Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton

Updated: October 2026 – If you travel to Yeovilton, you get two spots for the price of one. On one side stands one of the largest collections on naval aviation anywhere, with more than 90 aircraft and a Concorde you can climb into. On the other lies Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, an active military airfield where Wildcat and Merlin helicopters do their duty. The museum was not built next to the airfield; it sits in the middle of its grounds.

This page shows you what awaits in the four halls, how to keep the airfield in view, when it is best to come and what rules apply on a military site.

A museum on a naval airfield

The air station at Yeovilton is in Somerset, a few kilometers north of Yeovil. It was built from 1939, has been in operation since 1941 and, as is customary in the Royal Navy, also bears a ship’s name: HMS Heron. The airfield has two concrete runways, the main runway 08/26 at about 2,290 meters and the shorter 04/22 at about 1,460 meters. The ICAO code is EGDY.

The museum opened on May 28, 1964. For the inauguration, the Duke of Edinburgh flew to Yeovilton in the demonstrator of an HS 748. From the small collection of that time grew one of the most important exhibitions on British naval aviation. According to the museum, it now comprises more than 90 aircraft and about 30,000 objects, plus engines, ship models – mainly of aircraft carriers – and an archive. In 2025, according to common figures, a good 80,000 visitors came.

Officially the museum now goes by Royal Navy Museums: Naval Aviation. On signposts, web addresses and in the scene, though, it remains the Fleet Air Arm Museum, FAAM for short – named after the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Navy’s air arm.

The layout: museum in the north, airfield in the south

The museum lies on the northern edge of the air station on the B3151. The parking lot is right at the entrance, and opposite stands Cobham Hall with the reserve collection. South of the museum buildings stretches the airfield with both runways and the helicopter areas.

For photography, this is the most important piece of information: from the museum you look south. At midday the sun is thus in front of you, and helicopters and aircraft become dark silhouettes. In the morning and late afternoon, the light falls from the side from the east or west. In winter the sun stays low in the south all day – then the backlight at the airfield is stubborn, and the halls are the better choice.

Area	What awaits you there	Spotter value
Hall 1	From airships and biplanes to jets and helicopters	Many one-offs, café in the building
Hall 2	Second World War, kamikaze room, Korean War	Rare types, some from Japan
Hall 3	Flight deck and island of HMS Ark Royal in the 1970s	Unique staging
Hall 4	Concorde 002, BAC 221, P.1127, Bristol Scout replica	Prototypes and experimental aircraft
Cobham Hall	Reserve collection and restoration	Only on tours
Airfield	Service operations with Wildcat, Merlin and training aircraft	Bonus, can’t be planned

Concorde 002: the first British Concorde

For many visitors it is the real reason for the trip to Somerset. Concorde 002 with the registration G-BSST was the second prototype of the supersonic airliner and the first Concorde built in Britain. Its first flight led on April 9, 1969, from the plant at Filton to Fairford airfield, with test pilot Brian Trubshaw at the controls. A few weeks earlier, the French prototype 001 had taken off in Toulouse.

After years in testing, 002 flew one last time on March 4, 1976, to Yeovilton. In 2026 it has thus stood in the museum for half a century. Today it is housed in Hall 4, and you can go on board. Inside you see that it was never an airliner: a prototype was full of test instrumentation instead of passenger seats. The museum points out that it is cramped inside and wheelchair access is limited.

Next to the Concorde, Hall 4 holds experimental aircraft that made British aviation history. The BAC 221 is a converted research jet from the Concorde development circle. The Hawker Siddeley P.1127 is regarded as the forerunner of the vertical-takeoff Harrier. Add a replica of the Bristol Scout biplane.

Photographically, Hall 4 is a challenge. The Concorde is long, and the hall offers little distance for an overall view. Bring a wide-angle or stitch together a panorama from several single shots. Because tripods are banned, a steady hand and a higher ISO help. You will find tips for short focal lengths in the article Wide-angle and normal lenses for spotting, and the whole story of the type in Concorde.

