Henry St John Fancourt - Interwar Activities

Interwar Activities

After the war, Fancourt attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, to complete his interrupted education. On his return to the Navy he chose to specialise in aviation and qualified as a pilot in 1924 after attending No 1 Naval Pilots Course. The ongoing dispute between the Admiralty and the Air Ministry about naval aviation meant that he held the dual ranks of Flying Officer, Royal Air Force and Lieutenant, Royal Navy.

In 1927, while serving on HMS Argus, he took part in the western military buildup in the Far East when European interests in Shanghai were threatened by fighting between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the warlord Sun Chuan Fang.

After a tour in HMS Renown, he was assigned to HMS Courageous in 1929. In August of that year he took part in operations to restore order in Palestine. Working ashore with the RAF he flew in support of the Army and Navy and made demonstration flights over Jerusalem.

In June 1931, Fancourt was involved in trials, aboard Courageous, of a new system of athwartships arrester cables to catch landing aircraft. He was the first to land using the new system which is now standard on modern aircraft carriers.

In April 1933, after promotion to Lieutenant-Commander, Fancourt became the first Commanding Officer of the newly formed 822 Squadron. The squadron, formed at Netheravon, flew Fairey IIIF biplanes.

After this assignment he worked in the Admiralty organising the recruitment and training of officers for the expanding Fleet Air Arm. In 1937 the Fleet Air Arm was handed back to the Navy from the Air Ministry. He later served as second in command of the cruiser HMS Neptune then commanded the sloop HMS Weston.