The Fleet Air Arm in Camera 1912-1996The Fleet Air Arm in Camera 1912-1996
The Fleet Air Arm in Camera 1912-1996The Fleet Air Arm in Camera 1912-1996

Author: ROGER. HAYWARD

Publisher:

Published: 2019-07

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9780750993043

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For many decades a fascinating and sizeable archive of photographs, depicting the operations and equipment of British naval aviation, has remained unrecorded and largely unseen in countless documents held at the Public Record Office at Kew. Other equally important images of British naval aviation and the Fleet Air Arm can also be found in the collections of the world-famous Fleet Air Museum at RNAS Yeovilton. Together these two important collections cover a period from 1912, when British naval aviation was making its first tentative steps, through to the high-technology Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the 1990s.The Fleet Air Arm in Camera 1912-1996 brings a representative selection of these two collections to the notice of a wider audience. Many of the 240 photographs are published here for the first time and give the reader a fascinating kaleidoscope of images depicting the vast range of offensive, defensive, shore and carrier-based operations in which the FAA and its predecessors - the Naval Wing of the RFC and the Royal Naval Air Service - have been involved over a period of more than eighty years.

World War One Aircraft Carrier Pioneer
World War One Aircraft Carrier Pioneer

Author: Guy Warner

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2011-06-13

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1848842554

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Jack McCleery was born in Belfast in 1898, the son of a mill owning family. He joined the RNAS in 1916 as a Probationary Flight Officer. During the next ten months he completed his training at Crystal Palace, Eastchurch, Cranwell, Frieston, Calshot and Isle of Grain, flying more than a dozen landplanes, seaplanes and flying boats, gaining his wings as a Flight Sub-Lieutenant. In July 1917 he was posted to the newly commissioning aircraft carrier HMS Furious, which would be based at Scapa Flow and Rosyth. He served in this ship until February 1919, flying Short 184 seaplanes and then Sopwith 1½ Strutters off the deck. He also flew a large number of other types during this time from shore stations at Turnhouse, East Fortune and Donibristle. He served with important and well-known naval airmen including Dunning, Rutland (of Jutland) and Bell Davies VC. He witnessed Dunning’s first successful landing on a carrier flying a Sopwith Pup in 1917 and his tragic death a few days later. He also witnessed the Tondern raid in 1918, the world’s first carrier strike mission. He took part in more than a dozen sweeps into the North Sea by elements of the Grand Fleet and Battle Cruiser Fleet. He carried out reconnaissance missions off the coast of Denmark, landing in the sea to be picked up by waiting destroyers. He witnessed the surrender of the High Seas Fleet. Promoted to Captain, he acted as temporary CO of F Squadron for a time postwar.

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.

Lighter Than Air
Lighter Than Air

Author: Guy Warner

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2016-06-30

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1473829046

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Neville Florian Usborne entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1897. In the years between him joining up and the outbreak of the First World War, he engaged in a huge number of enterprises and endeavours. Praise and respect garnered in accordance with his achievements all helped to establish his reputation in later years as an 'irreplaceable' pioneer and a leading light of early British airship design. His fertile imagination and enterprising spirit fused to form a dynamic personality, able in wartime to draw up countless schemes in an effort to outwit the enemy. His chief task during the Great War was to dream up new tactics and designs to combat the Zeppelin menace, perceived as one of the most damaging threats of the entire conflict. He was also deeply involved in the design of the very successful SS and Coastal Class airships; indeed, during 1915 he was actually appointed Inspector Commander of Airships at the Admiralty. Unfortunately, his illustrious career was destined to be cut short in 1916 when he was killed testing a prototype of one of his own designs. This new biography seeks to shine a light on an overlooked pioneer of early aviation and it does so in entertaining and reverential style. The importance of Usborne the pioneer is made plain; as one of his contemporaries commented upon his death No one can talk of the early days of British airship design without mention of his name and work. A personality was lost on that February day which was irreplaceable.

Tracing Your Seafaring Ancestors
Tracing Your Seafaring Ancestors

Author: Simon Wills

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2016-02-29

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1473880491

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Photographs of your seafaring ancestors may tell you more about their lives than you realize, and Simon Willss helpful and practical guide shows you how to identify and interpret the evidence caught on camera. Since maritime roles have been so vital to Britains prosperity and military might, they are among the commonest professions depicted in photographs of our ancestors, and his handbook is the ideal introduction to them.Maybe your ancestor was a seaman in the Royal Navy, a ships captain, a steward on an ocean liner, or an officer in the naval reserves? This book shows you how to spot photographic clues to an individuals career. Whether your ancestor served in the merchant navy or the Royal Navy or in another seagoing role such as a fisherman, a lifeboatman, or even a ships passenger, Simon Willss book will be your guide.

The Royal Navy in World War II
The Royal Navy in World War II

Author: Derek G. Law

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 696

ISBN-13:

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The Royal Navy in World War II is a comprehensive annotated bibliography of all monographs describing the role of British, Dominion, and minor allied forces in the naval war against the Axis. This second edition contains 1,400 more entries than its predecessor and although mainly concerned with the Royal Navy, it does offer extensive coverage on the Dominion Navies of Australia, Canada, India, and South Africa as well as the minor allied navies of the occupied European countries. Coverage of the US Navy's involvement in the Atlantic and Caribbean Theaters is also included. A wonderful reference for historians, librarians, and navy buffs.