Letter to the Editor: Aircraft Carriers

Sir, – Aircraft carriers without combat jets are pointless (Lewis Page, The Daily Telegraph, online 22 Sep 2023), however, the RAF leads on tri-service aircraft procurement and pilot training. Aircraft carriers with a full complement of aircraft are essential weapons systems for the defence of British interests worldwide, but this has had little RAF support since the 1920s. The ‘Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force’ was formed in 1924 and naval aviation was not again under Admiralty control until 1939. The RAF’s mis-management of naval aviation pre-war left the Royal Navy ill-prepared, a…