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 outweigh
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
'thumb-nail' 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 often 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.
