The ‘Air Branch'
of the Royal Navy that was to carve its name into maritime history as the Fleet
Air Arm faced an ‘orphan' existence up to 1937 when the Admiralty, having handed
over control in 1918 to the RAF, resumed charge of its aviators. The Force was
poorly equipped and dangerously short of qualified personnel with which to
effectively challenge its Axis adversaries, and suffered accordingly in the
initial stages of World War II. The provision of superior carrier aircraft
designs (primarily from the U.S. Grumman and Chance-Vought companies), and a
similar whole-sale expansion in Fleet and Escort carriers (most of the latter
supplied from American shipyards), as well as the personnel with which to
operate the warships and aircraft ensured that by 1943 the Fleet Air Arm was an
all-round, efficient Force capable of independent combat operations in all the
major War Zones right up to VJ-Day.
