The age of military aviation had barely dawned when it was realised that the power and influence of the warplane would be multiplied if it were able to operate closer to the heart of the battlefield. Unless a landbase was first secured in the vicinity, this could only be done by devising a floating airstrip and thus via evolutionary stages, the aircraft carrier was born and naval aviation came of age.
If it was the Second World War that first saw extended use of seabourne air power, it was the Falklands conflict that most succinctly demonstrated the effect of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft when delivered to thw war zone by carrier vessels far from home territory.
In this first substantial history of British Naval Aviation for many years, Ray Sturtivant takes the reader back through the infant days of the first deck landings, into the years of improvisation and experiment, the dramas of the Second World War and the first jet-powered naval aircraft, to the advances offered by the helicopter and the test of modern naval air strategies in the South Atlantic.
If the giant carrier has had its day, the smaller, faster craft with its helipcopter support and awesome firepower has ensured naval aviation a role into the 21st century. And, if drawing board theories overcome budgetary restraints to reach manufacture, a fresh breed of warplane, operating from new-style carriers, will have major influence on military defence for the foreseeable future.
Having been at the forefront of naval air development from its inception, the Flett Air Arm is a vital constituent of world military history and merits the study this volume will encourage amongst serving officiers, professional historians and laymen.
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ISBN 0-85368-938-5
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS BOOK IS NOW OUT OF PRINT
First Published 1990 by
Arms and Armour Press, Villiers House, 41-47 Strand, London WC2N 5JE
Distributed in the USA by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810
Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia) Pty.Ltd, P.O. Box 665, Lane Cove, New South Wales 2066
