Fleet Air Arm Museum Display - Beginnings (1917 - 1947)
The first successful 'heavier-than-air' flights by the American Wright brothers in December 1903 lead to the commonplace use of aircraft in military and naval service during the First World War.
Three RAN cruisers served with the Royal Navy in the North Sea during World War 1, and by 1918 these ships each carried a Royal Navy Air Service Sopwith fighter capable of being launched from a wooden platform constructed over a main gun turret. Once airborne, these aircraft had to land ashore, or 'ditch' near a friendly ship.
In 1929, Navy commissioned HMAS Albatross (I); a 6,000 ton seaplane carrier built at Cockatoo Island in Sydney and designed to carry 9 RAAF Walrus III aircraft. Initially, cranes handled the aircraft, but later a launching catapult was fitted at the ship's bow. These aircraft had RAAF pilots and maintainers and Navy Observers and Telegraphist/Air Gunners.
By the start of World War II the RAN cruisers Australia (II), Canberra (I), Sydney (II), Perth (I) and Hobart (I), were all equipped with catapults and RAAF Seagull V amphibians. The two Armed Merchant Cruisers Manoora (I) and Westralia (I) also carried Seagull V's.
In late 1945 LCDR Victor Smith RAN, an Observer with wartime service in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, was sent to Great Britain to plan the establishment of a Fleet Air Arm for the Royal Australian Navy.
Through the efforts of LCDR Smith and many others, Australian Naval aviation became a reality in 1948. Later, Admiral Sir Victor Smith became widely known as the 'Father of the Fleet Air Arm.'
