92 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 21
At the 1962 Royal Tournament at London’s Earls Court Exhibition Centre, visitors were
treated to a display of four state-of-the-art de Havilland Sea Vixens being prepared for
launch from the deck of a Royal Navy carrier. On closer inspection, however, all was not
quite what it seemed, as naval aviation historian MATTHEW WILLIS reveals...VIXETTES
here come the
WHEN IS A SEA VIXEN NOT A SEA VIXEN?
A rare, if slightly out-of-focus, photograph of the “Vixettes”
during a performance of the “Flight Deck” section of the Royal
Tournament at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, held
during July 11–28, 1962. The aircraft look remarkably convincing
and in all likelihood very few of the spectators noticed that the all-
weather fighters on display were not what they appeared to be.
MIKE HOOKS