“King of the Junglies” has landed at the Fleet Air Arm Museum
- The longest serving Mk4 Sea King helicopter – the ZA298, known as ‘King of the Junglies’, has landed at the Fleet Air Arm Museum
- Helicopter’s rich history to be told to thousands of visitors at the museum from August 4th
- The ZA298 survived four wars and will be preserved in the museum
- Pilots who flew Sea King over its history of nearly four decades will be in attendance
The much loved and longest serving Mk4 Sea King ZA298 has arrived at The National Museum of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm Museum (FAAM), where her memory will inspire many generations to come.
The ‘King of the Junglies’, as she is popularly known, has survived four wars and has been a real stalwart in supporting soldiers on various missions including at the Falklands, Bosnia, Iraq and more recently in Afghanistan.
Aircraft Curator at the museum, Dave Morris, is excited to be welcoming the Sea King into the museum’s collection, which will go on display from August 4.
“It’s always exciting to get a new aircraft into the collection and none more-so than Sea King ZA298,” he said.
“From its first combat action in 1982 (Falklands) it was still in active combat service some 30 years later in Afghanistan, and in the years in between it has been active in just about every other major combat or humanitarian aid task that the Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm has been involved with.
“It was also the helicopter that famously delivered the Olympic Flame to Tower Bridge during the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.
“A real ‘war horse’, 298 has taken heavy fire on several occasions and is still standing, and has some amazing stories to tell.
“This helicopter is also an important addition to the line-up of Westland aircraft that we have in the collection. The Fleet Air Arm Museum holds a collection of Westland built aircraft of world significance that dates back to The Short 184 aircraft that flew at the Battle of Jutland 100 years ago.
“ZA298 will add yet more naval aviation history to this very important collection of aircraft, built only seven miles away from the museum itself in the town of Yeovil.”
Four Sea Kings landed at RNAS Yeovilton, before a handing-over ceremony in the museum earlier this year, where around 300 servicemen from the Royal Navy, RAF and Royal Marines celebrated her career which has spanned more than three decades.
Representatives from the helicopter’s manufacturer AugustaWestland, who, with the Royal Navy, handed over ZA298 to the museum, were also there to speak about the helicopter’s illustrious career.
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