When carrier air groups began flying aboard

When did navies prefer flying carrier aircraft aboard and ashore instead of transferring them by crane?

Flying became preferable once a sufficiently dense air-base network made it practical, although cranes remained the safer option in some circumstances.

Carrier aircraft could only fly between ship and shore routinely when suitable airfields existed within practical range. Once that network developed, flying saved handling time and simplified operations compared with craning aircraft ashore. Cranes nevertheless remained a controlled and comparatively safe transfer method when geography, weather, or aircraft condition made flight unsuitable.