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The first involvement Australia had with naval aviation was in 1911, when an Australian-born Royal Navy officer became one of the first four naval officers to receive pilot qualifications. During World War I, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) experienced several forms of airborne operation, with operating a seaplane, while HMA Ships and were used for experiments with aircraft launch platforms. An aircraft embarked aboard ''Sydney'' was also involved in one of the first naval air battles. Several Australians also flew as part of the Royal Naval Air Service. After the war's end, attempts to establish a naval aviation capability were met with opposition, and naval aviation fell under the control of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). During the late 1920s and early 1930s, amphibious aircraft were operated from the seaplane carrier , with a new aircraft, the Supermarine Walrus, designed for operation from this platform. ''Albatross'' was removed from service in the mid-1930s, with the focus of naval aviation transferred to the RAN's five-ship cruiser force. Although useful for reconnaissance, improvements in carrier-based aviation and anti-aircraft defence saw the Walrus fall out of use during World War II. The impact of carrier aviation during the war prompted the foundation of a RAN-controlled Fleet Air Arm and the acquisition of two light fleet carriers, with the first, , entering service in 1948. ''Sydney'' was the only non-US, non-UK aircraft carrier to be involved in the Korean War. The operation of a United States helicopter aboard ''Sydney'' during the war prompted the development of helicopter aviation in the Australian military. The RAN's second aircraft carrier, , had encountered delays while upgrading to the latest technology, and the British aircraft carrier was loaned to the RAN from 1952 until 1955, when ''Melbourne'' was commissioned. ''Sydney'' was decommissioned and converted into a troop transport during the late 1950s, and the obsolescence of ''Melbourne''s British-designed aircraft saw her reduced to helicopter operations until the mid-1960s, when new aircraft were purchased from the United States. ''Melbourne'' did not participate in the Vietnam War, although RAN helicopter pilots were used to support RAAF and United States Army Air Forces units. Following the decommissioning of ''Melbourne'' without replacement in the early 1980s, the Fleet Air Arm was reorganised to focus on helicopter operations from frigate-size ships, although fixed-wing aviation within the RAN continued with land-based aircraft used for patrols, electronic warfare training, transport, and hydrographic survey. ==Early 20th century and World War I== One of the pioneers of naval aviation was Australian-born Royal Navy officer Arthur Longmore, who, on 25 April 1911, was among the first four naval officers to receive pilot qualifications.〔Hobbs, in Oldham, ''100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy'', p. 140〕〔ANAM, ''Flying Stations'', p. 3〕 In the following years, Longmore conducted the first water landing in Britain, and the first deployment of a torpedo from an aircraft.〔 During the hunt for the merchant raider SMS ''Wolf'' in 1917, a Sopwith Baby seaplane was transferred from to the light cruiser .〔ANAM, ''Flying Stations'', p. 5〕 ''Brisbane''s commanding officer, John Saumarez Dumaresq, was impressed with the aircraft's operational capability and requested that several be acquired by the RAN, but when the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board expressed interest to the British Admiralty, they were rebuffed with claims that the use of seaplanes for naval aviation was "dying out".〔ANAM, ''Flying Stations'', p. 6〕 In August 1917, was the first warship to be fitted with a rotatable aircraft launch platform.〔〔Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 143〕 The cruiser was initially fitted with a Sopwith Pup, which was replaced in 1918 with a Sopwith Camel.〔〔 On 1 June 1918, the Camel was launched to intercept two German aircraft, one of which is believed to have been shot down: naval historian David Hobbs calls it "one of the first naval air battles".〔〔 In December 1917, became the first Australian warship to launch an aircraft from aboard ship (as opposed to ''Brisbane'', which placed the seaplane in the water before launch), when a Sopwith Pup took off from the battlecruiser's quarterdeck.〔 From March 1918 onwards, the battlecruiser was used to test a new method of aircraft launch; this time from platforms secured on top of a gun turret and its barrels.〔ANAM, ''Flying Stations'', p. 8〕〔Hobbs, in Oldham, ''100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy'', pp. 140–1〕 Following the successful launch of a fully laden Sopwith 1½ Strutter scout plane on 14 May, the first aircraft launch from a turret platform, ''Australia'' was fitted with platforms over her two midships turrets and started carrying two aircraft—a Strutter for reconnaissance, and a Sopwith Camel fighter—and operated them until the end of the war.〔〔Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 35〕〔Hobbs, in Oldham, ''100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy'', p. 141〕 Over the course of World War I, over 80 Australians served as part of the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS), including Australia's top flying aces of the war, Roderic Dallas and Robert A. Little.〔ANAM, ''Flying Stations'', p. 12〕 In April 1919, just before the end of the war, the RNAS and the Army-operated Royal Flying Corps were merged to form the Royal Air Force: Australian personnel were absorbed into the new organisation, with many transferring to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on its foundation in March 1921.〔ANAM, ''Flying Stations'', pp. 14–5〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Australian naval aviation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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