Hall 3: on the deck of Ark Royal

The second big attraction is the Aircraft Carrier Experience. Hall 3 is designed as the flight deck and island of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal as the ship looked in the 1970s. The hall took its present form in 2023. At the entrance stand anchors of Ark Royal and HMS Eagle, both of which served as Royal Navy carriers.

On the deck, the aircraft stand as if ready for the next launch. The 1970s were the era of the big jets on British carriers: the museum’s collection includes a McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1, a Blackburn Buccaneer and a de Havilland Sea Vixen. Which aircraft stands where at the moment can change with rearrangements.

For spotters the hall is a rare subject: carrier aircraft in deck arrangement you otherwise only get on a museum ship like the Intrepid Museum in New York. The light is staged and partly changes. So expose for the bright areas and work with a wide-open aperture instead of relying on flash – which isn’t allowed anyway.

Hall 1 and 2: collecting types through a century

In Hall 1, the story begins with airships and biplanes and extends to modern jets and helicopters. A special piece is the forward fuselage of the Short 184 with serial 8359, which saw action at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. In the same building is Warneford’s Café.

Hall 2 is devoted mainly to the Second World War. A side room deals with Japanese kamikaze aircraft, including a Yokosuka Ohka, plus two types from the Korean War. Shortly before the transition to Hall 3 stand models of aircraft carriers.

For type collectors, the list is long. According to common reference works, the collection includes:

• Fairey Fulmar N1854 – the prototype and the only surviving example of a type of which about 600 were built
• Fairey Swordfish and Supermarine Walrus from the era of open cockpits and biplanes
• Supermarine Seafire F.17, the naval version of the Spitfire
• Vought Corsair KD431 in its restored 1944 condition
• Hawker Sea Fury and Westland Wyvern from the transition period to the jet
• Sea Vixen, Buccaneer and Phantom FG.1 from the heyday of the big carriers
• British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA.2, the last version of the vertical-takeoff aircraft with the Royal Navy
• Helicopters such as the Wessex, Sea King and Lynx

Many of these types carry a military serial number instead of a civil registration. If you are unsure about older aircraft, the article Identifying vintage aircraft in the sky gives features you can use to tell similar types apart.

Outside: flying at RNAS Yeovilton

Yeovilton is not a museum airfield but one of the most important helicopter bases of the British armed forces. According to common reference works, stationed here are, among others:

• 815 and 825 Naval Air Squadron with the Wildcat HMA2, the Royal Navy’s shipborne helicopter
• The Commando Helicopter Force with squadrons 845, 846 and 847, which fly the Merlin and the Wildcat AH1 in support of the Royal Marines
• Several squadrons of the Army Air Corps with the Wildcat AH1
• 727 Naval Air Squadron with the Tutor training aircraft

Wildcat and Merlin come from the production of Leonardo, whose British helicopter arm is based in Yeovil, only a few kilometers south. The Wildcat is a further development of the Lynx – so in the museum you see the predecessor, outside the successor.

Add Navy Wings, a trust that restores and flies historic naval aircraft. It has its Heritage Centre at the air station. According to Navy Wings, the collection includes two Fairey Swordfish – W5856 is considered the oldest flyable example in the world –, a Seafire, a Sea Fury, a Sea Hawk and a Westland Wasp. Whether one of these aircraft is at the airfield or flying during your visit depends on maintenance and the airshow calendar.

Nothing at the airfield can be planned. Military operations follow training, exercises and missions, not visitors. In experience, more is going on during the week than on weekends. Because the museum is only open Wednesday to Sunday outside the holidays, Wednesday to Friday are the best days to combine the halls and flying. For helicopters hovering and taxiing, the article Spotting helicopters helps, and the differences between the types are explained in Identifying helicopter types.

