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This book tells the story of an incredibly capable naval aircraft, based primarily on the words of those who flew and maintained it. Beginning with the Lynx's entry into service in 1976, it goes on to discuss its remarkable performance in the Falklands War. Here it was used in both its primary roles of anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, as well as several others for which it had never been designed, such as Airborne Early Warning and anti-Exocet missile counter measures. The Lynx has been continuously employed in the Gulf from 1980 until the present day. What is not generally known is the fact that these aircraft were responsible for effectively destroying the Iraqi navy, sinking over fifteen warships in a matter of a weeks. All related operational details are included here.Also included are accounts of operations conducted around the world, including anti-drug interdiction, Arctic deployments, Search and Rescue, hurricane relief, as well as a few notable mishaps. Also described is the development of the aircraft from the Mark 2 to the current Mark 8 (SRU), bringing the narrative fully up to date. Although only a snapshot, the stories narrated here offer the reader a real understanding of the capabilities of an aircraft with a truly remarkable history of service.
The Westland Lynx is the Royal Navy's agile, versatile, multi-role combat ship-borne helicopter that has been in service around the world for over 40 years, from Antarctica to the Gulf and Caribbean. During that time it has fought in wars, provided humanitarian assistance and has been used for geological survey work. Aviation engineer and author Lee Howard was on the MOD's Lynx Project Team for many years and as such he has a unique insider-knowledge of how the Lynx works and what it has done in its long service life with the Royal Navy.
Chris Taylor has had a very successful career as a Royal Navy officer, helicopter pilot, test pilot and instructor. His first book, Test Pilot, concentrates on anecdotes and incidents from the most recent phase of his career. His second book, Experimental Test Pilot, is an account of his ten years’ service as an experimental test pilot, from 1994 until 2004, at MoD Boscombe Down, the UK’s tri-Service home of military aircraft testing and evaluation. Written in the same humorous manner as his previous books, Naval Aviator explains why Chris wanted to become a pilot and how he achieved that through the Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm. Following the, perhaps misleading, advice of his local careers office, Chris joined the Royal Navy on a University Cadetship which required him to serve initially as a watchkeeping and navigation officer before he could sub-specialise as a Westland Wasp and subsequently a Westland Lynx pilot. This book covers each appointment or ship that Chris served in, and provides a ‘no holds barred’ account of the many life-threatening and stressful situations he faced, not least working with, and for, some unhelpful if not outright unreasonable colleagues. The operating environment of a small ship’s flight is graphically described, including flying in extremely poor weather conditions and high sea states in order to ‘get the job done’. His ditching of a Wasp during training and then damaging his helicopter at sea is fully documented. In addition to numerous close calls as an aviator, Chris is unusual in being involved in four major collisions at sea. For one of these collisions he was the officer responsible for conning or ‘driving’ the ship and, despite his best efforts, his ship rammed a German Frigate in thick fog in the Baltic. Serving on a Hong Kong Patrol boat he had numerous encounters with armed Chinese patrol boats and soldiers; as a Fishery Protection Officer he was attacked with an acetylene blow torch and kidnapped by a French trawler; as a Wasp pilot he almost singlehandedly had to protect the Royal Yacht from the threat of Libyan gunboats; as a Lynx pilot he won the day in numerous major international exercises around the world and served for a month on detachment to a Dutch frigate. All of these accidents, incidents and adventures are fully described set alongside the challenges of trying to maintain a normal domestic life. Naval Aviator accurately captures the ups and downs of life as a Royal Navy Officer and Fleet Air Arm pilot of the Cold War and will be a good read for anyone interested in naval or aviation history. It is also an ideal book for aviators, aspiring aviators, service veterans and anyone who is considering such a career.
This is a comprehensive study of every aircraft type ordered for the Royal Navy since 1908. It includes fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, rigid and non-rigid airships, unmanned aircraft and pilotless target aircraft together with many designs that were ordered but not built so that the importance placed on them by the Naval Staff or their potential technological impact on carrier design and operations can be explained. Every type – even unsuccessful single prototypes – is described; the majority are illustrated by photographs, many of which come from the author’s own collection, and the fifty most significant aircraft have detailed drawings. The Australian and Canadian Fleet Air Arms operated RN aircraft types for many years after their formation and these are included together with other types they have operated subsequently to give a more complete overview. The book describes over 400 different types of aircraft built by over 100 different manufacturers to offer the most detailed coverage of RN aircraft ever produced. Research for the book took over forty years and reference material included Admiralty Archives and an array of material in the public domain including manufacturers’ data, individual aircraft pilot’s notes and a wealth of published sources. David Hobbs is uniquely well placed to write this book having served in the RN for thirty-three years and retired with the rank of Commander. He flew both fixed and rotary-wing aircraft and his log book contains 2300 flying hours with 807 day and night deck landings. He served in seven British aircraft carriers and spent four years within RN Director General (Aircraft) Department where he was closely involved with Sea Harrier carrier trials and introduced new visual landing aids for night recoveries and liaised with the USN on carrier operating techniques. This is his eleventh book for Seaforth Publishing.
