Veterans of the Fleet Air Arm, the flight section of the Royal Navy, will pay tribute to their fallen comrades when they attend the unveiling of a new memorial to mark the 100th anniversary of naval aviation.

About 35 members of the Watford branch of the Fleet Air Arm Association will travel to the National Memorial Arboretum, to commemorate the service and sacrifice in peacetime and war of men and women of the Fleet Air Arm.

There, a granite aircraft carrier supported by a plinth made of Portland Stone will be dedicated in their honour.

However, the veterans' group are only able to make the two day trip to the arboretum, at Alrewas in Staffordshire, after their application for £3,490 from the Big Lottery Fund was approved.

With most members over 80 years old, unable to drive or simply without the funds to afford the transport and hotel fees, they had feared they would be unable to attend the dedication.

Fred Good, 85, a former telegraphist air gunner from Harrow Way, Carpenders Park, said: “It's personal for me because some of my mates didn't make it and it's my way of saying 'Well done mate'. These are guys I Iived with for months at a time and you get to know them really well.”

Peter Murray, an electronics officer with the Fleet Air Arm between 1966 and 1969, said: “It's been very important. It destroyed the Italian fleet at Taranto in 1940, and the oil fields in Samatra in 1945.

“The Fleet Air Arm enabled the gunners of the Royal Navy to finish off the [German battleship] Bismarck, in 1941, which at the time was the biggest ship in the world."

Mr Murray, 70, from The Avenue, Hatch End, said: “A lot of people don't know about the Fleet Air Arm. Everybody knows about aircraft carriers but they don't understand the part of the Navy that flies and maintains them is the Fleet Air Arm.”

The group's Lottery application was backed by Mayor Dorothy Thornhill.

She said: “Both my grandparents were in the Army, so it just seemed right they were supported. You cannot take the Army out of the person. Once they are in it, it becomes part of what they are so I understand why it's important for them to do this.

“It's not just a job. It runs through you so I feel delighted they got their funding and hope it goes well for them.

In a year of events to mark the 100th anniversary of the naval aviation, the members of the Watford branch of the Fleet Air Arm Society have also taken part in a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral and a reception at Guildhall in the presence of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

They have also been guests at a garden party held at Buckingham Palace.

The dedication will take place at the National Memorial Arboretum, the home of the Armed Forces Memorial that remembers the servicemen and women who have died on duty since World War Two, on September 11.