ISBN 0-7509-2596-5
263 pages

Introduction; Acknowledgements; photos; Abbreviations; Bibliography; Index

Appendices: Battle Honours; Fleet Air Arm Flag Officers; Medals and Awards; Comparisons of Rank; The Fleet Air Arm Museum

   Sutton Publishing has released a number of handbooks of varying quality, including Zaloga's The Red Army Handbook, Mallmann Showell's The German Navy Handbook, and The US Army Handbook and The Japanese Army Handbook by George Forty. David Wragg's new Fleet Air Arm Handbook proves to be one of the stronger handbook volumes.
   Wragg divides his book into thirteen chapters and five appendices. Individual chapters vary in length from as few as five pages to almost a hundred pages. Here's what each chapter has to offer.
   Chapter 1: Historical Background. 9 pages. The opening chapter describes the birth of naval aviation, the struggle to determine which service would control aircraft flying naval missions, and the construction of the early aircraft carriers.
   Chapter 2: Engaging the Enemy More Closely. 21 pages. The first chapter on operations during the Second World War covers early events such as Norway and Dunkirk as well as Mers el Kebir, Taranto, battles in the Mediterranean, the hunt for the Bismarck, the Channel Dash, and other actions involving naval aviation.
   Chapter 3: The Convoy War. 13 pages. This chapter is mostly devoted to Fleet Air Arm operations aboard escort carriers and auxiliary carriers on the North Atlantic run and the Malta run.
   Chapter 4: Supporting the Army. 5 pages. Chapter four provides brief descriptions of naval aviation's role in the evacuation from Crete, the landings on Madagascar, the Torch landings, Sicily, Salerno, and Operation Anvil-Dragoon. Here's what Wragg has to say about Salerno:

   Salerno was chosen because it was within range of Allied aircraft using airfields in Sicily, but it was only just within range for fighter aircraft, so that a Spitfire was limited to no more than twenty minutes on patrol over the beachheads. In practical terms, this meant that the number of aircraft available and flying time to and from the operational zone ensured that no more than nine aircraft could be present at any one time. Once again, this was an operation designed for the aircraft carrier and Willis brought Force H, with the carriers Illustrious and Formidable. Additional support for the landing forces came from Force V, with the maintenance carrier, Unicorn, operating as a light fleet carrier, and also the escort carriers Attacker, Battler, Hunter and Stalker. Fleet Air Arm squadrons present included 807, 808, 809, 810, 820, 834, 878, 879, 880, 886, 887, 888, 890, 893, 894, 897 and 899. The landing fleet was also accompanied by one of the United States Navy's Independence-class light fleet carriers and four escort carriers, giving a total of twelve flight decks in all.
   Aircraft aboard the escort carriers and Unicorn were Seafires, for the air defence of the landings, after which they would provide fighter-bomber support to help suppress the defences. Each escort carrier had a single large Seafire squadron with thirty aircraft, while Unicorn had sixty of these aircraft in 809 and 887 Squadrons. The Seafire L2C's Merlin engines were tuned to provide maximum power below 5,000 ft rather than the 15,000 ft of the original, making them better suited for naval operations and for ground attack work. There were local alterations, with many of the aircraft having catapult knobs removed to reduce drag, since the Seafire seldom needed catapult assistance and exhaust manifolds were replaced by stubs to reduce drag further.
   Aircrew were awakened at 4:30 on the morning of 9 September and before dawn Unicorn had flown off eight Seafires, four to provide high cover and four to provide low cover. All of the aircraft had extra fuel tanks, that they had to use first and that were to be dropped as soon as the Luftwaffe appeared to avoid the drag affecting the aircraft's performance. While there was little sight of the Luftwaffe initially, the troops ashore encountered fierce resistance, later supported by heavy Luftwaffe aerial attack.
   Force V faced a major problem. The carriers had been given a 'box' in which to operate while flying off and recovering their aircraft, but the box was too small, causing difficulties for the commanders of the carriers. The situation was even worse for the pilots. Large numbers of aircraft were circling, waiting to land, while others having taken off were getting into formation, giving rise to a very real risk of collision with ships steaming in close proximity to one another. These problems were intensified by the dead calm weather conditions, by the short flight decks of the escort carriers and their slow speed, just 17 knots when a Seafire needed 25 knots wind over the flight deck for a safe take-off or landing. Arrester wires had to be kept tight, as did the crash barrier two-thirds of the way along the deck, aggravating the Seafire's tendency to bounce and pitch forward on landing. Haze added to the problems.
   High casualty rates among Seafire pilots were soon discovered to be due to their using the RAF-recommended means of leaving the aircraft. This entailed inverting the aircraft, opening the canopy and undoing their seat belt to eject, but this did not work with the Seafire, possibly because of its greater weight compared to the Spitfire. Matters improved once pilots were told to jump from the wing of the aircraft.
   The Luftwaffe turned its attentions to the carriers on 11 September, forcing them to race up and down the box at maximum speed. Fuel became critical, but the carriers were asked to remain on station because of the desperate need for air cover. The original plan had expected the carriers to be on station for two days, three at the most, while bases ashore were secured and RAF units could be brought forward from Sicily. In the end, they remained for five days, helping the guns of the fleet break determined German counter-attacks on 12 and 14 September. By this time, the original 180 Seafires had been reduced to just thirty, having made more than the planned number of sorties. The attrition rate was due more to deck landing accidents than the Luftwaffe's fighters, and this led many senior naval officers to hesitate to commit the Seafire to future operations, even though it had its adherents.