Britain is an island nation and throughout history its navy has been of great importance for its defence. As a consequence it has always had a special significance and has over the centuries entrenched itself in the national psyche, making itself manifest not only through the hero-worship ofits principal characters such as Horatio Nelson and Sir Francis Drake but also finding expression through art, music, and literature.Like any great national institution, the navy is a complex web of interconnected histories - operational, strategic, political, economic, administrative, technological, and social. Now updated for its paperback edition, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy, in a series of fourteenchapters, provides a thorough and engaging treatment of these histories, covering every aspect of naval history from the Anglo-Saxon period to the dawn of the new millennium.The book explores:Major action and campaigns - the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the Battle of Trafalgar, the Battle of Jutland, the Atlantic Campaign of 1939-45, the Falklands conflict, the Gulf War, and attacks on terrorist bases in Afghanistan in 2001.Developments in naval history and technology - navigational advances, surveying, constructional developments, disaster relief, the suppression of the slave trade, and the Strategic Defence Review of 1998.Key personalities - Drake and Nelson, Samuel Pepys, Francis Beaufort, Jackie Fisher, Lord Charles Beresford, Lord Jellicoe.Naval life - recruitment (press gangs, training, education, discipline), tactics, gunnery and armaments, amphibious operations, wages and conditions, victualling and supply.How and when did Britain's perception of the sea change from a thing of fear to a 'moat defence' (in the words of Shakespeare)?How did the navy's administrative systems develop during the Tudor period?During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, its greatest period of expansion, how did the navy develop strategically and operationally?How successfully did the navy defend the British Empire during the nineteenth century?What role did the navy play in Victorian Britain's thirst for exploring of the world?What technical developments have been important to the navy?What effect did two world wars have on the role of the Royal Navy?What does the modern navy look like now and what about the future?With a full chronology, which has been brought up to date to the end of 2001, an extensive list of further reading, 16 pages of colour plates, 23 maps, 6 special Action Station diagram 'box' features, and around 200 black-and-white integrated illustrations, this is an authoritative and highlyreadable account of a unique fighting service and its people.
This book tells the story of the first helicopter in the world designed from the outset to be deployed at sea, in Destroyers and Frigates. It is primarily based on the words of those who operated it. Designed from the outset to cope with the restricted space of a warship both for stowage and flight operations it proved an immediate success. Its original role was to act as a weapon carrier to launch torpedoes and depth charges on submarine contacts out of range of the parent ships weapons range. Soon, it also took on a second primary role of air to surface attack using wire guided missiles. The flexibility of the machine was such that it was able to conduct a plethora of secondary roles from visual search to collecting the all-important ships mail. Wherever the Royal Navy was deployed on operations a Wasp was there. The book has accounts of operations around the world particularly during the Cold War of the Seventies and the Falklands War where amongst other things it had the honour of being the first RN platform ever, to fire a guided missile at a surface target.However the story doesnt end there. Although the aircraft went out of service in the Royal Navy in 1988, it continued to operate with other navies around the world. To this day there are still several airworthy examples flying. The second part of the book gives accounts of these machines and brings the story of the Wasp completely up to date.
Little has been written about Royal Marines rotary aviation, the small and select unit which operated light helicopters between 1965 and 1995. Officer and senior non-commissioned officer pilots had the unique privilege of being both Commandos and aviators, flying from warships and operating ashore in support of the Royal Marines. Initially called Unit Air Troops, which then coalesced into 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron Royal Marines, they operated in hostile environments, including the Arctic, mountains, jungles and deserts. Robert Wilsey served in the Royal Marines from 1969 to 2000. Having qualified as a pilot he served through much of the existence of the Royal Marines Air Squadron, from a junior pilot right up to becoming its commanding officer. In this unique book, the author tells of the evolution and technological advances of Royal Marines aviation, flying the Westland Sioux, Scout, Gazelle, and, ultimately, Lynx helicopters. He describes the rigorous training undertaken, including flying from ships at sea, and of operating globally from Malta, Northern Ireland, the jungles of Brunei, the Pyrenees, Arctic Norway and, in 1991, Northern Iraq, protecting the Kurds during Operation Haven. Colonel Wilsey also describes the challenges of the British military's basic and advanced rotary flying training, from both a student's and flying instructor's perspectives. He explains the pressures of leading a flying display team and relates stories of accidents and incidents, many amusing, several chaotic and some tragic, previously unknown to the general public. This is a vivid first-hand account of military rotary wing flying which will appeal to aircrew both civil and military, aviation enthusiasts and military historians.