RAF Lee On Solent

The naval air station at Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire, west of Portsmouth, began as a seaplane base in 1917 and was commissioned as HMS Daedalus in 1939, one of the shore stations transferred to the Fleet Air Arm on the eve of war. It became a major centre for training naval aircrew and engineers, and on D-Day in June 1944 it launched 435 spotting and reconnaissance sorties — said to be the highest one-day total of any British airfield — over the Normandy beaches. Aircraft ranged from the Supermarine Walrus and Fairey Swordfish to the Seafire, with search-and-rescue helicopters in later years. The Navy left in 1996, and the site is now Solent Airport Daedalus and home to the Hovercraft Museum.