A comprehensive history of the Royal Navy’s naval aviation component’s campaigns during World War II. For the first time, this book tells the story of how naval air operations evolved into a vital element of the Royal Navy’s ability to fight a three-dimensional war against both the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. An integral part of RN, the Fleet Air Arm was not a large organization, with only 406 pilots and 232 front-line aircraft available for operations in September 1939. Nevertheless, its impact far outweighed its numbers—it was an RN fighter that shot down the first enemy aircraft of the war, and an RN pilot was the first British fighter “ace” with 5 or more kills. The Fleet Air Arm’s rollcall of achievements in northern waters went on to include the Norwegian Campaign, the crippling of Bismarck, the gallant sortie against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as they passed through the Channel, air attacks on enemy E-boats in the narrow seas, air cover for the Russian convoys, air attacks that disabled Tirpitz, and strikes and minelaying operations against German shipping in the Norwegian littoral that continued until May 1945. By the end of the war in Europe the FAA had grown to 3243 pilots and 1336 aircraft. This book sets all these varied actions within their proper naval context and both technical and tactical aspects are explained with “thumbnail” descriptions of aircraft, their weapons and avionics. Cross reference with the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour has been made for the first time to put names to those aircrew killed in action wherever possible as a mark of respect for their determination against enemy forces on, above and below the sea surface which more often than not outnumbered them. The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe completes David Hobbs’s much-praised six-volume series chronicling the operational history of British naval aviation from the earliest days to the present. Praise for The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe “In this masterly addition to his series on the Fleet Air Arm at war, David Hobbs addresses naval air operations in the Atlantic, the North Sea, the Arctic, and the English Channel.” —Professor Andrew Lambert, Warship 2023 “With lots of action it rattles along and is a very good read.” —The Armourer Magazine, May 2022

Fleet Air Arm Handbook is the most comprehensive review available of the Royal Navy's air power during the war years. Starting with a brief history, the book progresses with a full war diary of all the major operations in a gripping narrative account. We see the different functions of the Fleet Air Arm - to protect the essential supplies brought by merchant ships, and their close support of sea and ground forces, both from carriers at sea and bases ashore. In-depth analysis reveals what life was like in the Fleet Air Arm during the war; the food, accommodation, training, activities, uniform, and the relationship between aircrew and their shipmates aboard the Royal Navy's carriers. Each squadron, wing and carrier air group is listed along with their operations and locations. This is a well-researched tribute to an important force and is essential reading for anyone interested in naval or aviation activity during the Second World War.

The Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-45 is the most comprehensive review available of the Royal Navy's air power during the war years. Starting with a brief history, the book progresses with a full war diary of all of the major operations in a gripping narrative account. In-depth analysis reveals what it was like to work as part of the Fleet Air Arm during the war - the food, accommodation, training, activities and uniform; and gives a glimpse into the men's characters. At the outbreak of the Second World War, British naval aviation was in the midst of chaos and confusion. But as this book shows, the rapid expansion of the Fleet Air Arm was one of the major achievements of the war. The author provides a detailed look at the aircraft, squadrons, naval air stations and aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers involved. The book ends with a review of what is available at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton.

Overstretched from the start of the Second World War in 1939, the Royal Navy acquired First World War surplus destroyers from the United States Navy and embarked on a massive programme of construction, building and buying aircraft carriers, escort carriers and frigates and corvettes, building up a powerful submarine arm and, almost from scratch, re-creating the naval air arm taken from it in 1918. The service had to learn fast. It soon became clear that the Germans would not provide an opportunity for a major battleship to battleship fleet action along the lines of Jutland, but that submarine warfare and surface raiders were to be just as effective at undermining the British war effort. The Royal Navy was expected to be active in the North Atlantic and in British waters, and then after the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, it had to protect the Arctic convoys. Meanwhile, it also had to keep control of the Mediterranean, alone after the fall of France, supporting ground forces in North Africa and then in Greece, send convoys to Malta and disrupt the Axis supply lines both in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Norway, and then it had to face the Japanese in the Far East. By the war's end the Royal Navy had grown from its pre-war strength of 129,000 to 863,000 men. Its fleet had also grown from 12 to 61 battleships and cruisers, seven to 59 aircraft carriers, and 100 to 846 destroyers, by 1945.

In a few short years after 1914 the Royal Navy practically invented naval air warfare, not only producing the first effective aircraft carriers, but also pioneering most of the techniques and tactics that made naval air power a reality. By 1918 the RN was so far ahead of other navies that a US Navy observer sent to study the British use of aircraft at sea concluded that any discussion of the subject must first consider their methods. Indeed, by the time the war ended the RN was training for a carrier-borne attack by torpedo-bombers on the German fleet in its bases over two decades before the first successful employment of this tactic, against the Italians at Taranto.Following two previously well-received histories of British naval aviation, David Hobbs here turns his attention to the operational and technical achievements of the Royal Naval Air Service, both at sea and ashore, from 1914 to 1918. Detailed explanations of operations, the technology that underpinned them and the people who carried them out bring into sharp focus a revolutionary period of development that changed naval warfare forever. Controversially, the RNAS was subsumed into the newly created Royal Air Force in 1918, so as the centenary of its extinction approaches, this book is a timely reminder of its true significance.

The Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-45 is the most comprehensive review available of the Royal navy's air power during the war years. Starting with a brief history, the book progresses with a full war diary of all of the major operations in a gripping narrative account. In-depth analysis reveals what it was like to work as part of the Fleet Air Arm during the war - the food, accommodation, training, activities and uniform; and gives a glimpse into the men's characters. At the outbreak of the Second World War, British naval aviation was in the midst of chaos and confusion. But as this book shows, the rapid expansion of the Fleet Air Arm was one of the major achievements of the war. The author provides a detailed look at the aircraft, squadrons, naval air stations and aircraft carriers battleships and cruisers involved. The book ends with a review of what is available at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton.