RNAS Yeovilton celebrated 100 years of Naval Aviation at their annual Air Day on Saturday 11th July. An extensive flying and static display took place to mark this significant milestone, with rare naval aircraft such as the Fairey Swordfish, Hawker Sea Fury, Supermarine Seafire and De Havilland Sea Vixen, marking a century of Fleet Air Arm aviation.  Modern counterparts such as the iconic Harrier, Merlin helicopter and resident Lynx and Sea King squadrons also demonstrated the capabilities of todays Fleet Air Arm.

Unfortunately several aircraft went 'tech' on the day, such as the Vulcan, Dutch F-16 and Chinnok. Combine this with very low cloud throughout the day, which restricted many displays to low level, or even resulted in cancellations and the event unfortunately became a bit of a damp squib. Clearly a lot of effort went into the planning and some nice aircraft were on show, particularly in the static. For me, it was nice to meet up with the two Spanish Navy AV-8 pilots, both of whom are personal friends of mine (Look forward to seeing you next year on The Principe Asturias!)

Lynx HAS.3's (above) and HMA.8's from both 702 and 815 Naval Air Squadrons took part in the opening flypast

Agusta-Westland Merlin HM.1 from RNAS Culdrose taking part in the helicopter flypast.

The Merlin is the Royal Navy's current Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) platform

The show was opened by a flypast of various Fleet Air Arm aircraft, including this Sea King HC.4

Probably the 'rarest' aircraft on view was this German Navy Breguet Atlantic from MFG-3 at Nordholz. It is the last operational

Atlantic in service with the Marinefleiger and is also one of the few electronic intelligence (ELINT) versions used by them. 

Due for imminent withdrawal it is probably the last time this aircraft will be seen at any airshow.

Another rarely seen aircraft is this Portuguese Navy Lynx Mk.95 from Montijo Air Base

Although no longer operational this Sea King HAS.6 still wears its 'Tiger' marks from 814 NAS service

The aircraft is now used as an instructional airframe at HMS Sultan

Sea King ASaC.7 from 849 NAS based at Culdrose in the static park

One of the more colourful aicraft in the Sea King line-up was this Mk.4X example operated by Qinetiq at Boscombe Down

A Sea King HU.5 and HC.4 were both given special schemes in 2009 to mark 100 years of the Fleet Air Arm

VA.1B-37 was one of two Spanish Navy AV-8B+ that visited Yeovilton. Rarely seen in UK shores, what made it

all the better for me was that they were flown in by personal friends of mine

Three French Dassault Rafale's attended Yeovilton. One M model from the Marine and two from the Armee De L'Air,

one of which performed the first ever display at a U.K airshow.

The two seat Rafale B above is number 321 from Escadre De Chasse 01/007 based at St. Dizier

Providing something a bit older was this Douglas AD-4NA Skyraider owned by Kennet Aviation

Once a familiar sight at Yeovilton, this De Havilland Sea Vixen provided a welcome reminder of carrier based operations.

The sound and shape of this aircraft is nothing but unique. 

Westland Lynx of various marks prepare to launch for the opening flypast

A number of Hawks have been painted in this 'Fly Navy 100' scheme. Four took part in a demonstration with

the Cobham owned Dassault Falcon 20's seen below

Similarly a number of Jetstreams  taking part sported the 'Fly Navy 100' logo

XZ235 is  Westland Lynx HAS.3(ICE). This particular airframe wears high-viz markings for use in Antarctica

aboard HMS Endurance