The Air Day

For a long time, Yeovilton was also known for its air day. Until 2019, the air station held an Air Day every July at which the public could enter the airfield. Whether and in what form there will be an air day again is announced by the Royal Navy. If you are looking for a specific British airshow, the overview Airshows in Europe for plane spotters helps.

Photography: halls, backlight and a military site

Through the halls without a tripod or flash

The house rules are clear: private photos are allowed, but without flash, and tripods are banned across the whole site. For the halls that means: work with fast lenses and higher ISO, brace yourself on railings and use image stabilization. A wide-angle is a must for the Concorde and carrier deck; a normal zoom is enough for most other exhibits.

Watch for reflections. In glass cases and on polished fuselages, lamps and visitors show up. A slightly changed angle or a lens hood right against the glass helps more than any post-processing.

At the airfield: wait for side light

Because you look south, midday is the worst time for pictures of flying. Use those hours for the halls and keep an eye out for movements in the morning and late afternoon. On overcast days the light is softer and the backlight problem smaller. How to shoot into the sun anyway is covered in the article Backlight in aircraft photography.

Helicopters are subjects of their own: with a very short shutter speed you freeze the rotor blades, and the picture looks as though the aircraft hangs motionless in the air. For rotor motion, you have to lengthen the exposure time. The same consideration applies to the propeller aircraft of Navy Wings; more in the article Photographing propellers.

Getting there: car, train and bicycle

Yeovilton is in rural Somerset. By car the trip is easiest: the museum is on the B3151, near the trunk roads A303 and A37. From the M5 motorway, junction 25 at Taunton is the nearest connection. The parking lot is free, has about 230 spaces, 15 of them for people with disabilities, and lies about 50 meters from the entrance. You don’t need a reservation.

By train it gets more awkward. The museum names the stations Yeovil Pen Mill, Yeovil Junction and Castle Cary. From there you need a taxi or a bus connection, which you should check before you go. For bicycles, there is a bike rack at the museum. You will find general planning tips in the article Getting to the spot.

If you travel from abroad, you often land in Bristol. From there Yeovilton is easy to reach by rental car, and Aerospace Bristol is practically on the way.

Events in fall and winter 2026

The museum regularly offers special programs. For the rest of 2026, the events calendar announces, among others:

Date	Event	Interesting for spotters because …
October 22	Yeovilton Naval Aviation Heritage Tour	Full-day tour on naval aviation at Yeovilton
October 26–30	A Fairey Adventure (fall break)	Family program around Fairey aircraft
October 28–29	Aviation VR Experience	Virtual reality among the exhibits
December 2	Reserve Collection Experience in Cobham Hall	Rare access to the reserve collection
December 10–11	Christmas Concert under Concorde	Evening event under Concorde 002

Check dates and booking directly on the museum’s website; places on tours are usually limited. If the work behind the scenes interests you, take a look at the article Volunteering at aviation museums.

Yeovilton compared

Great Britain has a dense landscape of aviation museums at airfields. Yeovilton stands out for two things: its focus on naval aviation and its location on an active air station with helicopter operations.

For warbirds in the air, IWM Duxford is the first address, and for the history of the Royal Air Force the RAF Museum Cosford. You can experience active fighter jets at the viewing area of RAF Coningsby or in the low-flying valley Mach Loop. And if you want to tell the Concorde story completely, continue from Yeovilton to Aerospace Bristol.

Conclusion

The Fleet Air Arm Museum is not a place where aircraft land every minute. It is a place where you walk through the entire history of British naval aviation in a day, climb into the first British Concorde and stand on the rebuilt deck of Ark Royal. With a bit of luck, a Wildcat flies its circuits outside, or a Merlin returns from an exercise.

If you keep an eye on opening days, go into the halls at midday and look at the airfield in the morning and late afternoon, you get the most out of Yeovilton. For Concorde fans and type collectors, the detour to Somerset belongs on every Great Britain tour.