PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE FLEET AIR ARM by Rawlings, John D.R

Ian Allan, London, 1973, UK first edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2, VG/VG CONDITION ( dj price clipped), 208 pages, prof. illustrated, photos on glossy page stock.--------------------------------The Aviation Branch of the Royal Navy pioneered naval flying in World War I and fought with great distinction in both World Wars. It has also been vigorously active in so-called peacetime. And when it has not been engaged with an enemy it has had to fight off domestic attacks on its independence.This pictorial chronicle of the Fleet Air Arm's eventful career shows how, at the start, the immense problems of practical flying on and off Royal Naval ships was tackled and conquered before and during the First World War. That done, the Navy's flyers had to combat misunderstanding in the Royal Navy itself, then the attempts of the other Services to appropriate them. Between the wars, the techniques of flying from aircraft carriers and operating over the sea ware improved and perfected. When World War II broke out the gallant bunch of Naval aviators had to contend with obsolete aircraft and the loss, within the first few months, of two aircraft carriers. But gradually the Fleet Air Arm built itself up in stature and ability to provide an essential part of the Forces of Great Britain.-----------------------------------------------------The book relates the modernisation of the Fleet Air Arm after the war, its' activities in Korea and elsewhere, and the development to the stage where its aircraft were equal, if not superior, to those in use in the Royal Air Force. It shows also that during the last decade the politicians have done to the Rest Air Arm what no enemy force has been able to do—destroy its carriers, remove its most potent striking force and reduce it today to an element of the Navy which, in the opinion of many, is unable to fulfil the basic task of protecting Britain's sea routes.