The Navy regained control of its aircraft from the RAF in 1939 and suddenly needed airfields of its own. The Admiralty’s Air Division took 417 acres near Ilchester that year. The ground was heavy and wet, and drainage problems meant the runways, one main strip of 3,645 feet and three of 3,000 feet, were not finished until 1941, although Wikipedia lists a commanding officer, Captain Harry Murray-Smith, from March 1940. The Luftwaffe raided the station several times from 1940.

Its first job was training. 750 Naval Air Squadron moved in from RNAS Ford after Ford was bombed, 751 and 752 Squadrons followed, and the Naval Air Fighter School was set up; 794 Squadron was formed for air gunnery. Westland, whose works were a few miles away in Yeovil, built a repair facility on the site. In May 1943 827 Squadron was here with Albacores, and it became the first squadron to receive the Barracuda in real numbers. By 1942 the airfield was so crowded that satellites were opened at Charlton Horethorne and Henstridge, with an air direction radar centre at Speckington Manor. After the war Yeovilton became a demobilisation centre.

In 1952 Yeovilton became the shore base for the Navy’s all-weather fighters, and Taylor Woodrow lengthened the runways for jets in 1952 and again in 1957. The Sea Venom gave way to the Sea Vixen, and in 1969 to the Phantom FG1: 892 Naval Air Squadron was commissioned at the end of March 1969 as the first operational Royal Navy Phantom unit, using Yeovilton as its first home before moving to RAF Leuchars in Fife. During its work-up three of its aircraft flew in the 1969 transatlantic air race, and one set a west-to-east record of 4 hours 46 minutes that stood for five years.

The end of the big carriers in the 1970s could have ended Yeovilton’s front-line role. Instead Flag Officer Naval Air Command moved here from Lee-on-Solent, the commando helicopter squadrons (Wessex HU5, then Sea King HC4) made it their home, and in 1979 the first production Sea Harrier arrived for 700A Naval Air Squadron, the trials unit. It became 899 Squadron, the shore headquarters of the type, in March 1980, and a ski-jump was built on the airfield for training. For 27 years every front-line Sea Harrier squadron, 800, 801 and 899, was based here, until the type was withdrawn on 29 March 2006 and the squadrons disbanded.

The 2010 defence review decided that the RAF’s Merlin HC3 transport helicopters would pass to the Navy to replace the ageing Sea King HC4. Navy crews joined the RAF Merlin force at Benson in 2012; on 30 September 2014 No. 78 Squadron RAF disbanded at a handover ceremony and 846 Naval Air Squadron took its place. 846 moved to Yeovilton on 26 March 2015, 848 Squadron was briefly revived to fly the last Sea Kings, which retired in March 2016, and 845 Squadron left Benson for Yeovilton on 16 June 2016. The Merlins have since been upgraded to HC4 and HC4A standard, optimised for amphibious operations from ships.

At the same time Yeovilton became the Wildcat base. 700W Squadron had formed as the fielding unit in May 2009, the first Wildcat HMA2 arrived in January 2013, 825 Squadron formed in July 2014 and the last of 28 naval Wildcats was delivered in October 2016; the Lynx HMA8 left service in March 2017. Under Army 2020 the Army Air Corps brought its Wildcat AH1 fleet here from October 2015. The £150 million WINFRA programme paid for new squadron buildings, messes and 508 single bed spaces. On 30 June 2026 the Defence Investment Plan announced that the AH1 will be retired from 2027 and that the maritime Wildcat will eventually be replaced by an autonomous aircraft.

The Fleet Air Arm Museum opened at Yeovilton in May 1964 and now describes itself as Europe’s greatest naval aviation collection: more than 90 aircraft and 30,000 artefacts in four halls, with a view of the working airfield. Its prize civilian exhibit is Concorde 002, the first British-built Concorde, which the museum says was flown in fifty years ago. In 2023 Hall 4 was rebuilt as a mock-up of the flight deck of HMS Ark Royal as she looked in the 1970s. The museum counted 80,338 visitors in 2025.

The station also kept the Navy’s flying history in the air. The Royal Navy Historic Flight, formed at Yeovilton in 1972 to fly the Swordfish, Sea Fury, Firefly and Sea Hawk, ceased operations on 31 March 2019; its four aircraft, valued at about £1.81 million, were given to the Fly Navy Heritage Trust and now fly on the civil register as Navy Wings. The Yeovilton Air Day, held each July with flying displays and a commando helicopter assault, was last held in 2019 according to Wikipedia.