5 Pounds - Elizabeth II Naval Aviation - Mayfly, Silver Proof

The Mayfly was the Royal Navy's first rigid airship, completed in 1911 at a cost of £35,000 and destroyed before she ever flew a single operational hour — a gust of wind broke her back during handling at Barrow-in-Furness. The disaster effectively halted British naval airship development for years, ceding ground to Germany's rapidly expanding Zeppelin programme at precisely the wrong moment.

Guernsey's naval aviation series drew on episodes spanning the full arc of Fleet Air Arm history. The Mayfly's inclusion is a pointed choice — commemorating a failure as much as a beginning.