so many other aircraft that we could touch and feel – Cal had this tendency to hug a propeller blade . . . maybe I should become one – might get some hugs that way – stand still and put a spinner on my head.
Also in Hall 2 were quite a number of early British aircraft (in fact a veritable family of Farirey’s: Swordfish, Fulmar, Albacore and Firefly), as well as quite a number of U.S. naval aircraft flow by the Royal Navy.
We also never knew how they got there . . .
On to the final hall – and quite an experience to get there – via a simulated helicopter ride – we experienced good vibrations landing on the aircraft carrier deck. It was actually a fun hall, as the museum tried to recreate the sounds and look of a real aircraft carrier – although the animation of the pilot mannequin in the Phantom signalling all was good for the catapult launch was somewhat amusing ☺.
Finally on the way out we noticed a Dalek in the maintenance workshop . . . apparently (for some obscure reason) there were 21 Daleks at the museum in August – including an original 1960s Dalek last seen in public in the 1980s. The largest gathering of Daleks this side of Planet Gallifrey.
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