Since the end of World War 2 the primary role of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm has been airborne power projection; the ability rapidly to respond to any trouble spot across the globe and to protect the interests of the United Kingdom and its partner nations. The principal tools in that response were the strike aircraft which took the offensive to the aggressor. Although from 2010 to 2020 fixed-wing carrier aviation was not part of the Fleet Air Arm, with the advent of the navy’s two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, that capability has been restored. This renewed focus has not only seen the return of flying high performance aircraft from a carrier, but also the regeneration of the necessary skills, and courage, needed to cope with the extremes of weather and the nature of air operations in a very high-risk environment. However the lessons of the past have not been forgotten, and so many of those previous experiences are related within these pages – true stories of the last 76 years from aircrew, maintainers, aircraft handlers and many other supporting staff both men and women. Following on from the success of volume one, this second volume covers every fixed-wing aircraft type flown from carriers in the strike, anti-submarine warfare and the vital airborne early warning roles; from Scimitars to Hunters, Buccaneers to Skyraiders and many more, plus an extensive fleet of land-based aircraft. As with the first volume, involvement in operations such as Suez, the Beira Patrol, the Falklands, Belize, Bosnia and elsewhere is included. Despite the intensity and all-to-frequent tragedy of operations, the esprit de corps, and the ability to find the necessary release through laughter, shine through. Here are the words of the man and women themselves, profusely illustrated in black and white and color.

Helicopters have been going to sea with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm for over 70 years. Initially used for search and rescue (SAR) duties from aircraft carriers, the rapid development of both the helicopters and service experience resulted in them taking on the vital anti-submarine (and later anti-ship) attack roles. The 1956 Suez campaign saw the first operational use of Whirlwind helicopters for the insertion of troops by air into a battle zone, a capability which was expanded with more helicopters such as the Wessex, Sea King and today’s Merlin. Through their vital role in the 1960s Indonesian Confrontation, the Commando helicopter force became universally referred to as the ‘Junglies’. It is often said that if either of the 1982 Task Force aircraft carriers had been lost the Falklands War could not have been won. The same would surely have been true without helicopters. Their vital tasks, including inserting Special Forces behind enemy lines, protecting the Task Force from Exocet missile attack and recovering wounded troops whilst under enemy fire, are rightly hailed as being instrumental. At home, the essential SAR effort by both the Royal Navy and their RAF counterparts has resulted in incredible stories of saving lives against the odds. Royal Navy destroyers and frigates have also long since benefitted from having their own helicopter Flight aboard. Frequently operating in extremes of weather, flying a Wasp, Lynx or today’s Wildcat from and back to a heaving deck is every bit as risky as flying fixed-wing aircraft off the carriers of old. Once dismissed as a novelty, the helicopter has more than proved itself. Indeed, for ten years until the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, the Fleet Air Arm’s operational force was entirely rotary-wing. Today’s Merlins and Wildcats, with their dedicated aircrew, maintenance and support staff continue to demonstrate just how vital an asset the helicopter has become. Here are the words of the men and women themselves, skillfully brought to life by Steve Bond and profusely illustrated in color and b/w.

Throughout this book, readers are taken across the world with descriptions of the adventures had in this twin-engined supersonic long-range fighter-bomber. There are anecdotes of reconnaissance missions, encounters with the Russian Tupolevs, record-breaking flights and life on HMS Ark Royal.

Steve Bond is back with the final volume in this popular series. Unlike his previous three tomes, with their focus on aircraft and rotorcraft, this book is uniquely dedicated to the personnel of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) themselves. Each chapter will concentrate on the memories of contributors who served in a range of roles, including those below the flight deck. Accounts will focus on the everyday life upon an aircraft carrier as well as the extraordinary challenges faced during operations. There is a fascinating chapter covering exchange services with the RAF and other navies including the French and US; and also insight into the Indian navy’s experience with the Sea Hawk and Sea Harrier. Within the previous volumes, we met some true characters and there is a chapter devoted to people’s memories of them. The closing section entitled ‘Thoughts’ sees contributors reflect on their FAA career with many deeply moving responses and discourses on the future of the service. The book is heavily illustrated throughout in color and black and white with personal photographs from the contributors, artwork and tongue-in-cheek cartoons for which the FAA is famous. Volume Four is the perfect conclusion to the ongoing post-war story of a truly astounding branch of the armed forces.

The Colored Boys is Top Gun II with all the thrills, dangers, and aerial exploits of the first, only better. This is the story of aviators who fly F-14 Tomcats, amazing, complex, and phenomenal machines possessing technology that was light-years ahead of their time. Two black men from very different backgrounds believe that they can break into the demanding world of naval tactical aviation and learn to fly, operate, and master these machines and the technology they possess. While young and naive, these men are also amazingly confident, determined, and driven type-A personalities who take on the challenges that their chosen profession and dynamic careers demand. Told through their eyes, their personalities, and their experiences, we follow them as they evolve from terrified aviation officer candidates to commissioned officers into seasoned aviators. The Colored Boys follows them from their induction in Naval Officer Candidates School, through the myriad of challenges, terror, and joys of flight school, the demands of the replacement air group, and then to the demands of squadron life in the fleet. They train, develop, teach, and grow, and then they are thrust into the life-and-death struggles of war in the Persian Gulf. There, they enter combat and must fight for their survival in a war that tests their mettle as human beings, as aviators, and as men. The Colored Boys is also about the navythe real navy, a beloved but highly traditionalized institution that must grapple with the integration of these men into its culture, into its strict caste system of officers, persons commissioned and positioned to command sailors, and the men and women they command and serve who sometimes unconsciously, sometimes quite consciously, resist change and have deeply ingrained revulsion, prejudices, and aversion to black men that they sometimes dont even recognize or believe exists within themselves. This is the story of how these two men face, tackle, and overcome the invisible and mostly covert but highly prevalent racism and still excel in the already highly demanding world of naval aviation. This is the story of these phenomenal flying machines, the amazing men who fly them, and the demanding missions that they perform daily as they serve this nation as members of the United States Navy. Two African American men who fight to prove to others, to the navy, and ultimately to themselves that they do indeed belong, that they can hack it, that they too have the right stuff. They are many things to many people but ultimately they prove that they are not merely black men, not just commissioned officers, and not just Americans. They are naval aviators.