This is a list of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). A Fairey Swordfish in Flight TR1138

On 1 April 1918 the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was merged with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to form the Royal Air Force (RAF) which directly operated and controlled all naval aircraft. On 1 April 1924 the ''Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force'' was created as a distinct component of the RAF, which existed until 24 May 1939 when command of the Fleet Air Arm was transferred back to

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 Fr ...

control. Coastal Command patrol aircraft, including most large seaplanes, remained with the RAF despite their operations in a naval environment. Prototypes were largely under the control of the Air Ministry and not the Fleet Air Arm until their introduction into service.

Aircraft

Acronyms in table :ASW; Anti-submarine warfare :AEW; Airborne Early Warning :ECM; Electronic counter measures :EW; Electronic Warfare aircraft

Helicopters to support the Royal Marines

* Aerospatiale Gazelle * Agusta-Bell Sioux * Westland-Bell Sioux *

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 ...

* Westland Scout

Airships and balloons

* List of British airships *

Barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe collision risk to aircraft, making the attacker's approach more difficult. Early barra ...

UAVs and drones

Airspeed Queen Wasp The Airspeed AS.30 Queen Wasp was a British pilotless target aircraft built by Airspeed Limited at Portsmouth during the Second World War. Although intended for both Royal Air Force and Royal Navy use, the aircraft never went into series ...

* Boeing Insitu ScanEagle * Curtiss Queen Seamew * de Havilland DH.82 Queen Bee *

Miles Queen Martinet The Miles M.25 Martinet was a target tug aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) that was in service during the Second World War. It was the first British aircraft to be designed specifically for target towing. Work on t ...

Gliders

Akaflieg München Mü13 The Akaflieg München Mü13 Merlin and Akaflieg München Mü13 Atalante were gliders designed and built in Germany from 1935. A motor-glider version of the Merlin was converted by the addition of a small engine in the nose, as the Mü13M Mo ...

– One former Luftwaffe (1945–1957) *

DFS SG 38 Schulgleiter The Schneider DFS 108-14 SG-38 ''Schulgleiter'' () is a German high-wing, cable-braced, single-seat primary glider that was designed by Schneider, Rehberg and Hofmann at Edmund Schneider's factory at Grunau in 1938, hence the designation. It ...

– Three (1947–1952) * Eliotts Olympia I – One (1946–1955) * DFS Kranich I – One (1946–1960) * DFS Kranich II – One (1946–1953) * Schneider Grunau Baby – Six (1946–1952) * Slingsby Cadet – One (1946–1949) *

Slingsby Prefect The Slingsby T.30 Prefect is a 1948 British modernisation of the 1932 single-seat Grunau Baby glider. About 53 were built for civil and military training purposes. Development In 1948, Slingsby Sailplanes developed the 1932 Grunau Baby, which ...

– One (1953–1956)

Weapons of the Fleet Air Arm

Air-to-air missiles

* AMRAAM: Medium-range air-to-air missile – Carried by the Sea Harrier. * Firestreak: Air-to-air missile – Carried by the Sea Venom and Sea Vixen (retired). * Red Top: Air-to-air missile – Carried by the Sea Vixen (retired). * Sidewinder: Short-range air-to-air missiles – Carried by the Buccaneer. Phantom, Scimitar and Sea Harrier. *

Sparrow Sparrow may refer to: Birds * Old World sparrows, family Passeridae * New World sparrows, family Passerellidae * two species in the Passerine family Estrildidae: ** Java sparrow ** Timor sparrow * Hedge sparrow, also known as the dunnock or hed ...

: Medium-range air-to-air missile – Carried by the Phantom

Air-to-surface missiles

* AS.11: air-to-surface anti-tank, anti-ship missile. Carried by the Wessex and

Wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

helicopter (retired). *

AS.12 The SS.12 and AS.12 are two variants of the same missile: SS for surface-to-surface and AS for air-to-surface. It was designed in 1955-1957 by Nord Aviation, later Aérospatiale. It was a derivative of the NORD SS-10 and SS-11 missiles which w ...

: Air-to-surface anti-ship missile. Carried by the Wasp and Wessex helicopters (retired). *

Bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, more compact, conce ...

: Air-to-surface missile – Carried by the Scimitar and Sea Vixen (retired). * Lightweight Multirole Missile *

Martel Martel may refer to: People * Andre Martel (1946–2016), American politician and businessman * Anne-Marie Martel (1644–1673), founder of what is now the Congrégation des Sœurs de l’Enfant-Jésus. * James B. Aguayo-Martel, ophthalmologis ...

– Carried by the Buccaneer and Sea Harrier. *

Sea Eagle A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the genus ''Haliaeetus'' in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Taxonomy and evolution The genus ''Haliaeetus'' ...

: Anti-ship missile, carried by the Buccaneer and Sea Harrier. * Sea Skua: Anti-ship missile, normally carried by the Lynx. * Sea Venom: Anti-ship missile, on order for use on the Wildcat.

Nuclear weapons 1950 to 2000

* Red Beard nuclear bomb – Carried by the Buccaneer, Scimitar and Sea Vixen. * WE.177 nuclear bomb – Carried by the Buccaneer, Sea Harrier and Sea Vixen. ** WE.177 nuclear depth charge – Carried by the Westland Lynx, Wasp and Wessex helicopters.

Unguided rockets

* 2-inch RP - Air-to-air, air-to-surface rockets. Carried by the Buccaneer and Sea Vixen. * SNEB – 68-mm (2.7-inch) air-to-surface rockets. Carried by the Buccaneer, Phantom, Sea Harrier and Sea Vixen. * RP-3 – 3-inch (76-mm) air-to-surface rockets. Carried by the Attacker. Firefly, Scimitar, Sea Fury, Sea Hawk, Sea Hurricane, Sea Vixen, Swordfish, Tarpon/Avenger.

Torpedoes

* 18" Mark 30 torpedo – Carried by the Fairey Gannet and Westland Whirlwind helicopter. * British 18 inch torpedo – Carried by the Blackburn Firebrand. * Mark 24 mine *

Mark 43 torpedo The 10" Mark 43 torpedo was the first and smallest of the United States Navy light-weight anti-submarine torpedoes. This electrically propelled 10-inch (25-cm) torpedo was 92 inches (2.3 m) long and weighed 265 pounds (120 kg). Described ...

Mark 44 torpedo The Mark 44 torpedo is a now-obsolete air-launched and ship-launched lightweight torpedo manufactured in the United States, and under licence in Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, with 10,500 being produced for U.S. service. It ...

– Carried by the Westland Sea king, Wasp, Wessex and Whirlwind helicopters. * Mark 46 torpedo – Carried by the Westland Lynx, Sea King, Wasp, Wessex and Whirlwind helicopters. *

Sting Ray torpedo The Sting Ray is a British acoustic homing lightweight torpedo (LWT) manufactured by GEC-Marconi, who were later bought out by BAE Systems. It entered service in 1983. Design and development In the 1950s the Royal Navy was equipped with Br ...

– Carried by the Westland Lynx and Sea King helicopters.

Free fall bombs

* BL755

References

External links

{{commons category, Aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Arm Arm Archive: AircraftFleet Air Arm - Phantom F4K
Fleet Air Arm aircraft Fleet Air Arm United Kingdom Fleet Air Arm, List of aircraft of the