In the original FAA Museum hangar. Note the mission markings and crest below the cockpit. Current in 2022.

W/O 17 March 1981

Delivered 25th August 1958. On 12th February 1971, it made the last flight of a Scimitar when it arrived at Southend from 776FRU, Hurn. Depicted being dismantled at Southend the next day, it was transported by road to AWRE, Foulness Island on 14th February 1971, along with Scimitars XD234:834 & XD333:837, both of which had arrived at Southend on 20th January 1971. After use as a target on the firing ranges, the remains of XD244 were still evident there in 1989.

Part of the external display at the FAA Museum. Current in 2022 with the FAA Museum Reserve Collection in Cobham Hall.

Part of the external display at the FAA Museum wearing the markings of RNAS Culdrose station flight. Disposed of to the Second World War Aircraft Preservation Society at Lasham around mid-1979. SWWAPS closed down in November 2009. The aircraft moved to Booker and St Athan, where it was scrapped in September 2014.

Part of the external display at the FAA Museum. In 809 Squadron markings. Current in 2022 as part of the Carrier Display.

Part of the external display at the FAA Museum. Current in 2022 with the FAA Museum Reserve Collection in Cobham Hall.

Part of the external display at the FAA Museum. In 800 Squadron markings. Current in 2022 as part of the Carrier Display.

This 1978-vintage Lynx is preserved in the markings in which it served 815 NAS aboard HMS Endurance in the South Atlantic, having been airfreighted from Brize Norton to the Falklands aboard an An-124 in October 2008. This is not the first time the Lynx has been on public display - apart from being in the static at the 2006 Yeovilton Air Day, XZ246 made an appearance at the Ideal Homes Exhibition in London in 1983!

Part of the external display at the FAA Museum. To the Yeovilton fire section and destroyed in April 1979. Replaced in the Collection by XA466 in December 1978.

The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum houses some very rare helicopters, albeit in cramped conditions making photography difficult. Only the ninth Whirlwind to be built by Westland, XA870 first flew in May 1954 and was initially allocated for RN service in the Far East but was found to be unsuitable. It then spent much of its service life in these colours aboard HMS Protector and was notable for the rescue of scientists from Roux Island in Antarctica in 1956. A few days after taking this shot I discovered the wrapper from the 1960s Airfix kit of XA870 during a clear-out, long since forgotten!

Built as a Gannet AS.4 and entering service in 1957, XA459 was converted to ECM.6 in 1961 and served 831 NAS at Culdrose until 1966. After use as a ground instructional trainer, it was moved to the museum at Cardiff airport in 1979 and when that collapsed in the late 1980s, passed through a series of private owners, landing up at White Waltham in 2006, appropriate as that is where Fairey built and test-flew Gannets. Acquired in very poor condition in 2020, once again the Solway volunteers have done a brilliant restoration job.

Part of the external display at the FAA Museum. Current with the Fleet Air Arm Reserve Collection in Cobham Hall in 2022.

The sole surviving Westland Wyvern, unflown. Part of the external display at the FAA Museum. Current with the Fleet Air Arm Reserve Collection in Cobham Hall in 2022.

Retained by Hawker Siddeley as a developmental test aircraft and also used by Rolls-Royce for evaluation at Filton, this is the oldest actual Harrier existing (ie not counting its predecessors, the P.1127 and Kestrel). By the late 1980s it had a GR.3 nose fitted and was transferred to the Royal Navy as a ground handling trainer, hence the tail marks it still carries.

One of the local Search and Rescue Sea Kings returning to its Prestwick base, HMS Gannet. Coded "19" and carrying markings celebrating "60 years, 1953-2013, of Royal Navy Search and Rescue", with the Navy's first dedicated helicopter unit having been established in 1953.