Lee-on-Solent was selected as the site for the Fleet Air Arm
Memorial as it was the location of the large Naval Air Station
HMS Daedelus. It is one of the lesser known Memorials in the UK,
but remembers 1,925 men of the Fleet Air Arm who have no known
grave, most of them having been lost at sea. The Fleet Air Arm
served in almost every theatre between 1939 and 1945, such was
the growing importance of sea-based airpower. Men and aircraft
were lost in air combat, accidents, and also when aircraft
carriers were sunk – the Royal Navy lost seven in the Second
World War. The Fleet Air Arm carried out many daring operations
in the Second World War, including the hugely succesful strike
on the Italian fleet at Taranto in 1940, the sinking of the
Bismarck in 1941, and operations against the battleships
Scharnhorst, Gneiseau and Prinz Eugen during their channel dash
in February 1942. 20 Portsmouth men are remembered on the Lee-
on-Solent Memorial: The Aircraft Carrier HMS Glorious was sunk
on 9 June 1940. Onboard were A