THE Navy’s Lynx helicopter display team is ready for a summer of wowing the crowds as it gears up for the show season.

The Yeovilton-based Black Cats make their 2007 debut at the internationally-renowned Duxford air show – and will continue performing stunts for the crowds until the second week of October.

This year will also see the team – pilots Lt Gary McCall and Danish exchange officer Lt Cdr Lars Harpoeth and observers Lt Craig Holliehead, Lt Simon Collins, and Lt Simon Hilton – heading overseas to perform in Denmark.

The fliers have been in training in the Somerset skies since February and will soon receive their certification permitting them to perform through the summer.

And wherever the cats go, so too does their world-first simulator. This year the display will be accompanied on the ground by a hi-tech motion simulator which mimics every move the Black Cats make to give audiences an idea of what the aircrews experience.

Also new for the 2007 season is a black and grey livery for the two helicopters – in keeping with the mammal the helicopter takes it name from. (The team itself draws its name from the RN art of ‘one upmanship’, or ‘black catting’ in Jackspeak.)

Sponsorship to support the team on its travels this summer comes from watchmakers Breitling and Yeovil optometrists Robert Frith who provide the aviators with their obligatory Ray Ban sunglasses.