A historic Royal UK Navy 1950s fighter, the de Havilland Sea Vixen, will join the fly past over the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, at the official naming ceremony by Her Majesty The Queen in Rosyth, Scotland on Friday 4 July 2014.
Sea Vixen FAW2 (Fighter All Weather) G-CVIX XP924, painted in the colours of 899 Naval Air Squadron from HMS Eagle in 1971, is the last and only flying Sea Vixen in the world.
The iconic British fighter, which flew on continuous operations throughout the 1960s and early 1970s at the height of the Cold War, is the embodiment of naval carrier aviation representing the high speed strike aircraft of ‘the jet age’ of naval fixed wing carrier operations.
The Sea Vixen will participate in the flypast over HMS Queen Elizabeth as a result of a joint venture between the Royal Navy, the Fly Navy Heritage Trust and the owner of the aircraft, Julian Jones, through sponsorship by his company, Drilling Systems UK.
[mappress] Press Release, July 02, 2014; Image: UK Navy