   Chapter 5: The War in the East. 12 pages. No, not the Russian front. The final chapter on the operational employment of the Fleet Air Arm looks quickly at early operations against the Japanese, mostly in the Indian Ocean, and then more carefully at the British Pacific Fleet in 1945.
   Chapter 6: Recruitment and Training. 21 pages. Wragg describes the various FAA trades (observers, deck landing control officers, telegraphist air gunners, etc) and how and where they were trained. In addition to discussing pay and living conditions, Wragg shows sample ID cards and badges of rank and insignia.
   Chapter 7: The FAA and the Royal Navy. 5 pages. More details on life in the wartime Navy.

   On a personal level, attitudes to naval aviation varied as much as individuals differ. Many commanding officers did their best to accommodate the needs of their aviators, but others could be difficult. Flag officers could also differ. For every one who appreciated the efforts and bravery of the naval airmen, and especially their struggle to make the best of outclassed equipment during the early years of the war, there were others who resented the Fleet Air Arm. Some did not like the commanding officer of a carrier requesting permission to change course to either fly-off or land his aircraft. As more officers of flag rank assumed responsibility for naval aviation, even if they were not aviators themselves, the position improved.
   Aboard an aircraft carrier or at a Royal Naval Air Station, the command structure started with the commanding officer, usually holding the rank of captain. There would be a chain of command below the commanding officer running the ship, with the second in command being a commander, then a first lieutenant, carrying out the same role as an adjutant in the other two services. The senior aviator on board was commander flying (becoming commander air after the war), and his deputy would be lieutenant-commander air. Neither of these officers flew operationally. Apart from the squadrons, the rest of the ship's company were organised into 'divisions', the naval equivalent of a department within a large organisation. Sunday inspections by the commanding officer were known as 'Divisions'.
   In each squadron, there would be a squadron commander. The second in command of a squadron was known as the senior pilot, and there was usually a senior observer as well, both of whom would usually be lieutenants. Squadrons were divided into flights, and for those squadrons providing aircraft for the MAC-ships or catapult flights, there could be an extremely large number of flights, all given a suffix letter. Squadrons would have an air engineering officer looking after their aircraft.
   Aboard the MAC-ships, which were still Merchant Navy vessels, the small Royal Navy contingent would have their own accommodation, built beneath the flight deck when the ship was converted, but the officers came together in the saloon for meals. Mixed crews like this usually worked fairly well, but there could be problems. The trade union structure of the Merchant Navy did not always work well with the ethos of the Royal Navy. The naval ratings resented the higher pay of the merchant seamen, but they in turn resented the fact that when a merchant ship was sunk, the merchant seamen had their pay stopped, while the naval man continued to receive his, including the all-important allotment, or allowance, to his dependants.
   The decision over whether or not a MAC ship, commanded by a Merchant Navy captain, or master, flew off its aircraft rested with the commodore of the convoy. The commodore was usually in a cruiser, although often this would be an armed merchant cruiser, a converted liner.

