[Guzzman]

There is no distinction between the RNAS/early-RAF button. They were literally the same button, so it is possible to describe all rope-rim eagle buttons as being RNAS as that is who they were originally made for - who subsequently wore them is another matter! And since the idea was to use up existing stocks of buttons it is highly unlikely that any additional rope-rim buttons were produced between 1918 and 1921. By the time new buttons were required it was felt appropriate to choose a distinctive design for the RAF. It should be remembered that immediately after the end of the First World War the RAF was reduced in size from 22,647 aircraft and just under 291,000 personnel to a mere 12 squadrons. No wonder it took a few years to use up the existing stock of RNAS buttons!

The RAF had no interest in maritime aviation and only took on this role reluctantly. Former RNAS aircrew and ground crews were still very much a part of the RAF, though now going to sea wearing RAF rank and uniforms.

The Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force was formed on 1st April 1924 with five squadrons of aircraft. While the Air Ministry still retained administrative control of the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines now provided 70% of its pilots and all observers and telegraphist air gunners. Naval officers serving with the Fleet Air Arm (despite naval pilots being legally required to hold commissions in both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force as only RAF officers were allowed to fly aircraft) wore Royal Navy uniforms with the standard Royal Navy buttons of rope-rim and foul anchor design. RAF officers serving with the Fleet Air Arm wore standard RAF buttons with the plain rim. No distinctive button was ever worn by Royal Navy officers serving in the Fleet Air Arm.

By the late-1930s the feeling was growing that responsibility for naval aviation should be handed back to the Royal Navy. On 24th May 1939 the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force was disbanded and replaced by the Air Branch of the Royal Navy (though the Fleet Air Arm title was retained unofficially by RN personnel throughout the war). Naval officers serving in the Air Branch continued to wear the standard rope-rim foul anchor design of buttons worn by all other naval officers.

Pete