A Westland Lynx Helicopter (XZ642), part of the Royal Naval Black Cats Lynx Duo on display at the Biggin Hill Air Show
702 Naval Air Squadron (702 NAS) is a naval squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It is currently based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset. It is also the parent unit of the Royal Navy's Black Cats aerobatic Display Team The Black Cats are the Royal Navy’s Helicopter Display Team flying front-line Lynx maritime attack helicopters. The Team started in 2001 as the ‘Lynx Pair’ and have been the first official Royal Navy flying display team since the ‘Sharks’ disbanded in the mid-1990s. Winning several awards over the years the Black Cats are requested to display all over the UK and at many European air shows. The aircrew and engineers are all volunteers from 702 Naval Air Squadron and the Lynx Helicopter Force based at the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset. The name ‘Black Cats’ is derived from the fierce cat depicted on the 702 Naval Air Squadron emblem and the term ‘blackcatting’ which is naval slang for one-upmanship – doing or owning something better than someone 702 squadron was reformed in 1978 and has since operated the Westland Lynx HAS3 and HMA8. The squadron is tasked to provide aircrew training and maintenance personnel for the Maritime Lynx, ready for ship's flights. It has a complement of around 160 aircrew and maintainers with approximately a further 20 aircrew and 115 maintainers in training per annum also providing refresher training for an additional 30 aircrew. In 1981 these roles were split and the parenting duty became the charge of 815 Naval Air Squadron. The following year both squadrons relocated to RNAS Portland for a period of eighteen years before returning to its current location of RNAS Yeovilton in 1999. The 702 Naval Air Squadron (702 NAS) was a naval squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset and earlier at RNAS Portland in Dorset. As a training Squadron it trained all ground and air crew for the sister front-line maritime Lynx squadron, 815 NAS
Size: 3786px × 2380px
Location: Biggin Hill Airport, Biggin Hill, Kent, TN16 3BN, UK
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 702, aerobatic, air, biggin, black, cats, close-, display, flying, helicopter, hill, lynx, naval, navys, rnas, royal, show, squadron, team, xz642, yeovilton
