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RNAS Yeovilton, known to the Royal Navy as HMS Heron, is a major Fleet Air Arm airbase a few miles north of Yeovil in Somerset, and one of only two active naval air stations in the United Kingdom. It offers a long, ILS-equipped hard runway and a busy military flying environment, making it a notable and historically rich destination for the simulator pilot exploring English military aviation.
RNAS Yeovilton, operating under the naval shore establishment name HMS Heron, is a Royal Navy airbase sited a few miles north of Yeovil in Somerset. It is one of the Fleet Air Arm's two principal air stations, the other being RNAS Culdrose, and is home to more than a hundred aircraft spread across front-line squadrons and training units, including the Wildcat Maritime Force and the Commando Helicopter Force. For a simulator pilot the field is of interest both for its long, ILS-served main runway and for its unbroken lineage as a front-line naval air station stretching back to the Second World War, together with the on-site Fleet Air Arm Museum and Navy Wings Heritage Centre.
The airfield lies a few miles north of the town of Yeovil in Somerset, and the base itself extends across two areas, one at Yeovilton and another at Ilton (Merryfield). As an active military airfield it sits within its own area of controlled airspace associated with the station, and pilots should expect it to be a significant feature in the local low-level military flying environment of the South West.
Yeovilton has two physical runways. The main runway, 08/26, is a hard surface 7,573 feet long on runway 08 and 7,491 feet long on the reciprocal 26, both lit, with an ILS serving runway 26. The secondary runway, 04/22, is a hard surface 4,792 feet long in each direction and is also lit. Field elevation is 66 feet.
The station callsign area uses Approach on 127.35 MHz, an ATIS on 28.392 MHz, Ground on 26.862 MHz, Operations on 673.6 MHz, and Tower on 122.1 MHz. Runway 26 is served by an ILS.
The site's potential as an airfield was identified in 1938 by Westland Aircraft's chief test pilot Harald Penrose, though the landowners, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of the Church of England, initially declined to sell. In 1939 the Admiralty Air Division requisitioned 417 acres of the land and construction began; the runways were completed in 1941 despite persistent drainage problems, with a main runway of 3,645 feet and three subsidiary runways of 3,000 feet each. Naval air squadrons 750, 751 and 752 moved in after RNAS Ford was bombed early in the war, along with the Naval Air Fighter School, and Westland Aircraft established a repair facility on site. The station was itself bombed by the Luftwaffe on several occasions. Squadron 794 formed at Yeovilton to train aerial gunnery, with part of a runway marked up to simulate a carrier flight deck, and 827 Naval Air Squadron flew Fairey Albacores and later became the first squadron to receive Fairey Barracudas in quantity from May 1943. Pressure on space led to satellite airfields being set up at Charlton Horethorne and Henstridge in 1942, and an Air Direction Radar centre was established nearby at Speckington Manor. After the war Yeovilton served as a major demobilisation centre, and from 1952 became the shore base for the fleet's all-weather fighters, with the runways extended in 1952 and 1957 to accommodate jet aircraft; in May 1953 it became headquarters of Flag Officer Flying Training. Through the 1960s the Sea Venom gave way to the de Havilland Sea Vixen and later the Phantom FG1, and the 1970s brought the transfer of Flag Officer Naval Air Command from RNAS Lee-on-Solent, with fixed-wing carrier operations passing to the RAF. The base became home to Commando Helicopter Squadrons flying the Wessex HU5 and later Sea King HC4, together with the Fleet Requirements and Aircraft Direction Unit, and it served as the Navy's main shore base for the Sea Harrier FRS1 and later FA2, for which a ski-jump, since removed, was installed for training. Following the closure of RNAS Portland in 1999, Yeovilton became the main shore base for the Lynx fleet. In July 2006 Sea King HC4 helicopters deployed from Yeovilton to Cyprus as part of Operation Highbrow, assisting the evacuation of British citizens from Lebanon.
Yeovilton remains one of the Royal Navy's two principal air stations and one of the busiest military airfields in the country, home to over a hundred aircraft across front-line and training squadrons, including the Wildcat Maritime Force and the Commando Helicopter Force operating the Merlin and Wildcat. Based units include 815, 825, 845, 846 and 847 Naval Air Squadrons and several Army Air Corps squadrons. The station also hosts the Fleet Air Arm Museum and the Navy Wings Heritage Centre. As an active military airbase, access is restricted and prior permission is required for any civilian flying activity.
