Royal Naval Air Service - Organizations

Organizations

Unlike the RFC, the RNAS was organized on a non-central basis so there were several No 1 Squadrons. Even Wings numbers were not consistently given to the same unit, so there are many exceptions in historic data. At the start of the war there were three wings 1, 2 & 3. As the war progressed, other wings were formed.

• Wing 1 was on both sides of the English Channel in 1914.
• Wings 2 & 3 were sent to the Dardanelles for the Gallipoli Campaign, but Wing 3 was disbanded when the campaign finished and was absorbed into Wing 2 for service in Salonika.
• Wing 3 was reformed in 1916 for Strategic bombing, disbanded in 1917
• Wings 4 & 5 were expanded from Wing 1, the former being fighters and the latter having bombing duties.
• Wing 6 was formed for patrolling the Adriatic Sea, but was expanded to Malta by 1918

Squadrons serving in France were given numbers from 1 to 17. At the formation of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, they became 201 to 217 squadrons of the RAF.

Squadrons serving in the Eastern Mediterranean were given letters (A to G, and Z).

In 1918, Squadron A became Squadron 222; Squadron B became Squadron 223; Squadron C became Squadron 220; and Squadron D became Squadron 221, all of the RAF. Squadron Z was transferred to the Royal Greek Navy.