Guide to Sources for Research into the Fleet Air Arm

Major works

In the writing of these volumes the authors had access to relevant official documents; however, the inferences drawn and the opinions expressed are those of the authors themselves, who are responsible for their reading or presentation of the facts as stated.

The squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm : Ray Sturtivant and Theo Ballance (Tonbridge : Air-Britain, 1994)

Sturtivant first published his The squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm in 1984, after decades of research; ten years later Theo Ballance assisted him in this major update. The primary difficulty in writing this major, if not definitive, reference was the government's lack of proper record retrieval and storage of individual squadron and ship logs, flight and maintenance records, and other documentary evidence that was notoriously difficult to piece together.

Documents relating to the Naval Air Service : Vol. 1 1908-1918 : edited by Captain S. W. Roskill ([s.i.] : printed for the Navy Records Society, 1969.

Note: there was no second volume. This volume contains: I - From the earliest days of aviation to the outbreak of war, August 1914; II - The test of war: August 1914-December 1915; II - 1916: The year of discord and frustration; IV- 1917: The year of decision; V - The new régime and new dissentions: 1918; and two appedices.

The Fleet Air Arm in the Second World War : two volumes edited by Ben Jones (Farnham : Ashgate for the Navy Records Society, 2012 (vol. I); Oxford, Routledge for the Navy Records Society, 2018 (vol. II)

These are Navy Records Society publications nos. 159 and 165; volume I "1939-1941: Norway, the medterranean and the Bismarck", volume II "1942-1943 The Fleet Air Arm in transition - the Mediterranean, Battle of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean." Very detailed reports (operational, supply, etc) with a minimum of explanatory text.