   Chapter 8: Personal and Personnel. 14 pages. This chapter deals with uniforms, food and accommodations, and "perks of the job."
   Chapter 9: Operations. 11 pages. In one of the most interesting and informative chapters, Wragg delves into the nuts and bolts of air operations at sea, explaining how missions were planned and conducted as well as describing the roles of the individual aviation specialists. This chapter includes a sidebar titled "Standard Convoy Air Patrol Codenames" which gives details of how typical convoy protection missions were flown.
   Chapter 10: Squadrons, Wings, and Groups. 94 pages. This is the real heart of the book with nearly a hundred pages devoted to thumbnail histories for dozens of FAA squadrons (including aircraft based on battleships, cruisers, MAC ships, etc), about twenty wings, and about twenty carrier air groups. Each entry includes dates for formation, movements, and disbandment; aircraft types; missions; ID markings; and commanding officers. Here's a typical entry for a squadron:

827 Squadron Formed with 12 Albacores as a TSR unit, 15/09/40, at Yeovilton. It worked up at Crail, before operating under Coastal Command on convoy protection and minelaying from Thorney Island and St Eval and then headed north to Machrihanish and Donibristle, 06/41, for attacks on the battlecruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. On 02/07, the squadron embarked in Victorious for the ill-fated raid on Kirkenes on 30/07, in which it lost half of its aircraft, although one Albacore shot down a Ju87.
   Regrouped at Hatston 08/44, the squadron joined Indomitable 10/41, sailing to the USA and Jamaica and then via the Cape to Aden, where it arrived 01/42. Using the ship and various shore bases, 827 maintained anti-submarine patrols in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It joined the invasion of Madagascar, 05/42, although operating with just 9 aircraft. The ship sailed to Gibraltar ready for the Malta convoy, Operation Pedestal, 08/42, during which the squadron lost 5 of its officers during heavy aerial attack.
   Re-equipping with 12 Barracuda IIs at Stretton in 01/43, and becoming a TSR unit, the squadron, with just 9 aircraft, became part of the 8th Naval TBR Wing in October, aboard Furious with Hatston as a shore base. On 30/03, the squadron transferred for one of two temporary spells aboard Victorious and on 03/04 it shared ten hits with 830 Squadron during a dive bombing attack on the Tirpitz in Norway. Anti-shipping strikes off Norway followed from Furious in 04-05/43, despite exceptionally severe weather. Another attempt was made on Tirpitz in 07/43, from Formidable, when a smokescreen saved the ship, but two hits were made while flying from Furious in 08/43.
   It absorbed 830 Squadron in 10/44, boosting the complement to 18 aircraft, before moving to Beccles and Langham to operate with Coastal Command's 16 Group over the Dutch coast. The squadron embarked in Colossus, 01/45, with the intention of becoming part of the British Pacific Fleet. En route, it reduced to 12 aircraft at Dekheila, and on arrival in Ceylon disembarked, becoming part of the 14th Carrier Air Group. It did not re-embark until after the war.

Battle honours: Diego Suarez, 1942; Malta Convoys, 1942; Norway, 1944.

Identification markings: 4A+ on Victorious and 5A+ on Indomitable for Albacores; 4A+ and U1A+ for Barracudas.

