The dispute over Fleet Air Arm control exposed a practical conflict between RAF and Royal Navy war plans. One air plan expected carriers to ferry successive RAF aircraft tranches east before collecting their own naval air groups, subordinating fleet operations to land-based reinforcement. The RAF also argued that roughly forty torpedo bombers could defend Singapore in place of naval strength, but by 1936 those aircraft and an adequate long-range reconnaissance force were unavailable. The gap between institutional claims and deliverable capability strengthened the case for returning the Fleet Air Arm to naval control and nearly drew Coastal Command into the same transfer.
Notable Point · 41:19-45:25
Singapore exposed the RAF's maritime credibility gap
Plans that treated carriers as aircraft ferries and promised forty torpedo bombers for Singapore became politically damaging when the RAF could not field the promised maritime force.