Fleet Air Arm Museum

Location within Somerset
Established	May 1964 (1964-05)
Location	RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset, England
Coordinates	51°00′54″N 2°38′12″W / 51.0150°N 2.6368°W / 51.0150; -2.6368
Type	Aviation museum
Website	www.nmrn.org.uk/visit-us/fleet-air-arm-museum

The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintings and drawings related to naval aviation. It is located on RNAS Yeovilton airfield, and the museum has viewing areas where visitors can watch military aircraft (especially helicopters) take off and land. At the entrance to the museum are anchors from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Eagle, fleet carriers which served the Royal Navy until the 1970s. It is located 7 miles (11 km) north of Yeovil, and 40 miles (64 km) south of Bristol.

As of summer 2023 the museum has two temporary exhibitions: Flight of the Red Dragon, about King Charles's time within the Fleet Air Arm^[1] and a Falklands Exhibition which brings together five aircraft which served during the 1982 Falklands War,^[2] these are:

Type	Identity	Markings	Notes
Westland Wessex HAS.3	XP142	HMS Antrim Crest	Hall 1: Falklands Exhibition - Humphrey. Shrapnel damage to aircraft
Westland Wessex HU.5	XT765	J	Hall 1: Falklands Exhibition
Westland Sea King HAS.6	XV663	771 SAR 18 Rescue / RAF Rescue	Hall 1: Falklands Exhibition - previously used by 825 NAS. Banana Split paint scheme.
BAE Sea Harrier FRS.1	XZ493	001/N	Hall 4: Falklands Exhibition
Westland Lynx HAS.3 (GMS)	XZ720	HMS Gloucester 410	Hall 4: Falklands Exhibition - Paint scheme from the 1991 Gulf War

The museum's main display is divided into four areas:

This hall contains a display about the development of naval aviation from the early days of airships and fabric-covered wooden biplanes to modern jet aircraft and helicopters, including the front section of the fuselage of Short 184 8359, built locally by Westland Aircraft in Yeovil and flown at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 before being put on display at the Imperial War Museum, where it was damaged during the Second World War when the museum was hit by a bomb. It is displayed in an unrestored condition.

Currently 2023 contains the following aircraft:

Type	Identity	Markings	Notes
Short S.27		Nil	Replica An aircraft similar to this was used to make the first takeoff from a moving ship in 1912.
Short 184	8359	Nil	Fuselage only. Museum piece bombed during WW2
Sopwith Baby	N2078	The Jabberwock	As flown by Sub Lt Hyams. Composite of 8214 & 8215
Supermarine Walrus	L2301	Nil	one of the aircraft flown by the Irish Air Corps before being bought back by the Fleet Air Arm after the war for use as a training aircraft
Westland Dragonfly HR.5	VX595	Nil
Westland Wessex HAS.3	XP142	HMS Antrim Crest	Falklands Exhibition - Humphrey. Sharpnel damage to aircraft
Westland Wessex HU.5	XT765	J	Falklands Exhibition
Westland Sea King HAS.6	XV663	771 SAR 18 Rescue / RAF Rescue	Falklands Exhibition - previously used by 825 NAS. Left side in Royal Navy markings and the right side in yellow Royal Air Force Rescue scheme.

Mainly devoted to the Second World War, with a side room containing a Kamikaze exhibit, which contains a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka II (BAPC 58), models of Japanese aircraft and final letters from Kamikaze pilots. Two aircraft from the Korean War are also displayed. By the entrance to Hall 3 there is a collection of models of British aircraft carriers, illustrating the history of aircraft carrier design.

The aircraft on display include:

Type	Identity	Markings	Notes
de Havilland Sea Vampire I	LZ551/G	(P)	Prototype No. 3
de Havilland Sea Vampire T.22	XA127	Nil	Pod only
Fairey Fulmar	N1854	Nil	Two-seat fighter. This is the Fulmar prototype, the only surviving example out of the 800 built.[3]
Fairey Swordfish II	HS618 wears P4139	Nil	Previously used by 834 NAS. Now represents P4139, a Swordfish Mk.1 of 813 NAS
Focke-Achgelis Fa 330		Nil
North American Harvard III	EX976	Nil	American trainer
Grumman Hellcat	KE209		American single-seat fighter
Hawker Sea Fury FB.11	WJ231	115/O	Used by 802 & 810 NAS. Painted as flown by Lt D T McKeown of 802 NAS/HMS Ocean
Grumman Avenger ECM.6B	XB446	D-Day markings	American torpedo bomber/reconnaissance
Grumman Martlet I	AL246	Nil
Vought Corsair	KD431	431 S	This has had subsequent repaints removed to expose the original 1944 finish.[4]
Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka II	BAPC 58	Nil	Japanese Kamikaze aircraft designed to be carried to its target by a converted medium bomber
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15		Nil	Soviet jet fighter
Westland Dragonfly HR.5	WN493	Nil

