About this web site

The aim of this web site is to publish the details of all Fleet Air Arm bases world-wide that have operated since the organisation was returned to Admiralty control in 1939. The majority of the content is taken from official sources; other material is from reference books and private sources.

How it came about

For weeks on end there was very little actual work to do so I got in a lot of reading - amongst the material to hand was 'Flight Deck' the FAA's in -house magazine. I don't recall the issue number, but one of these contained an article about FAA bases and a world map showing where they all were. My interest was piqued and a passion for the history of the Fleet Air Arm, and later the RN, began.

I was lucky enough to be put in contact with a civilian instructor working in the Victorious workshops at HMS Daedalus who had several 'obsolete' Admiralty publications about air stations and other air establishments. These were CB 4368 (A) 'Handbook of Royal Naval Air stations (Home) and CB 4368 (B) 'Handbook of Royal Naval Air stations (Abroad) produced in August 1945. He also had two editions of the later B.R 1807 'Handbook of Royal Naval Air stations Home and Abroad' (1949 and 1955). Thanks to the C.P.O. Writer in the pay office I was allowed the use of their photocopy machine, provided I supplied my own paper; I had to beg borrow, or barter for this but eventually managed to reproduce all of the books. It is these books that form the backbone of this site.

The copies of the 'Handbook of Royal Naval Air stations' are by no means complete however - amendments had been applied to some and of course not all air stations/sections ever made it into the wartime editions. Some were previously RAF stations loaned or transferred to the RN, a number of these I was able to source a number of these from the Fleet Air Arm Museum at HMS Heron when I was next drafted there - plates & plans for some bases are still missing from the collection. The search continues to fill in these gaps.

About the editor/Web master

I joined the Royal Navy in January 1976 and trained as a Naval Air Mechanic (Airframes & Engines)  before being medically retired in March 1985. I served with 707, 781 (VIP Flight), 845, and 846 Naval Air Squadrons servicing Wessex H.U.5 helicopters. I also served on the Naval Hovercraft Trials Unit at RNAS Lee-on-Solent as a Leading Air Engineering Mechanic (Mechanical), servicing BH Mk.7 and SRN Mk.6 hovercraft. In 2006 I graduated from the Open University  with a Bachelor's Degree in Social Sciences and now work as a Social and Naval Historian. Much of my research is available on-line on the Royal Navy Research Archive web site which was launched in February 2005 to encapsulate my existing websites on aspects of Royal Navy history.