The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe, 1939–1945
The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe, 1939–1945

Author: David Hobbs

Publisher: Seaforth Publishing

Published: 2022-03-30

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1526799804

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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

Anti-Submarine Warfare in World War I
Anti-Submarine Warfare in World War I

Author: John Abbatiello

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-05-02

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1135989540

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Investigating the employment of British aircraft against German submarines during the final years of the First World War, this new book places anti-submarine campaigns from the air in the wider history of the First World War. The Royal Naval Air Service invested heavily in aircraft of all types—aeroplanes, seaplanes, airships, and kite balloons—in order to counter the German U-boats. Under the Royal Air Force, the air campaign against U-boats continued uninterrupted. Aircraft bombed German U-boat bases in Flanders, conducted area and ‘hunting’ patrols around the coasts of Britain, and escorted merchant convoys to safety. Despite the fact that aircraft acting alone destroyed only one U-boat during the war, the overall contribution of naval aviation to foiling U-boat attacks was significant. Only five merchant vessels succumbed to submarine attack when convoyed by a combined air and surface escort during World War I. This book examines aircraft and weapons technology, aircrew training, and the aircraft production issues that shaped this campaign. Then, a close examination of anti-submarine operations—bombing, patrols, and escort—yields a significantly different judgment from existing interpretations of these operations. This study is the first to take an objective look at the writing and publication of the naval and air official histories as they told the story of naval aviation during the Great War. The author also examines the German view of aircraft effectiveness, through German actions, prisoner interrogations, official histories, and memoirs, to provide a comparative judgment. The conclusion closes with a brief narrative of post-war air anti-submarine developments and a summary of findings. Overall, the author concludes that despite the challenges of organization, training, and production the employment of aircraft against U-boats was largely successful during the Great War. This book will be of interest to historians of naval and air power history, as well as students of World War I and military history in general.

British Naval Aviation in World War II
British Naval Aviation in World War II

Author: Gilbert S. Guinn

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2007-07-20

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0857711121

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On the outome of the Battle of the Atlantic from 1939 to 1945 depended Britain's survival in the midst of a global war. The need to control the sealanes to Britain was mirrored by a need to control the skies above. Carrier based aircraft and seaplanes would play an important role in defeating the German submarine menace and in combating her surface fleet. However, at the start of World War II Britain possessed neither the training or industrial establishment necessary to develop this arm of warfare. From 1940 onwards the United States provided answers to the problem firstly in the form of American built aircraft, then American built aircraft carriers and finally American trained pilots. Even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm pilots were being trained in the United States under a scheme set up by the United States Navy as part of the Lend Lease agreement. In the safer skies over the United States American Navy pilots would train British aviation cadets how to fly and to fight. This process is examined from a variety of different perspectives including the military, diplomatic, educational and cultural. For many young British aviation cadets the journey across the Atlantic and across America was as surprising as it was lengthy. Many would find themselves caught up with issues such as segregation in the American South of which they had little understanding. The book is based on interviews and correspondence with hundreds of former cadets who trained in the United States in the 1940s together with material from the British and American archives.

Royal Navy Aces of World War 2
Royal Navy Aces of World War 2

Author: Andrew Thomas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-02-20

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13: 1472802322

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This book will detail the history and combat experiences of these forgotten pilots who operated in every theatre and every major conflict of the war. The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy served with distinction in every theatre of war throughout World War II. From its poorly equipped beginnings - it started the war with few suitable, modern, carrier-born fighters - to the final campaigns over the Japanese home islands, the FAA proved an effective fighting force wherever it went. FAA Pilots had the distinction of being responsible for both the first, and last, enemy aircraft to be shot down during the war. Featuring first hand accounts, combat reports, photographs from private collections and an array of colour plates depicting the range of profiles and symbolic markings that were used, this book will detail the history and combat experiences of these forgotten pilots who served with such distinction for the Allied cause.

Engage the Enemy More Closely
Engage the Enemy More Closely

Author: Correlli Barnett

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2013-02-01

Total Pages: 1104

ISBN-13: 9780571300396

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The accepted interpretation of Britain's wartime role as an island sea power is challenged by Correlli Barnett's brilliant demonstration that the dependence on seashore imports of food and raw materials, together with the obligations of Empire, were less a form of strength to Britain than a weakness. Topics discussed in this book range from strategic debates in London and Washington to gripping descriptions of the Royal Navy in action: the remorseless struggle against the U-boat in the Atlantic, the desperate convoy battles in the Mediterranean and the Arctic, and the battles in the Far East. It weaves in the rivalry between Allied and German technology and the all-important secret war of the cryptographers. 'This outstanding military historian has turned to maritime war and written an authoritative, meticulously researched and stirring account of the Royal Navy's part in World War II.' Admiral of the Fleet Lord Lewin of Greenwich, KG, GCB, LVO, DSC

British Warplanes of World War II
British Warplanes of World War II

Author: Daniel J. March

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9781840133912

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Fully illustrated analysis of all World War II aircraft in British military service, including full descriptions and specifications, hundreds of action photos and highly accurate, full-color artwork.

The Royal Navy's Air Service in the Great War
The Royal Navy's Air Service in the Great War

Author: David Hobbs

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2017-09-30

Total Pages: 493

ISBN-13: 1848323506

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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.