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This article refers to the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Many navies through the world operate a Fleet Air Arm of their own, covered under the article on that navy itself.
The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates BAe Sea Harriers and Westland Commando helicopters. Smaller, attack helicopters such as the Westland Wasp and Lynx have been deployed on smaller vessels since about 1960, taking over the roles once performed by fragile biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish.
1 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 1918Events January January 8 President Woodrow Wilson announces his " Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I. February February 3 The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service in San Francisco as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world (11,920 feet long). 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 ForceThe Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF is the air force of the United Kingdom. History Formation and Early History The Royal Flying Corps was formed by Royal Warrant on May 13, 1912 superseding the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. The Royal Na.
In 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, the Naval Air Branch was returned to AdmiraltyFor the international law of the sea, see Admiralty law. For the area of Hong Kong, see Admiralty, Hong Kong Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander P 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 carrierUSS John C. Stennis (left), and HMS Illustrious (right), showing the difference in size between a supercarrier and a typical aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft. Aircraft carriers thus allow had replaced the battleshipThis article is about a battleship as a type of warship. See also Battleship (game). Dreadnought redirects here. See also Workers' Dreadnought. In naval history, battleships were the most heavily armed and armored warships afloat. In the mid- 20th century 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 jetSee also: Jet (disambiguation A jet is a stream of fluid produced by discharge through an orifice into free space. Since gases are compressible fluids, the velocity attained by a jet of gas cannot be determined by Bernoulli's principle. Instead, if one us 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.
