History

The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was first established in January 1914. By the outbreak of the First World War in August, it had more aircraft under its control than the Army's Royal Flying Corps (RFC). The main roles of the RNAS were fleet reconnaissance, patrolling coasts for enemy ships and submarines, attacking enemy coastal territory and defending Britain from enemy air-raids. In April 1918 the RNAS, which at this time had 67,000 officers and men, 2,949 aircraft, 103 airships and 126 coastal stations, was merged with the RFC to form the Royal Air Force.

In 1937 the Naval Air Branch was returned to Admiralty control, and soon renamed the Fleet Air Arm. At the onset of the Second World War, the Fleet Air Arm consisted of 20 Squadrons with only 232 aircraft. By the end of the war the strength of the Fleet Air Arm was: 59 aircraft carriers, 3,700 aircraft, 72,000 officers and men and 56 air stations all over the world. The aircraft carrier had replaced the battleship as the Fleet's capital ship and its aircraft were now strike weapons in their own right.

After the war the FAA faced the difficulty of flying jet aircraft from their carriers. The jet aircraft of the era were considerably less powerful at low speeds than propeller aircraft, but propeller aircraft could not fight effectively with the jets in combat. The US Navy, faced with similar problems, built much larger carriers with powerful catapults to launch the aircraft. The Air Arm instead continued with high-powered prop aircraft for a time, resulting in the FAA's being woefully outpowered during the Korean War. Nevertheless, the high-quality pilots put their planes to good use, in one instance a flight of Hawker Sea Furies downing a MiG 15.

Although jets were soon introduced using a catapult system similar to the US, a more "natural" solution was looked for. This led to the introduction of the Hawker Harrier VTOL aircraft, which could be operated effectively from any size of ship. Infighting among the British armed forces during the 1960s led to the outright cancellation of all Royal Navy aircraft carriers, but by sleight-of-hand a new series of cruiser-sized carriers, the Invincible class, were built and equipped with the Harrier. Today the Harrier forms the basis of the RN's fixed-wing strike forces.

Helicopters also became important combat vehicles in their own right starting in the 1960s. At first they were employed on the carriers alongside the fixed-wing aircraft, but as time went on they were also deployed on most smaller ships as well. Today at least one helicopter is found on all ships of frigate size or larger. Wasps and Sea Harriers played an active part in the 1982 Falkland Islands conflict, whereas Lynxes played a significant attack role against Iraqi patrol boats in the Gulf War and Commandos assisted in suppressing rebel forces in Sierra Leone.

The Fleet Air Arm has a museum on the edge of Yeovilton airfield in Somerset.