The book tells about the creation and use of ship-based aircraft from the period of the birth of aviation to the end of World War II. We used materials from the Russian State Archive of Economics, the Russian State Military Archive, the Central Naval Archive, the Central State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation, the Russian State Archive of the Moscow Region, the Scientific and Memorial Museum of N.E. Zhukovsky, photographs of the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents, the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia, the Russian State Military Archive.