Tina Rowe takes a look at the Edwardian pioneers who will be among those celebrated at this year's RNAS Yeovilton Air Day, which is marking 100 years of naval aviation

W hen the Edwardian Admiralty commissioned a gigantic airship back in 1909, many thought the idea of war in the air was a science fiction fantasy.

The airship Mayfly may have lasted little longer than her fragile namesake, breaking in two on her second test flight, but Navy chiefs were convinced that aircraft were a vital reconnaissance tool and continued to develop Britain's first military aviation service undaunted.

And as Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton celebrates the centenary of naval aviation with a spectacular fly-past during its air day on July 11, the Fleet Air Arm is hard at work all over the world.

It was the Royal Navy which in World War I carried out the first strategic bombing from the air, the first air-to-air kill, the first sinking of a ship using a torpedo from the air and the first use of aircraft in a sea battle.

The Navy's outdated Swordfish biplanes were the heroes of the World War II Battle of Taranto, crippling the Italian Fleet in harbour, and a Navy Swordfish also crippled the German pocket battleship Bismarck. The plane's pilot, Scotsman Jack Moffat, still fighting fit, joined other veterans to celebrate the centenary in London earlier this year.

Yeovilton squadrons played key roles in the Irag War and in the Falklands campaign, when its Sea Harriers famously proved their worth.

Commando helicopter squadrons from Yeovilton are busy on troop-carrying and other missions in Afghanistan, and Lynx crews from 815 Naval Air Squadron are riding shot-gun with ships around the world, ready to round up drug-runners in the Caribbean or bring help to the victims of earthquakes or hurricanes.

Those early naval aviators must have been an especially tough breed. They included a teenage Henry Allingham, now at 113 the world's oldest man, but back in 1915 a 19-year-old mechanic keen to do his bit in the Great War.

Mr Allingham joined the fledgling Royal Naval Air Service and in 1916 saw action aboard an armoured trawler during the terrible Battle of Jutland, in which, on the night of May 30, 8,600 lives were lost as 250 British and German ships clashed.

The Seaplanes he serviced were Short 184s, the first planes to take part in a naval battle, and some were built in Somerset. The fledgling Westland aircraft company, also keen to do its bit, made Shorts at its factory in Yeovil, and sent them in prefabricated sections down to the local railway station by horse and cart.

Mr Allingham, from Sussex, came face to face with the only Short 184 to survive, on a visit to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton three years ago. Surveying remnants of the fragile craft he said: "It was primitive, really pathetic.

"It was only a few years since a powered air machine had flown for the first time, 53 yards at an altitude of six feet. We had no decent guns until we got the Lewis gun in 1917, and then we made rapid progress.

"We had no radio; we carried two pigeons."

But it is not just naval aviation which has a birthday to celebrate, the Westland Sea King helicopter, tough old workhorse of the Yeovilton's Commando helicopter squadrons, is celebrating its 40th birthday.

And to honour the occasion, air day will see a large-scale gathering of the type in various marks.

Sea Kings have served in Kosovo, Operation Desert Storm and the Falklands conflict, during which Prince Andrew – the Fleet Air Arm's presiding Commodore-in-Chief – was a Sea King co-pilot.

Meanwhile, air day's special centenary fly-past of up to 50 current and historic naval aircraft will be an even grander display than that which flew over Greenwich earlier this year, for it will feature Harriers, which are forbidden to fly over the capital.

It will showcase the evolution of aircraft technology, and will include the Swordfish, the fast and powerful Korean War-era Hawker Sea Fury and the modern-day, V-STOL Harrier, examples of which have been deployed in Afghanistan.

It will also feature a number of unique survivors such as the Hawker Sea Hawk and De Havilland Sea Vixen – both of which represent the only flying aircraft of their breeds – along with examples of all contemporary Fleet Air Arm and FAA-affiliated defence training types currently based at RNAS Yeovilton and RNAS Culdrose, including the Westland Lynx and Sea King helicopters, and Grob and Firefly trainers.

Visually, the Flypast will be a feast for the eyes, and it will also produce an extraordinary accompanying soundtrack – a fusion of jet, piston and rotary-engined sounds that will resonate majestically through the air as the aircraft form up, pass overhead and break to land. The spirits of those Edwardian pioneers may be soaring among them.