Q&A · 12:23-15:10

Why this does not create the Japanese service model

The RAF still controls bombers, land-based fighters, and Coastal Command, while the Royal Navy independently buys the aircraft needed for fleet operations.

Question

Would the arrangement resemble the separate Japanese Army and Navy air services?

Short answer

No. The RAF remains a major independent service with bombers, fighters, Coastal Command, and most land-based aviation, while the Navy controls only its fleet-connected aircraft.

Notes

Britain still creates a substantial independent RAF, so the proposed naval arrangement differs from Japan's separate Army and Navy air services. The RAF retains bombers, land-based fighters, and Coastal Command, while the Navy independently purchases fleet aircraft. Political disputes over aircraft totals and budgets would continue. In the historical example, the Air Ministry counted fleet aircraft towards home air defence and wanted overseas carriers recalled for a major exercise around 1928-1929. The Admiralty refused because those ships had overseas duties. The dispute concerned how aircraft already assigned to the fleet could be counted and employed by another ministry.