Jackson, James Wings Over the Fleet

British Naval Aircraft since 1945

The Royal Navy emerged from the Second World War with the second largest aircraft carrier fleet in the world and a year later achieved the world's first landing and take-off of a jet aircraft from an aircraft carrier. In addition to the traditional tasks of reconnaissance, air defence of the fleet and attack, anti-submarine warfare capabilities were added. Technological advances in jet engines and helicopters offered new tactical possibilities, but also new practical problems that had to be overcome to enable their use from aircraft carriers. From the early 1950s, the Fleet Air Arm operated a wide range of aircraft, from fighter-bombers such as the Hawker Sea Hawk to fully nuclear-armed Blackburn Buccaneers and all-weather fighters such as the de Havilland Sea Vixen and the McDonnell Douglas F-4K Phantom. The Westland family of anti-submarine warfare helicopters, the Wasp, Wessex, Sea King and Lynx, were deployed from a variety of ships, from small frigates to aircraft carriers. Due to defence cutbacks, the fleet aircraft carriers were decommissioned and the Phantoms and Buccaneers were redeployed in 1978. However, British Aerospace's Sea Harrier, which operated from smaller anti-submarine carriers, ensured the Navy's combat capability with fixed-wing aircraft, which was impressively demonstrated in the South Atlantic in 1982. Today, the Royal Navy operates two modern aircraft carriers and shares a commitment to aviation with the Royal Air Force, which flies the world's most advanced fighter aircraft, the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning vertical take-off and landing aircraft. "Wings Over the Fleet" describes the development and expansion of the Royal Navy's front-line aircraft from the late 1940s to the present day. All major types are covered, from all-weather fighters, interceptors, fighter aircraft, anti-submarine helicopters and airborne early warning aircraft. The planning and requirements behind aircraft such as the Sea Hawk, Sea Vixen, Buccaneer, Gannet, Wasp, Sea King and Sea Harrier are examined, as well as many design studies and proposals that were left on the drawing board. Guided missiles in the post-war period and the development of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, as well as the new technologies required to operate jet aircraft from ships, are also analysed.