Ashore, Afloat and Airborne : the Logistics of British Naval Airpower, 1914-1945
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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Ashore, afloat and Airborne : The Logistics of British Naval Airpower, 1914-1945 Jones, Benjamin The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 04. Oct. 2021 Department ofWar Studies King's College, London Ashore, afloat and airborne: The Logistics ofBritish Naval Airpower, 1914-1945 Benjamin Jones Thesis submitted for the Degree ofDoctor ofPhilosophy 2007 2 Candidate's Declaration I hereby declare that all the work presented in this thesis is my own. Benjamin Jones 6th November 2007 3 Abstract This thesis analyses the logistics behind the expansion and operations of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Ann during the two World Wars. The logistics of British naval aviation has largely been a peripheral topic compared with operational issues. Studies ofaviation during both World Wars are also unusual. The aim is to study this topic largely through the available original material, both official and unofficial, and thereby to provide a new focus for the analysis ofnaval aviation. Both organisations had to expand from a small base under the exigencies of wartime conditions, in 1914 when aviation was in its infancy and in 1939 just after the Navy had regained full control over naval aviation. This thesis will investigate the relationship between naval air logistics and strategy, national economics, operations and tactics and therefore is organised under five main themes. Firstly, to examine the naval air expansion programmes, especially in the Second World War, from which other requirements stemmed. Secondly, to relate naval strategy to the needs for naval air stations, a topic frequently ignored by many authors who give more consideration to aircraft carriers. Thirdly, to address how successful was aircraft production in meeting the requirements laid down in the expansion programmes. Fourthly, the co ordination of resources, be they ships or squadrons, for operations and fifthly, from the tactical perspective the difficulties ofmaintaining aircraft in the front line. The conclusion includes an appreciation ofcomparisons between naval aviation during the two World Wars and a summary ofthe air logistics ofthe British Pacific Fleet in 1945 when many earlier developments came to fruition. 4 Acknowledgements I would first like to express my thanks to the late David Brown, former Head ofthe Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, without whose suggestion I would have not covered this topic. To my supervisor, Andrew Lambert, thanks for his unstinting support throughout, especially during the final stages. The staff and researchers at the Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, provided much academic and moral support during my time in London and thanks are also due to the staff at the other research institutions, the Fleet Air Ann Museum, Yeovilton, the Imperial War Museum, London and the National Archives, Kew. I would also wish to express my appreciation to all those veterans and their relatives who generously responded to my appeals in 2001 and 2004 for memories oftheir service in the Royal Navy: David Amos, Leon Armstrong, Maurice Ayling, George Aymes, Mike Bee, A.A. Betts, Peter Bonney, Eleanor Bosworthick, Bernard Brown, Joe Clark, Peter Cook, Jack Cousins, Bill Drake, Tony Drury, Albert Firth, Reg Fry, Mr Empson, Ken England, WilfEvison, Neville Garlick, Les Goodenough, Bill Grice, Bob Hale, Romney Hall, Robert Hayter, John Holland, Colin Houdrey, Albert Huyton, Dennis Jones, Ken Lambert, Noel Langdon, Hugh Langrishe, John Lawson, William Lodge, George LYnds, Frank Manning, Roy Maber, Des Mardle, Eric Moule, Ronald Neal, Bill Newcombe, Dennis Papworth, Derrick Pearce, Colin Pickford, William Pratt via Sue Unwin, Jack Quaintance, John Robson, John Roche, Tom Roxby, John Smith, Lionel Smith, Cyril Tapley, Bill Thompson, Pamela Trussell, Mr Ward, Peter Warde, Ken Whiterod, Ted Whitley, Jim Williams and Ray Young. Last and by no means least my everlasting gratitude to Elizabeth and David without whose unstinting financial and moral support this work would never have been undertaken. 