In appropriately poor Battle of the Atlantic weather, LS326 holds near Greenwich prior to leading the RN flypast. [©Lee Howard]

Passing abeam HMS President on the Thames, as seen from lead Lynx 'Atlantic 2'. [©Matt Tazewell]

It has been a real roller coaster month on RNHF!

During April our Project Team – the team within the Defence Equipment and Support organisation that provide our engineering records and administration – announced that because of staff gapping they could not support our aircraft flying this season. This started a remarkable chain of events, culminating in a successful flypast over HMS Illustrious in London!

In short, the RN and Fleet Air Arm have once again led the way in managing aircraft airworthiness in this modern era of Military Aviation Authority regulation. A dedicated team of RN Engineering personnel, led by Cdr Tom Manson (previously Commander Air Engineering at RNAS Yeovilton) compiled the necessary information that informed Rear Admiral Russ Harding – Head of the Fleet Air Arm – that the Swordfish was indeed airworthy.

In parallel there were a number of issues with the engine, specifically pistons! The new pistons have not yet arrived and so we have been forced to fit last season's pistons to LS326. These have just over 12 hours of flying life left before they are considered ‘expired’ – fortunately that is just enough to complete both London and Liverpool flypasts as part of the Battle of the Atlantic 70th anniversary.

Despite a very tight timeline, we conducted three shakedown flights at Yeovilton – not without incident – but fortunately all was well and with atrocious weather forecast we flew LS326 to Biggin Hill to remain ahead of the worst weather.

You will likely have seen the footage of the flypast on the BBC's The One Show – live from HMS Illustrious on Thursday evening. Fortunately the weather at Biggin Hill remained (just!) inside limits for launch and recovery allowing us to see the fruits of our labours.
Huge congratulations go to the whole team for making the flypast even possible – the engineering team at RNHF persevered to keep the aircraft serviceable, whilst the enormous admin effort behind the scenes stretched to the very top of the RN.

There is plenty of work ahead to consolidate the Swordfish and W5856 nearing completion brings this sharply into focus! The feedback we’ve received following the London flypast shows the huge support we have. Do look for us appearing at an event near you over the course of the display season – Liverpool's Battle of the Atlantic commemorations will be the next opportunity during the weekend 24 – 26 May.

'Dickie' Dawes doing what he enjoyed most - doting over his beloved Chipmunk. [Lee Howard]

It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden death of Dickie Dawes, one of our fitters, who passed away recently after a sudden illness. Dickie had a full career in the RN, followed by a spell at Boscombe Down with ETPS before joining RNHF as a fitter in 2008(?). He was well known for having a ‘dit’ for all occasions and will be missed as the Chipmunk Plane Captain.

Other news where ground staff are concerned is that SERCO have now taken over the contract to provide maintenance support to RNHF. All fitters were transferred into Serco on the 1st April after a long wait – this process was first mooted nearly 10 years ago!

It’s the time of year that our display aircraft start to make an appearance on the airfield at Yeovilton as we start the shakedown and test flying required to assess their serviceability to display over the season.

Already we have ground run Sea Fury FB.11 VR930 – further runs will take place to complete the ground running schedule prior to first flight – a long awaited event for sure! The ground run went smoothly, producing only minor problems which the team will be working on ahead of further testing.

Swordfish LS326 is still awaiting new pistons, these being manufactured by Cosworth. Issues with the manufacture have slowed down delivery, though we still anticipate the aircraft participating in the Battle of the Atlantic 70th flypasts taking place in May.

Swordfish W5856 is going to take slightly longer and it is unlikely to be ready in time for the BOA70 events during May, however will be available during the 2013 display season having received a new engine and paint scheme.

Sea Fury T.20 G-RNHF will arrive back at Yeovilton, following annual servicing at North Weald during April. We plan to PDA on 26th April.
As ever, the start of the season is a busy time. Despite many distractions over the last month, the RNHF team is as well placed as ever to ensure that the aircraft are out in front of the public and able to play their part as the living memorial to all past members of the Royal Naval Air Service and Fleet Air Arm.

The RNHF remains busy hosting visits from a wide range of people. Our program of events for 2013 is now finalised and will be uploaded to this site shortly; we look forward to seeing as many of you over the course of this year as possible.

Our Swordfish will be helping to commemorate the Battle of the Atlantic 70th Anniversary during 2013. [via Lee Howard]

No sooner have we returned from Christmas Leave than it is suddenly February! A Happy New Year to one and all, late as it is! It is a sign of the work on the go right now at RNHF that this is the first update this year. The start of the year is typically a chance to ‘put the house in order’ as the season approaches and that is exactly what we are doing – so, in no particular order…

The aircraft are all going through varying degrees of servicing – from complete rebuild (Swordfish W5856) to Primary Service (Swordfish LS326) to modification (Chipmunk WK608). It will be no surprise that the Swordfish will be the star of the show this coming year as we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic in May. We’ve not forgotten the Sea Furies though – FB.11 VR930 will hopefully leap into the skies at the start of the season and T.20 G-RNHF will return from winter maintenance at North Weald to start the season too. With the other aircraft rebuilt, work will begin to put Sea Hawk WV908 back in the air towards the end of the year.

Pilots have been busy too, making the most of every opportunity that arrives – our thanks to the Army Historic Aircraft Flight for the loan of their Chipmunk whilst ours undergoes modification and to Tim Manna, one of the Trustees of the Fly Navy Heritage Trust, who recently made available his T6 Texan from North Weald. With our annual inspection from Naval Flying Standards Flight in March, the pilots are taking every opportunity to hone their skills!

As ever the Flight has been busy with visitors – ranging from school groups to veterans. The RNHF will also feature in an upcoming episode of ‘Flog It’ which visited the Fleet Air Arm Museum recently, which should appear on BBC TV during the summer months.
The Battle of the Atlantic 70th anniversary commemorative events in May will be our focus at the start of the season, and all our plans are currently being drawn up to make the various flypasts and displays achievable.

At present we are planning to flypast HMS Illustrious in London on the 9 and 11th May, and then HMS Bulwark in Liverpool on the 24th and 26 May. The Fly Navy Heritage Trust have fundraising events planned on both ships and further details are available on their website www.fnht.co.uk. For the moment the event onboard HMS Illustrious has sold out but there are still seats available for the dinner on HMS Bulwark on a first come first serve basis.

Planning has already started for the rest of the air show events around the UK over the summer and details will be announced in due course, and indeed RNHF displays will be announced on this website so watch this space. You can rest assured that we will make every effort to reach as many shows as we can through the summer.

Remember you can also follow us on facebook, and do make use of the virtual hangar tour by following the link on this page.