David Hobbs

It is difficult to find today someone better suited to write about the history of British naval aviation than David Hobbs. A career naval officer who served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), after his retirement in 1997 he served as the curator of the Fleet Air Arm Museum before becoming a prolific author of books about the senior service’s employment of aircraft during the 20th century. While his previous works have concentrated on the Second World War and the postwar FAA, this book goes back further in time to recount the history of the FAA’s precursor, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and the many roles it performed in the First World War.

In it, Hobbs’s expertise is on full display. It’s an impressively comprehensive work, one that starts with the Admiralty’s prewar experimentation with both airplanes and lighter-than-air craft. It is here that Hobbs first makes his argument that, as one of the most technologically advanced military services in the world at that time, the Royal Navy was not only open to the changes flight made possible but continually pushed the new technology to its very limits. This becomes especially apparent with the start of the war, as the Royal Navy’s eclectic collection of planes were pressed quickly into service. What stands out here is the ambition in their employment, as within months the RNAS found itself engaged in a wide variety of missions, from coastal patrols to air strikes against Zeppelin sheds. Success came more through luck and the determination of the personnel than through the capability of their equipment, as the pilots often strained to reach their targets and employ their modest weaponry to best effect.

The limitations of aviation technology did little to deter its use, however. As the war continued naval officers continually explored ways of using aircraft to attain their goals. Planes were employed to intercept Zeppelins over England, kite balloons aided artillery spotting in the Dardanelles, and experiments were conducted to mount torpedoes onto planes which could be dropped to sink enemy ships. Key to much of this was Winston Churchill, who as First Lord of the Admiralty was an enthusiastic advocate for innovation and who saw the RNAS – a new branch of the navy unburdened by tradition – as the perfect vehicle for introducing it to warfare. Because of this, RNAS personnel found themselves not only investigating the potential of naval aviation, but operating armored cars and manning armored trains on the Western Front as well. These duties were transferred to the Army once Churchill left, allowing the RNAS to concentrate on developing the Navy’s airborne capabilities.

Foremost among these was the use of aircraft in fleet operations. Initially this involved the use of seaplanes, which could be launched and landed on the water. Doing so required the seaplane carriers to remain stationary while they deployed and recovered the planes, which understandably limited their utility for the Grand Fleet. Because of this, wheeled planes were far more desirable, and over time several ships were equipped with platforms that allowed them to be launched while at sea. What this didn’t permit, though, was the recovery of the planes after their flights, which made them one-shot weapons that had to be ditched after their use. The solution to this was the adoption of a ship that allowed for landings as well as take-offs, as well as the mastery of the challenging task of landing a plane aboard a ship. The culmination of this was the HMS Argus, the world’s first “true” aircraft carrier, which Hobbs regards as the “crowning achievement” of the RNAS before its absorption into the newly-created Royal Air Force in April 1918, a move which soon cost the Royal Navy its position at the forefront of naval aviation, thanks to the RAF’s lack of interest in sea power.

Hobbs relates the history of the RNAS with both empathy and enthusiasm. His description of the service is very thorough, with chapters that encompass everything from their operations to their training and the acquisition of their aircraft. These he bases on an extensive use of specialist histories, memoirs, and archival research, which he supplements with an impressive collection of photographs and illustrations that he employs effectively throughout his text. His admiration for the men who served in the RNAS shines through on every page, yet he never overstates their achievements, preferring instead to let the descriptions of their missions speak for themselves. It is this combination of passion and authority that makes Hobbs’s book a work that is unlikely to be surpassed as a history of the RNAS, and one that belongs on the shelves of anyone interested in the history of the Royal Navy during the First World War or of the development of airpower in that conflict.… (mere)