The Britannia Award is part of the Chief of Naval Air Training’s annual Aviation Awards programme.

It is given to the Navy or Marine Corps student aviator graduate of the strike pipeline who demonstrates the highest overall weapons score and performance in the advanced phase of strike training.

The Britannia Award, established in 1956 by the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty of the United Kingdom, is an annual award consisting of a scroll and a trophy.

It was given as a token of appreciation for the assistance rendered by the United States Navy in training Fleet Air Arm pilots in WW2 and the 1950s.

More than 250 British trainee pilots passed through US air training centres, where they were instructed by US Navy instructor pilots and brought up to US Navy operational standards.

A decade earlier, more than 28,000 naval pilots were trained and qualified with the US during the war years.

The trophy is a sterling silver model of the Vampire jet fighter which made the first scheduled jet deck landing in the world aboard HMS Ocean in December 1945.

Reference

Navy News. (2020) Prestigious UK Award for US Flier. Navy News. November 2020, pp.11.