Improved for 2023: Instead of a traditional museum hall, 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 inclusion of historical aircraft such as the Supermarine Seafire. The entrance to this hall is through a converted vibrating Wessex helicopter from Hall 2. The hall itself is a simulation of a section of the flight deck of HMS Ark Royal. A large screen shows historical carrier based information. There is also a series of rooms simulating the carrier's island with projections and a simulated lift ride to the top of the mock carrier. ^[5]

The aircraft include:

Type	Identity	Markings	Notes
British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA.2	XZ499	003
Blackburn Buccaneer S.1	XN957	630/LM
de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2	XS590	131/E
McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1	XT596	Nil
Sopwith Pup	N6452	Nil	Replica
Supermarine Attacker F.1	WA473	102/J
Supermarine Seafire F.17	SX137	Nil	Naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire
Westland Wessex HU.5	XT482	Z-M 19	Gilbert
Westland Wessex HU.5	XT769	Nil	Entrance to Hall 3
Westland Wyvern TF.1	VR137	Nil	Bare Metal

The aircraft on display:

Type	Identity	Markings	Notes
BAC 221	WG774	Nil	Also built as part of the Concorde programme, to explore the high-speed characteristics of the ogival delta wing.
BAC Concorde	G-BSST	British Aircraft Corporation - Aerospatiale France	The second Concorde to fly and the first British-built example. It was flown to Yeovilton in March 1976 and opened to the public in July of that year. It has been on display ever since.[6]
BAE Harrier GR.9A	ZD433	45A	Naval Strike Wing - Afghanistan war markings
BAE Sea Harrier FRS.1	XZ493	001/N	Falklands Exhibition
Bristol Scout D	N5419	Nil	Reproduction. Displayed without any of the fabric covering, originally powered with a vintage Le Rhone 9C rotary when flown in the USA
Hawker Siddeley P.1127	XP980	Nil	Built as part of the development process that led to the Kestrel, Hawker Siddeley Harrier and Sea Harrier.
Westland Sea King HC.4	ZA298	Y	[7]
Westland Lynx HAS.3 (GMS)	XZ720	HMS Gloucester 410	Falklands Exhibition - Paint scheme from the 1991 Gulf War

In addition to the four main exhibition halls, there are a number of smaller displays. These include:

• "Barracuda Live - The Big Rebuild", showing the active restoration of Fairey Barracuda DP872^[8]
• Battle of Taranto, the Fleet Air Arm's most celebrated exploit in World War II. The display includes a Fairey Swordfish, which can also be seen from the link between halls 1 and 2.
• "Merlin Experience", which explains modern anti-submarine techniques.
• "Operation Skua", a reconstruction of the recovery of Blackburn Skua L2940
• "Pioneers to Professionals: Women of the Royal Navy"^[9]
• "Saved! 100 years of Search and Rescue" featuring three helicopters and a new soft play area^[10]
• "Welcome Gallery"^[11]

The museum's collection includes a number of aircraft which are currently being restored and are not on display, although public access is allowed at least once a year. These are housed in Cobham Hall, a climate controlled building across the road from the museum.

Aircraft include:

The museum possesses a number of aero engines located throughout the halls.

• Alvis Leonides
• Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah
• Bristol Centaurus
• Bristol Mercury
• Bristol Siddeley BS.100
• Clerget 9B
• Bristol Siddeley Pegasus
• de Havilland Gipsy Major
• de Havilland Gipsy Queen
• Rolls-Royce Avon
• Rolls-Royce Nene
• Rolls-Royce Merlin
• Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593
• Sunbeam Gurkha
• Wright R-1820 Cyclone

The museum also carries out various restoration projects. the last project was a Corsair KD 431 which in the summer of 2006 was unveiled as it would have appeared in 1944. In 2023 the projects underway are for a Fairey Barracuda and a Gloster Sea Gladiator. Visitors can see into (but not enter) the restoration workshop between Hall 3 and Hall 4.

The Fleet Air Arm Museum is the home to an archive of material related to naval aviation.

The museum's shop has the most extensive selection of naval merchandise in the area, including various themed books and documentaries such as Sailor.

There is an outside adventure playground for children in the museum's grounds and two cafés.

Naval aviation museums

• Australia - Fleet Air Arm Museum (Australia), Australian museum of naval aviation, Nowra, New South Wales
• Canada - Shearwater Aviation Museum, Canadian naval aviation museum, Sheerwater, Nova Scotia.
• Germany - Aeronauticum, German naval aviation museum, Nordholz
• India - Naval Aviation Museum (India), Indian naval aviation museum, Goa, India
• USA - National Naval Aviation Museum, United States museum of naval aviation, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida
• USA - Patuxent River Naval Air Museum, United States museum of naval aviation RDT&E, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Lexington Park, Maryland

British military aviation museums

• Army Flying Museum
• Imperial War Museum:
  • Imperial War Museum Duxford and Imperial War Museum North
• REME Museum
• Royal Air Force Museum Cosford and Royal Air Force Museum London

Other

• List of aviation museums
• List of museums in Somerset

• Ellis, K (2014). Wrecks & Relics - 24th Edition. Manchester, UK: Crecy Publishing. ISBN 978-085979-1779.

• Official website