The Wildcat Demo Team (Black Cats) are the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

's helicopter display team. The team is composed of two AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 anti-submarine and anti-shipping helicopters, with the aircraft and crews drawn from

825 Naval Air Squadron 825 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Naval Air Squadron which was re-commissioned on 10 October 2014 and currently flies the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA2. It was a carrier-based squadron that was formed on 8 October 1934 from the ...

based at

RNAS Yeovilton Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, or RNAS Yeovilton, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airfield of the Royal Navy and British Army, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases (the other being RNAS Culdrose) ...

in Somerset. The team performs at

airshows An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show m ...

and other public events around the UK and Europe. They perform a display which mixes close formation, opposition and synchronised manoeuvres.

History

Lynx

The Black Cats were formed in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and performed with the

Westland Lynx The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led t ...

. For their first three display seasons, the team was known as the 'Lynx Pair' – the "Black Cats" title was applied in 2004. The team's predecessors as the Royal Navy Helicopter Display Team were "The Sharks", who used four red

Westland Gazelle Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...

helicopters and disbanded in 1992. The team won the Steadman Sword for the best British participant at the

Royal International Air Tattoo The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the world's largest military air show, held annually in July, usually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England in support of The Royal Air Force Charitable Trust. The show typically attracts a to ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and as "Les Chats Noirs" performed at the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

's 30th Anniversary of operating the Lynx at

Lanvéoc Lanvéoc (; br, Lañveog) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. The École Navale, the French naval academy, is located here. Climate Lanvéoc has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''C ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

Royal Navy Black Cats Helicopter close manoeuvre

Lynx & Wildcat

2014 Due to the transition within the Royal Navy from the Lynx HMA.8 to the Wildcat HMA.2, one of the Lynxes was changed to an

AgustaWestland Wildcat The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat (previously called the Future Lynx and Lynx Wildcat) is a British military helicopter. It is an improved version of the Westland Super Lynx designed to serve in the battlefield utility, search and rescue and a ...

. * Black 1 (Wildcat): Lt Cdr Gary McCall * Black 2 (Lynx): Lt Ian Houlston with Lt Frank Suter as observer The 2014 season was the last year with the Lynx HMA.8.

Wildcat

2015 During the 2015 season the team only used the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2.

Solo Display

From 2019, the Black Cats rebranded as the ‘Wildcat Demo Team’ and operate only one aircraft. They confirmed that shows in 2020 would also feature a solo display.

References

External links

{{Royal Naval Air Squadrons 2001 establishments in the United Kingdom British aerobatic teams Fleet Air Arm Organisations based in Somerset South Somerset