In recent months I've been researching the lives of some of my ancestors during the First World War. You can read about them at Writing a Family History First World War Stories if you follow this link . When I was researching the background to I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II I learned how the Fleet Air Arm contributed to the First World War: The Royal Navy had an air section from 1903 which was utilised during the First World War for spotting, signalling and reconnaissance. It was combined in 1918 with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force. By 1919, naval air power had been hugely reduced to a very small number of aircraft: reconnaissance planes, torpedo bombers, fighter planes, sea planes and flying boats. And how it evolved in the years prior to WW2: In 1924 there was a policy change at the Admiralty and it was decided that all observers and 70% of pilots of navy planes wou