Themes

Naval Fighter School: Fred's Five

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• 806 Squadron: the Royal Navy goes to North America.

• 738 Squadron: Red Seahawks.

• Naval Fighter School: Fred's Five

• 892 Squadron: Simon's Sircus.

• 705 Squadron: The Sharks.

• 702 Squadron: The Black Cats.

Forming the team

This team was formed in 1962. There were five pilots and five observers from the Naval Fighter School at RNAS Yeovilton. Fred was Lieutenant Commander Peter Reynolds, a very experienced flyer, a Test Pilot with thousands of hours in the air.

They flew the De Havilland Sea Vixen, a high level interceptor day and night fighter. Despite its size and complexity, its handling qualities were very good, although not designed for aerobatics.

Air Displays

In order to make the displays more spectacular each aircraft was modified to make coloured smoke, this is done by injecting dyed oil from a small tank under the port wing into the exhaust.

To find out more about Simon's Sircus, select Next