Vintage Film Night at the Fleet Air Arm Museum

Vintage film - Airship

Friday 16th May, the second of a new series of film nights at the Fleet Air Arm Museum will screen a number of films from the archive.

The rare footage from WW1 and WW2 and the early 60s show the development of Royal Naval aviation from the earliest days of the Royal Naval Air Service, forerunner of the Fleet Air Arm, through to the 1990s.

Says Barbara Gilbert Senior Archivist “We all know about the trenches on the Western Front during the First World War but not many people realise that the Royal Naval Air Service had bases in the Aegean. From these airbases, they operated not only aeroplanes but airships. This vintage footage gives us a glimpse of what was involved.”

Other films to be screened will include, 1930s footage of the Fleet Air Arm showing off its carrier-borne squadrons of Fairey IIIFs and Blackburn Ripons from HMS Renown and HMS Furious.

A WW2 film following recruits as they join the Fleet Air Arm and a film of life on board the Floating Fortress that was HMS Victorious in the Mediterranean circa 1960 when her air group consisted of Supermarine Scimitars, De Havilland Sea Venoms and Westland Whirlwinds.

Tickets for the film night can be obtained on line at www.fleetairarm.com or from the door on the night. Tickets cost £5.00 for film night only or £12.50 to include supper in the museum’s Swordfish restaurant prior to the screening.

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