The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force.
Personnel of No 1 Squadron RNAS in late 1914
Commander C. Samson of the RNAS takes off from HMS Hibernia in his modified Shorts S.38 “hydro-aeroplane” to be the first pilot to take off from a ship underway at sea - 9 May 1912.
Sopwith Triplanes from No. 1 (Naval) Squadron, in Bailleul, France. The aircraft nearest the camera (N5454) was primarily flown by ace Richard Minifie.
RNAS officer dropping a bomb from a SSZ class airship during the First World War.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Murray Longmore, was an early naval aviator, before reaching high rank in the Royal Air Force. He was Commander-in-Chief of the RAF's Middle East Command from 1940 to 1941.
Then-Lieutenant Arthur Longmore (in dark coat walking toward camera on right) on 1 December 1911 immediately after he became the first person in the United Kingdom to take off from land and make a successful water landing, using the aircraft behind him, a Short Improved S.27 bearing Admiralty number 38, later often called the "Short S.38."