Royal Naval Air Service
![Personnel of No 1 Squadron RNAS in late 1914](/Images/godic/202502/08/No_1_Squadron_RNAS_19144402.jpg")
![Commander C Samson of the RNAS takes off from HMS Hibernia in his modified Shorts S.38 “hydro-aeroplane” to be the first pilot to take off from a ship underway at sea.](/Images/godic/202502/08/HMS_Hibernia_first_ship_aircraft_takeoff_1912_IWM_Q_710414402.jpg")
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![Raymond Collishaw](/Images/godic/202502/08/Colishaw4402.JPG")
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service, the Royal Air Force, the first of its kind in the world.