The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force.
HMS Indomitable was a modified Illustrious-class aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Originally planned to be the fourth of the class, she was redesigned to enable her to operate more aircraft, 48 instead of 36. A second hangar was added above the original, raising the flight deck by 14 feet (4.3 m), although the hangar-side armour had to be reduced to compensate. The lower hangar was made shorter than the upper hangar due to the need for extra workshops and accommodation to support the added aircraft.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1940:
Royal Air Force Gan, commonly known as RAF Gan, is a former Royal Air Force station on Gan island, the southern-most island of Addu Atoll, which is part of the larger groups of islands which form the Maldives, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Its motto is En Route, which signifies its importance as a strategic staging post for enabling RAF aircraft to reach their onward destinations at their bases in the Far East.
Royal Air Force Barkston Heath or RAF Barkston Heath is a Royal Air Force Relief Landing Ground under the command of RAF Cranwell near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases.
The Battle of Madagascar was an Allied campaign to capture the Vichy French-controlled island Madagascar during World War II. The seizure of the island by the British was to deny Madagascar's ports to the Imperial Japanese Navy and to prevent the loss or impairment of the Allied shipping routes to India, Australia and Southeast Asia. It began with Operation Ironclad, the seizure of the port of Diego-Suarez near the northern tip of the island, on 5 May 1942.
The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.
Operation Cockpit was an Allied attack against the Japanese-held island of Sabang on 19 April 1944. It was conducted by aircraft flying from British and American aircraft carriers and targeted Japanese shipping and airfields. A small number of Japanese ships and aircraft were destroyed, and one American aircraft was lost. While the attack was successful tactically, it failed to divert Japanese forces from other areas as had been hoped.
The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships, and paintings and drawings related to naval aviation. It is located on RNAS Yeovilton airfield, and the museum has viewing areas where visitors can watch military aircraft take off and land. At the entrance to the museum are anchors from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Eagle, fleet carriers which served the Royal Navy until the 1970s. It is located 7 miles (11 km) north of Yeovil, and 40 miles (64 km) south of Bristol.
Operation Transom was an attack by Allied forces against the Japanese-occupied city of Surabaya on the Indonesian island of Java during World War II. Conducted by the British-led Eastern Fleet, the operation took place on 17 May 1944 and involved American and British carrier-based aircraft bombing the city's docks and an oil refinery. An American torpedo bomber was shot down, and two British torpedo bombers were lost in accidents.
Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, was a Royal Naval Air Station, one mile to the north west of Kirkwall on the island of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It was located near the strategically vital naval base of Scapa Flow, which for most of the twentieth century formed the main base of the ships of the Home Fleet. The airbase was designed to provide accommodation for disembarked Front-Line squadrons and accommodation for disembarked Ship's Flight Aircraft and was home to the Home Fleet Fleet Requirements Unit, 771 Naval Air Squadron.
821 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the transferral and amalgamation of the Fairey III aircraft from 446 and half of 455 Flight Flights Royal Air Force to the newly formed Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force. The squadron operated during the Second World War.
825 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Naval Air Squadron which was re-commissioned on 10 October 2014 and currently flies the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA2.
During March 1944, the Allies of World War II rapidly reinforced the military units located in the state of Western Australia to defend against the possibility that Japanese warships would attack the cities of Fremantle and Perth. This redeployment began on 8 March after concerns were raised about the purpose of Japanese warship movements near the Netherlands East Indies, and ended on 20 March, after it was concluded that an attack was unlikely.
The Eastern Fleet, later called the East Indies Fleet, was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1941 and 1952.
882 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was formed as a carrier based fighter squadron in July 1941 and served through the rest of the Second World War. It took part in the British invasion of Madagascar and Operation Torch, the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa in 1942, and in the invasion of Southern France in August 1945, also taking part in operations in the Aegean and off Norway. It was disbanded after the end of the war, in October 1945.
788 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded during June 1945. The squadron formed at RN Air Section China Bay in Ceylon, in January 1942, as the British Eastern Fleet's Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance Pool, however it lost half its strength during the heavy raids by Japanese carrier-borne aircraft in the April. The squadron regrouped at RNAS Tanga in Tanganyika, East Africa to become a Fleet Requirements Unit and relocating almost immediately to RN Air Section Port Reitz, in Mombasa, where it remained operational for the next three years.
795 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded at RNAS Ford, in Sussex, during March 1947. Originally formed as the Eastern Fleet Fighter Pool at RNAS Tanga, in Tanganyika, in June 1942, it’s 'A' Flight's supported the invasion of Madagascar, from HMS Illustrious, before being detached at Majunga on anti-submarine patrols as part of the Royal Air Force’s No. 207 Group. The squadron later moved to RNAS Mackinnon Road, in Kenya, before disbanding during August 1943. It reformed as a Refresher Training Squadron at RNAS Eglinton, in Northern Ireland, in August 1946 as part of the Fleet Air Arm’s 52nd Training Air Group and later included a couple of deployments in HMS Implacable.
1833 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm between 1943 and 1945 and then again from 1947 to 1957.
