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DAVIES, Richard Bell. Sailor in the Air: The Memoirs of Vice Admiral Richard Bell Davies. x, 245p., illus., index. London: Davies, 1967.

He joined the RN in 1901 and retired in 1941. Only the last eight pages are then concerned with Admiral Davies’ varied career in WWII. Although he retired in 1941, he almost immediately returned to service as a Convoy Commodore before being appointed to command the escort carrier Dasher.  After taking part in the TORCH landings he became Captain of the trials escort carrier Pretoria Castle and retired for the second time in October 1944. Reprinted by Seaforth in 2008.                               

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

The rather dull memoirs of an Air Mechanic. He served ashore in the UK, then on Illustrious during her Mediterranean service. He was injured in the bomb attack which crippled her - and here his account is lively - then was hospitalised and served ashore in Egypt and Malta with 830 Squadron. In 1943 he returned to the UK and after leave and training joined 778, a trials and pilot conversion squadron. In July 1944 he was drafted to 804 Squadron which worked up in South Africa before joining Ameer which was based in Ceylon with the Eastern Fleet until war's end.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

Aldergrove was a key Coastal Command Base in the Battle of the Atlantic.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

DOE, Mervyn Spencer. A Rough Passage. viii, 199p. Durham, Pentland, 1999. ISBN: 1858217288.

Memoir of man who started life in an orphanage aged 4. He joined the RN and was recruited as a cook, serving in RNB Chatham before being drafted to HMS Cumberland, in which he served in the South Atlantic during the early part of the war. She was involved in the Graf Spee operation) and the abortive Dakar operation when Cumberland was hit (12 killed). He transferred to the FAA as an Engine Mechanic.  He was drafted to 776 Squadron, HMS Blackcap at Speke Airport, Liverpool and later to the staff of Max Horton ( C-in-C Western Approaches) to maintain personal aircraft..  Later 776 Squadron moved to HMS Ringtail Woodvale where he was advanced to Leading Air Mechanic.  After VE Day he was drafted to HMS Waxwing Dunfermline for HMS Colossus which was fitting out at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead for service in the British Pacific Fleet.  After the atom bombs were dropped his draft to Colossus was cancelled and he was sent to HMS Merlin, Donibristle i/c the maintenance of Fireflies and Corsairs.  He was demobbed in 1946.

• Autobiography
• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

He joined up as an Apprentice in 1941and this autobiography aims to set the record straight on the important role of Air Engineering personnel.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

BF or Daddy as he was known, started his career at Dartmouth and then spent his early seagoing years in Hong Kong, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. His wartime experiences as a Fleet Air pilot aboard Glorious included the attack on Taranto and the search for the Graf Spee. In May 1940 he was loaned to Coastal Command and attacked German tanks in a biplane, defended Allied troops over Dunkirk and was one of the few naval officers to fight in the Battle of Britain. After a period as a test pilot at Boscombe Down he became one of only four Wing Leaders in the Royal Navy. His successful leadership led to many more successes, not least the crippling of Tirpitz. Tragically he was killed in action in July 1944, one week prior to promotion and a job ashore.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

A selection of photographs from the files of the Imperial War Museum. Concentrates on the planes.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

Le Page flew with the FAA from 1940 to 1945, mostly in 816 Squadron flying carrier-based Swordfish. He saw action mine-laying off Cherbourg, hunting U-boats, escorting convoys in North Atlantic and in the Arctic and covering D-Day. Much of his early war years were aboard Dasher and he was lucky to be ashore when the carrier mysteriously blew and sank in the Clyde. This decimated 816 Squadron which was eventually re-equipped and then worked up to operational readiness to fly from Tracker.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

Reminiscences of the Association and its members' war service.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

Focuses on the experience of the Telegraphist Air Gunners, notably in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

Recollections of war service from 14 of those Telegraphist Air Gunners who were on 35 Course in 1942.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

Although American he joined the FAA from university in 1939. After a year of training he was posted to the Middle East and the Western Desert Fulmars of 805 Squadron. He was then posted to 821 Squadron and antisubmarine patrols and bombing. The squadron transferred to Malta and Foster then returned to the UK early in 1943. He next joined 841 Squadron on antishipping strikes in the Channel but soon went to the US for further training. In 1944 he took command of 849 Squadron and sailed for the Far East to be based in Ceylon and then Victorious. With TF57 he took part in the raids on Sumatra and Palembang then with the Pacific Fleet on Sakishima Gunto. In mid-1945 he was posted to an appointment in the Admiralty. An interesting if understated memoir.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

The third volume of the poet's autobiography covers his war service. He joined the FAA as a radar mechanic in 1941. After training he was sent to East Africa. He next returned to the UK as a Petty Officer, was commissioned in 1943 and spent the rest of the war in a junior technical post in the Admiralty.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

He began his merchant career in 1933 and was called up from the RNR in 1939. He swiftly gravitated to the FAA and by 1940 was a fighter pilot first on Ark Royal then on Formidable, including action at the Battle of Matapan. He next took over 802 Squadron on Audacity and survived her sinking. He then went to the US to take charge of the British pilot training programme and stayed in the RN for a distinguished postwar career.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

An irreverent account of a naval career in the FAA in which the author rose from bluejacket to Lieutenant Commander, flew 67 operational sorties, and met and conquered most of the hazards to which wartime pilots were exposed, notably in MAC conversions and in Nairana on the Murmansk Run.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

A short ruminative autobiographical tale, from training in Argus to service with the BPF.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

GREAT BRITAIN. Ministry of Information. Fleet Air Arm. 128p., illus. London: HMSO, 1943.

A popular account of the role of the Fleet Air Arm in WWII from Norway to Torch. US title: The British Navy's Air Arm. A facsimile reprint was published by Uncovered Editions in 2001 (ISBN: 0117025399).  

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

Green volunteered for the FAA in 1939 and served as an Observer. He was sent to 831 Squadron and flew in Albacores. 831 joined Indomitable and served in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean. After she suffered battle damage in the Pedestal convoy she returned to the UK, while Green was appointed naval liaison officer at RAF Bone in Algeria. He served there for almost two years before returning to the UK as an instructor.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

A history of naval aviation. Only the last 30 pages cover WWII.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm

A biographic line shoot. After a full and enjoyable account of his training in Canada, Hadley describes his career in 822 Squadron in Tain, India, and Ceylon. After a short spell of active service on Victorious he moved to 831 Squadron again in Ceylon. He was sent back to the UK to train as a Deck Landing Control Officer. In 1945 he served in Queen and briefly in Ocean as the war ended.

• The Royal Navy
• Fleet Air Arm