The opening challenges histories that treat Pearl Harbor or Midway as the beginning of naval aviation. World War I already featured global naval-air operations and plans for night attacks. Navies also learned that aircraft availability depended on ships, maintenance systems, and administrative organizations able to support them away from home. Many of those organizations began before 1914, but wartime demand refined them into working systems that later carrier forces inherited.
Chapter · 0:24-1:19
Why naval aviation begins before World War II
World War I established global naval-air operations, planned night raids, support ships, and the organizations needed to sustain aircraft at sea.