Commanding officers:
Lt W.G.C. Stokes, 15/09/40
Lt Cdr J.A. Stuart-Moore, 18/07/41
Lt Cdr P.G.O. Sydney-Turner, 22/08/41
Lt Cdr D.K. Buchanan-Dunlop, 15/05/42
Lt R.W. Little, 07/09/42
Lt Cdr (A) J.S. Bailey, 12/02/43
Lt Cdr (A) R.S. Baker-Faulkner, DSC, 1 2/08/43
Lt Cdr (A) K.H. Gibney, DSC, 25/10/43
Lt Cdr (A) G.R. Woolston, 30/06/44
Lt Cdr (A) G.R. Clarke, 06/07/45

   While these entries can't compare with the comprehensive data from 1912 through 1994 in Ray Sturtivant's squadron histories in Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm, they cover most of the details of the 1939-1945 period.
   Chapter 11: Wartime Naval Aircraft. 7 pages. This chapter provides specifications for aircraft that saw wartime service with the FAA: Skua, Swordfish, Albacore, Barracuda, Fulmar, Firefly, Martlet/Wildcat, Hellcat, Avenger, Sea Hurricane, Seafire, and Corsair. Here's an example of one of the entries:

Fairey Barracuda
Role: TBR. First Flight: 12/40. Service: 01/43. Wingspan: 49 ft 2 in. Length: 39 ft 9 in. Height: 15 ft 1 in. Max weight: 18,200 lb. 1,640 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin XXXII; Max speed: 150 kts. Range: 596 nm; 1,000 nm with 116 gallon extra tank. Crew: 2. Armament: 2 x 0.303 Vickers K; 1 x 18 in Mk XII 1,620-lb torpedo, or 1 x 1,610-lb mine, or 4 x 450-lb depth charges, either 3 x 500-lb or 6 x 250-lb, bombs. 2,572 built.

   Chapter 12: Wartime British Aircraft Carriers. 18 pages. Much like the preceding chapter gave details of the aircraft, this chapter provides information about the aircraft carriers. This amounts to about eighty fleet carriers, escort carriers, "fighter carriers," "assault carriers," light fleet carriers, training carriers, ferry carriers, aircraft repair carriers, merchant aircraft carriers, and seaplane carriers. This chapter also lists all the RN warships fitted with catapults from which naval aircraft flew. Here's a fleet aircraft carrier listing:

Implacable 86 (M) Modified Illustrious-class fleet carrier
Built: Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering. Co; Clydeside; laid down: Y1/02/39; launched: 10/12/42; completed: 28/08/44; displacement: 23,450 tons standard, 32,110 tons deep load; LOA: 766 ft; beam: 131.25 ft; armament: 8 twin 4.5-in, 5 oct 2-pdr pompom, 3 quad 2-pdr pompom, 21 twin 20-mm Oerlikon, 19 single 20-mm Oerlikon; endurance: 12,000 miles @ 10 kts; complement: 2,300; aircraft: 81; lifts: 2; catapults: 1; modifications included upper and lower hangars, although forward lift only served upper hangar; four propeller shafts instead of three; reserve: 01/09/54; scrapped: 03/05/55.

   Chapter 13: Shore Bases and Naval Air Stations. 15 pages. The final chapter gives all the particulars for dozens of FAA bases and stations in the UK and overseas (such as Addu Atoll, Aden, Gibraltar, and many more), and "mobile naval air bases." These entries include name, location, date commissioned, capacity, facilities, activities supported, etc. Here's a typical entry:

South Africa

Simonstown/Wingfield/Wynberg (W), HMS Afrikander
RN shore base at Simonstown, was responsible for naval units using SAAF Wingfield and Wynberg, although the latter was sometimes known as Afrikander III.

Stamford Hill, HMS Kongoni
Commissioned: 31/03/44. Previously SAAF station near Durban with lodger facilities, including an FRU. Decommissioned: 31/01/46.

Wingfield (W), HMS Malagas
Commissioned: 15/03/42. SAAF base with lodger facilities, originally under Afrikander at Simonstown. Air station and aircraft repair yard for Eastern Fleet and ships on passage from the Atlantic to the Eastern Mediterranean via the Cape. Later absorbed air section from Wynberg, and worked up Hellcat squadrons. Decommissioned: 31/05/46.

   Very thorough and detailed material throughout. Well-illustrated with many striking photos. Certain to appeal to anyone with any interest whatsoever in this topic, and definitely recommended.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Sutton Publishing.
   Thanks to Sutton for providing this review copy.