It’s hard to imagine a world without air travel, although this year, we’re seeing air travel reduced to its bare bones. It has been more than a century since maritime aviation began off the East Coast of Canada to help address the submarine threat during the First World War. The Royal Canadian Naval Air Service was formed in 1918 to undertake anti-submarine patrols but the young Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) did not have much capability to operate sea planes, so operations during WWI were conducted by the US Navy from Halifax.
Over the years, this has changed as Canada built up its capability in maritime aviation. Canada has both fixed-wing (i.e., airplanes) and rotary-wing (helicopters) aircraft, operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The air assets are extremely useful to the navy, and navies would not go back to operating without them.
If you want to learn about how maritime aviation in Canada developed over the years, read the Naval Association of Canada Briefing Note “The History of Canadian Naval Aviation,” at https://www.navalassoc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/BN20-maritime-air-history-final.pdf
