RNAS/RFC - transfers between ?

[TaillyHo 2]

I'm considering transferring one of my OFF pilots between his current RFC squad and a RNAS one, but don't recall having read about anyone who actually did this in real life.

Just wondering if any of you well-read types (Dej?, Lou?) can enlighten me on this question?

Cheers!

 

 

[Olham 164]

You could search through the aces over at "The Aerodrome", TaillyHo:

 

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/index.php

[Dej 17]

I'm not aware of any, I confess. And, given that the RFC was only a corps of the army and many RFC pilots records remained with their old units prior to 1st April 1918, I think it would adminstratively have been frowned upon. I think some commanding officers from the RNAS were appointed their RFC squadrons prior to amalgamation, Dallas for example, but not actually present.

 

Up until the advent of the SE and Camel though I doubt any Naval scout pilot would have wanted to trade his superior machine for one of the antiquated kites the brown jobs were forced to fly!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Quite right Dej. The only transfers I am aware of between the two services were aircraft. When the RNAS received the latest and best machines, their old ones would be transferred to RFC squadrons, and despite them being hand-me-downs they were gladly accepted.

 

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[Hasse Wind 46]

I don't remember reading anything about such transfers either. But there was some cooperation, at least in the form of training, between the two branches.

 

Many of the "normal" army and navy officers both saw the aviators of their respective branches as some kind of eccentrics. There was some talk about how the flying units attract the kind of people nobody wants to have as officers either in the army or the navy.

[Flyby PC 23]

I cannot answer the question either, apart from stating the obvious that they all did - all transferred together into the RAF in 1918, but I don't think that's what you're asking.

 

But I can comment on the subsequent arrangements which arose later. The RNAS was the Naval arm of the air force, and after 1918 it remained part of the RAF until 1938, when it was re-established but called the Fleet Air Arm. Such servicemen were considered to be in the Navy, no longer in the RAF. In 1938/39 my father was an RAF wireless operator who flew in Fairey Swordfish. When the Fleet Air Arm was formed, the transition didn't happen over night, but the Swordfish were eventually transferred to the FAA for carrier based ops after the war had started. I can't quite believe the RAF air crew were given the choice whether to stay with the swordfish but join the Fleet Air Arm and go to sea, or stay in the RAF, and be transferred somewhere else. Freedom of choice is not something the military is renowned for.

 

I'm not sure whether his unit, No3 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit at Hal Far was disbanded in 1939 when the aircraft were taken by the FAA, but in any event my father stuck with the RAF, and ended up on the ground operating wireless in Burma and Imphal. I can't report these arrangements with certainty however, because I don't know the facts. I do however know of Hal Far swordfish pilots from 1937 and 1938 who later flew from the carriers Glorious and Courageous, but because the Fleet Air Arm didn't exist until 1938, logically, I think these must have been RAF pilots, and men whom my father quite possibly knew. It is a bit confusing. When I was a nipper, I could never work out how my father in the RAF was flying in Swordfish which every report said were carrier based Navy planes. I even saw some of his pictures of Swordfish on floats being lifted onto boats in Gibraltar. Very confusing. My father was also an air-gunner / wireless operator, not a pilot or navigator, so perhaps that made a difference too. The FAA wouldn't have any pilots or navigators, but they would have their own wireless operators and gunners, so why nick those from the RAF? Just a theory.....

 

http://www.halfarairfieldmalta.com/WW2_Page1.htm

 

To quote from the Fleet Air Arm Archive:-

 

In January 1914 the government established the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Within a few months the RNAS had 217 pilots and 95 aircraft (55 of them seaplanes).

 

By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the RNAS had more aircraft under its control than the Royal Flying Corps. The main role of the RNAS was fleet reconnaissance, patrolling coasts for enemy ships and submarines, attacking enemy coastal territory and defending Britain from enemy air-raids. The leading war ace in the RNAS was Raymond Collishaw with 60 victories.

 

The RNAS was severely attacked for its failure to prevent the Zeppelin bombing raids. In February 1916 there was a change of policy and the Royal Flying Corps were given responsibility of dealing with Zeppelins once they were over Britain. The RNAS now concentrated on bombing Zeppelins on the ground in Germany.

 

The RNAS also had fighter squadrons on the Western Front. Popular aircraft with these pilots included the Bristol Scout, the Sopwith Pup and the Sopwith Camel.

 

When the RNAS had 67,000 officers and men, 2,949 aircraft, 103 airships and 126 coastal stations when it was decided to merge it with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force in April 1918. The Royal Navy did not regain its Fleet Air Arm again until 1938

Edited July 15, 2011 by Flyby PC

[TaillyHo 2]

Ok then gents, it would seem such transfers were so rare as to be non-existent.

Yes, Dej - I agree it would be hard to imagine why you'd want to go RNAS to RFC, but possibly more motivation to go from RFC to RNAS (which is what I wanted for my pilot).

 

Many thanks to all who replied!

[Dej 17]

Ok then gents, it would seem such transfers were so rare as to be non-existent.

Yes, Dej - I agree it would be hard to imagine why you'd want to go RNAS to RFC, but possibly more motivation to go from RFC to RNAS (which is what I wanted for my pilot).

 

Many thanks to all who replied!

 

Ah yes, quite so. However, in neither case are we talking about transferring between branches of the same Service. For an officer, one would have to resign one's commission in the Army, leave it entirely, and then join the Navy... or vice versa... starting all over again.

 

Neither Service would, I think, have tolerated such an action and the loss of an experienced resource, howsoever temporary, that such a thing would entail. Might have been slightly easier, on paper, for the rank and file but again, as some of those would have been amongst the more experienced, that still would tell against the likelihood of it being allowed.