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Memorial plan to honour pioneering WW1 naval aviators
27 November 2024
More than £300,000 is needed to create a lasting monument to the pioneers of naval aviation.
Today’s men and women stand on the shoulders of the giants of the Royal Naval Air Service, forerunner of the Fleet Air Arm, which laid the foundations for almost every aspect of war in the skies and operating aircraft at sea.
Although the early days of naval aviation are remembered with displays/galleries at the Fleet Air Arm Museum and memorial church in Yeovilton – it records the names of 897 RNAS personnel, mostly aircrew, killed between 1914 and 1918 – there is no dedicated memorial for the Great War pioneers, only one for the Fleet Air Arm (‘Daedalus’ in London’s Whitehall) which was not formed until the late 1930s.
Not 1,000 men strong at the outbreak of war in August 1914, with fewer than 100 aircraft and airships, by the time it was merged with its Army counterpart, the Royal Flying Corps, to form the RAF on April 1 1918, the RNAS had grown into a formidable air power: around 55,000 personnel and some 3,000 aircraft and airships.
Under the banner of the RNAS, the first of what today we would call carrier strike operations and the first strategic bombing missions were carried out.
In the first weeks of the war especially, makeshift armoured cars marked with the initials ‘RNAS’ and flying the White Ensign roamed the lanes of Belgium and northern France, rescuing downed aviators or scouting for potential new airfields.
It was a naval pilot who brought down the first Zeppelin (earning the first aerial Victoria Cross) and a naval pilot (Edwin Dunning) who made the first landing on a moving aircraft carrier at sea.
Pilots hunted U-boats, served extensively in support of ground troops on the Western Front where they grappled with the Red Baron, scouted for rogue German ships in Africa, reconnoitred the battlefields of Gallipoli and defend the mother country against air attack.
For all these reasons and more, project leader Major General David Rutherford-Jones wants to see a permanent monument to these pioneering fliers.
Our aim is to have a memorial designed and constructed which is affordable, catches the eye, and which above all else captures the spirit of Naval flying in WW1, particularly the early years, when air operations were truly pioneering, stunningly dangerous, and delivered with extraordinary aplomb by the pilots.
Researching the career of his grandfather, who flew as a pilot with the RNAS from 1916 until the end of WW1, he realised there was no national memorial to these pioneers.
As envisaged at present the monument – titled ‘In the teeth of the wind’ – are bronze figures of a pilot, his mechanic and the airman’s dog (a frequent companion at WW1 airfields). They stand in front of a stone and bronze representation of a biplane, with the RNAS cap badge, a short description and an artist’s impression of Great War naval air operations on the rear.
Maj Gen Rutherford-Jones believes the memorial “captures the spirit” of those early aviators, their bravery, often ‘devil-may-care’ attitude – one in three pilots was aged 21 or under, their life at the front counted in days, perhaps weeks – and above all, their accomplishments.
It will cost upwards of £325,000 to install and dedicate the monument at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
“300,000 people visited the arboretum last year – 20,000 of them young people and that number will grow,” Maj Gen Rutherford-Jones said.
“There really has to be a memorial to the Royal Naval Air Service – our forebears deserve this much.
“Our aim is to have a memorial designed and constructed which is affordable, catches the eye, and which above all else captures the spirit of Naval flying in WW1, particularly the early years, when air operations were truly pioneering, stunningly dangerous, and delivered with extraordinary aplomb by the pilots.”
The memorial plan has the backing of the RAF and the National Museum of the Royal Navy, but the major challenge is finding the cash.
As well as looking to the Heritage Lottery Fund, trusts and philanthropists who support military causes, Maj Gen Rutherford-Jones welcomes support/donations from individuals. He can be contacted at [email protected].