5 Contents ABSTRACT 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 CONTENTS 5 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 10 CHAPTER 1 -INTRODUCTION: LOGISTICS AND NAVAL AIR POWER 15 Naval airpower- an overview 15 Logistics and the Royal Navy 17 Logistics literature review 19 Land, sea and air logistics 21 Levels oflogistic provision 23 Air logistics and strategy 24 Air logistics and national economics 28 Air logistics and operations 30 Air logistics and tactics 32 Conclusion 33 CHAPTER 2 - STRATEGY AND NAVAL AIR REQUIREMENTS 34 Overview 34 RNAS strategy and naval air requirements Naval air expansion programmes 35 Pre-war planning 38 Aviation and the Grand Fleet 38 Air defence ofGreat Britain 41 The continental commitment and strategic bombing 42 Anti-submarine warfare 43 Mediterranean operations, 1915-1918 45 The Carrier Comes ofAge Fleet Carriers - the backbone ofthe Fleet Air Ann 46 The Battle ofthe Atlantic takes centre stage 47 Reinforcing the Fleet 48 Aircraft production cuts 51 6 Manpower and the war against Japan 54 CHAPTER 3 - STRATEGY AND NAVAL AIR BASES 58 Overview 58 The First World War Coastal stations, 1912-1914 61 Comparative costings and constructional labour 62 Aeroplane stations 64 Seaplane stations 67 Airship stations 70 Kite balloon stations 72 Overseas - France 73 Overseas - Mediterranean 74 Inter-war years 76 The Second World War UK planning, 1938-1942 77 Naval Air Expansion Programmes and UK airfield requirements, 1942-1945 83 Repair Yards 91 Air Store Depots 93 Overseas planning, 1939-1942 94 Requirements for trade routes 95 Expansion in the Far East 97 Conclusion 112 CHAPTER 4 - NATIONAL ECONOMICS AND AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION 114 Overview 114 The First World War Aircraft orders and production 115 Administration ofRNAS procurement 118 Procurement by the RNAS and RFC 122 Foreign production 124 Engine production 126 Inter-war years Administration ofFAA procurement 129 British production 133 7 The Second World War Administration ofFAA procurement 136 Aircraft specifications 139 Aircraft orders and production 142 Failure ofBritish aircraft manufacturing 150 Dependence on American production 156 Conclusion 157 CHAPTER 5 - OPERATIONS AND CO-ORDINATING RESOURCES 159 Overview 159 The First World War Fleet operations 160 Coastal Patrolling and Convoy Escort 163 Operations in France 166 Operations in the Mediterranean 169 The Crisis of 1917 170 Second World War Wartime expansion and a shortage ofresources 172 Availability offighter squadrons 175 Shore-based operations, 1939-1943 177 Ferrying ofRAF aircraft, 1940-1942 179 Co-ordinating the employment ofEscort Carriers, 1942-1944 182 Review ofsquadron organisation, 1943-1944 189 Conclusion 191 CHAPTER 6 - TACTICAL LOGISTICS AND AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE 192 Overview 192 The Royal Naval Air Service Recruitment and Training 192 Operations in Britain 198 Operations in France 200 Overseas operations 203 Inter-war years 206 The Fleet Air Arm Recruitment and Training 208 Wartime Expansion 211 8 Reorganisation 0 f maintenance procedures 216 Influence ofAmerican practice 219 Supply ofair stores 221 Experience ofmaintenance afloat 223 Experience ofmaintenance ashore 226 Conclusion 229 CHAPTER 7 - CONCLUSION: PACIFIC ENDURANCE 230 Experience of the British Pacific Fleet Overview 230 The operations in perspective 230 Transportation ofaircraft and spares to Australia 233 Facilities in Australia and the forward area 235 Air logistics during Operation 'Iceberg', 26 March - 25 May 1945 239 Air logistics during the July/August operations, 17 July - 10 August 1945 246 Conclusion 248 Thesis summary 248 APPENDICES 252 Appendix 1- Planning for naval air stations, August 1942 252 Appendix 2 - Dates offormations ofnew squadrons, 1939-1945 255 Appendix 3 - Availability ofEscort Carriers, 1943-1944 256 Appendix 4 - Efficiency ofmaintenance at naval air stations, 1945 258 BIBLIOGRAPHY 259 (1) Primary Sources A. Unpublished Primary Sources 259 B. Memoirs, Published Papers and other Published Primary Sources 299 (2) Later Works A.Books 302 B. Articles 313 C. Theses 317 9 List of Illustrations Tables Table 1. Anticipated and actual deliveries ofaircraft and engines, June 1916 - January 1917 37 Table 2. Comparison between programmes A&B, October 1942 - January 1943 52 Table 3. Production