Fleet Air Arm Carrier War: The History of British Naval Aviation

This is the story of British naval flying from aircraft carriers, from its conception in World War I to the present day. It includes the types of aircraft and the men who flew them, the carriers and the evolution of their designs, the theaters of war in which they served and their notable achievements and tragedies. It traces navy flying from the early days of the biplane, through the rapid developments during World War Two to the post-war introduction of jet-powered flight. The British inventions of the angled flight deck and later vertical landing jets revolutionized sea warfare and allowed the carrier to play a vital part in many recent land wars when naval aircraft flew in support of Allied land forces. Although the British carriers have always been smaller than their American counterparts, the Royal Navy and its aircraft have always been in the van of the development of ships and aircraft. This is the proud history of British Naval flying and ships such as HMS Eagle, HMS Hermes, HMS Glorious, HMS Ark Royal and many more.

Kev Darling spent more than twenty years in the Royal Air Force, engineering aircraft ranging in size from the Tiger Moth to the TriStar. Medically discharged after the first Gulf War he strengthened his writing career, which he had begun in 1986. Since then he has authored numerous magazine articles and more than twenty books and monographs. He lives in Vale of Glamorgan.