An incredible career with the armoured cars and aircraft of the RNAS

The author, Charles Samson, was one of the first four officers selected to be a pilot by the Royal Navy and was the first to fly an aircraft from a moving ship. By 1912, he was commanding officer of the Royal Naval Air station at Eastchurch. When war broke out in 1914, Samson took his RNAS squadron to France, but a shortage of aircraft initially converted the squadron to an automotive force. Its role involved reconnaissance and aggressive patrolling, firstly in private cars fitted with machine guns and subsequently in armoured cars supported by Royal Marines, frequently undertaken behind enemy lines. Eventually supplied with aircraft, the squadron undertook bombing raids into Germany. In 1915 Samson joined the Dardanelles expedition with No. 3 Squadron. He was involved in operating seaplanes from HMS Ark Royal, personally flying missions against naval and land targets and his narratives of action during this period are riveting. In 1916, he took command of a former Isle of Man passenger steamer that had been converted into a seaplane carrier, patrolling the coasts of Syria and Palestine and operating against Turkish forces until his ship was sunk in action. He was then transferred to the Indian Ocean to join the hunt for enemy commerce raiders. From 1917 until the end of the war he commanded an aircraft group on the Home Front, based at Great Yarmouth, responsible for anti-submarine and anti-Zeppelin operations. Samson, resigned from the Royal Navy, joining the RAF in 1919. Illustrated.

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