Raf/rfc

[John]

Why did the Royal Flying Corps change its name to become the Royal Air Force? What changed within the organisation ?
Who decided this?

[Guest kurtz]

The RAF was formed from the RFC and the RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) on 1st April 1918, becoming the the first independent air arm in history.

The decision was political (eg the army and the navy wanted to keep their own air arms) and a leading figure involved was Lord Trenchard who between the wars became a Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. :ph34r:

[John]

Thank you kurtz. very interesting. So what was the first aircraft carrier and what did it have flying off it? :blink:

[Scott Powell]

Wasnt it about this time that the names were changed from "Scout" to Fighters,and EA to HA?

[Firefly]

Thank you kurtz. very interesting. So what was the first aircraft carrier and what did it have flying off it? :blink:

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Ah, now we're into my territory Johnnyboy!

The first 'Aircraft Carrier' wasn't exactly that in the true sense of the word. The Ben-my-Chree was a 'Seaplane Carrier', having two Short Seaplanes on board which were converted to carry torpedoes. She was, i believe, a heavy cruiser with her aft converted with a hanger and workshop. Apparently they had great success against enemy merchant vessels. She saw action in the Dardanelles campaign before coming a cropper and being sunk in Jan 1917.

The Furious. could be described as the first designated aircraft carrier. She was initially designed with a short flightdeck forward of her superstructure, but was eventually completed with a continuous flight-deck. She carried 16 Sopworth Camels.

The first real Carriers designed as such, were Hermes, Argus, and Eagle. Only Argus was completed before the end of WWI. They were about 11,000 tonnes each.......

Edited April 2, 2005 by Firefly