804 Naval Air Squadron
| 804 Naval Air Squadron | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active |
|
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Type | Single-seat fighter squadron |
| Role | Carrier-based fighter squadron |
| Part of | Fleet Air Arm |
| Motto(s) | Swift to Kill |
| Aircraft | See Aircraft flown section for full list. |
| Battle honours | Norway 1940 North Africa 1942 Normandy 1944 Burma 1945 Korea 1951-52 |
804 Naval Air Squadron (804 NAS), also referred to as 804 Squadron, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It most recently operated the Supermarine Scimitar between March 1960 and September 1961.
It formed in November 1939 from part of 769 Naval Air Squadrons Gloster Sea Gladiators which had been detached to RNAS Hatston. It served throughout the Second World War with a further variety of fighter aircraft including Brewster Buffalo, Grumman Martlet, Hawker Sea Hurricane, Fairey Fulmar and Grumman Hellcat. The squadron was merged into 800 Naval Air Squadron in June 1944 and subsequently reformed in September,[2] when it flew Supermarine Seafire. During the Korean War, it flew Hawker Sea Fury and these were followed by the Hawker Sea Hawk during the Suez Crises.
World War II
[edit]During World War II, she was equipped with various aircraft types in differing roles. When formed at Hatston, 804 used Gloster Sea Gladiators in defence of the naval base at Scapa Flow but was transferred in April 1940 to HMS Glorious to provide air cover for the ferrying of 269 Squadron RAF's Gladiators to Norway after the German invasion. This was a brief assignment and in early May the squadron was transferred to HMS Furious at Campbeltown, thus missing Glorious's sinking. Between May and September 1940 804 squadron returned to Hatston, and was subsequently recognised as one of the two FAA squadrons that operated with RAF Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain.[2]
In October 1940 804 Squadron was re-equipped with Martlet I fighters, and first operated the new fighters out of RNAS Skaebrae in the Orkney Islands in October 1940. On 25 December 1940, two of the squadron's Martlets shot down a Junkers Ju 88 off Scapa Flow, thus scoring the first aerial victory in Europe by any variant of the Grumman F4F Wildcat.[3] Further re-equipping occurred in February 1941 at RNAS Yeovilton with Fulmar IIs and Sea Hurricanes.[2]
In April 1941 the squadron was assigned to operate from catapult-armed ships (CAM ships and fighter catapult ships) until this role was taken over by the RAF's Merchant Ship Fighter Unit in May 1942. During this assignment, the squadron had aircraft on HMS Ariguani, Springbank (until sunk on 27 September 1940), Maplin, and SS Michael (until sunk on 2 June 1941).[2] In August 1941, an 804 Squadron Sea Hurricane from HMS Maplin, piloted by Robert Everett, shot down an Fw 200 Condor, the first such victory for a catapult launched aircraft.[4]
In July 1942, the squadron escorted Gibraltar convoys on board HMS Argus and later, in October, now equipped with the Sea Hurricane IIc, joined HMS Dasher for the North African landings. The squadron was re-equipped yet again in August 1943 Hellcat Is and in October joined No 7 Naval Fighter Wing. Two months later they embarked on HMS Emperor and accompanied a US-bound convoy.[2]
The squadron participated in the successful attack on 3 April 1944 on the German battleship Tirpitz (Operation Tungsten) in Altafjord, northern Norway. Fleet Air Arm Barracuda dive-bombers from HMS Furious and HMS Victorious were covered by the 7th Naval Fighter Wing, including 804 NAS.[2]
In June 1944, 804 was absorbed into 800 squadron.[2] The squadron reformed in September 1944 at Wingfield airfield, South Africa with 24 Hellcat IIs and in January 1945, they embarked on HMS Ameer to provide cover during the landings on Ramree Island, and subsequently missions over Sumatra and Malaya. In April 1945 the squadron embarked on HMS Empress and also HMS Shah for attacks on the Andaman Islands and the coast of Burma, returning to HMS Ameer in June for attacks on Sumatran airfields and Phuket Island, only returning to the United Kingdom after VJ Day in November 1945.[2]
Post-war
[edit]She participated in the Korean War, flying off HMS Glory.[5] She was recommissioned at RNAS Lossiemouth on 1 March 1960. The squadron was equipped with 6 Supermarine Scimitar F MK1 aircraft under the command of Lieutenant Commander T. Binney RN. The 800 Series of Naval Air Squadrons were allocated to carrier and land based operational squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. After a four-month work up period the Squadron embarked in HMS Hermes. Other than for two periods ashore at Lossiemouth, the squadron operated from Hermes until the unit disbanded in September 1961. The squadron took part in both the Farnborough Airshow and the Paris Air Show in 1961, operating from the deck of Hermes rather than a shore base and flying directly to and from the shows.
Aircraft flown
[edit]The squadron has flown a number of different aircraft types, including:[6]
- Gloster Sea Gladiator (November 1939 - January 1941)
- Brewster Buffalo (July - September 1940, July 1941 - March 1942)
- Grumman Martlet Mk I (September 1940 - March 1941)
- Miles Whitney Straight (December 1940 - March 1941)
- Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk lA (February - September 1941)
- Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk IB (February - September 1941)
- Fairey Fulmar Mk.I (February 1941 - May 1942)
- Fairey Fulmar Mk.II (February 1941 - May 1942)
- Hawker Hurricane Mk I (September 1941 - July 1942)
- Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk IIB (September 1941 - October 1942)
- Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk IlC (October 1942 - June 1943)
- Grumman Hellcat F. Mk. I (August 1943 - June 1944)
- Grumman Hellcat F. Mk. II (September 1944 - October 1945)
- Supermarine Seafire F Mk.XV (October 1946 - March 1948)
- Supermarine Seafire FR Mk.47 (January 1948 - July 1949)
- Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 (July 1949 - January 1954)
- Hawker Sea Hawk F1 (November 1953 - January 1955)
- Hawker Sea Hawk FGA 4 (December 1954 - November 1955)
- Hawker Sea Hawk FGA 6 (February 1956 - September 1959)
- Supermarine Scimitar F.1 (March 1960 - September 1961)
Battle honours
[edit]The battle honours awarded to 804 Naval Air Squadron are:
- Norway 1940-44[7]
- Atlantic 1941[8]
- North Africa 1942[9]
- Normandy 1944[10]
- East Indies 1945[11]
- Burma 1945[12]
- Korea 1951-52[13]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Sturtivant, Ballance 1994, p. 142.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "804 Squadron". Fleet Air Arm Archive. 23 February 2001. Archived from the original on 25 September 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
- ^ Angelucci, pp. 226-227.
- ^ Brookes, Geoff. "Robert Everett DSO". Stories in Welsh Stone. Archived from the original on 15 November 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
- ^ "British & Commonwealth Forces Deployed Units in the Korean War". Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
- ^ Ballance, Howard & Sturtivant 2016, p. 119.
- ^ "Norway 1940-45". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ "Atlantic 1939-45". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ "North Africa 1942-43". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ "Normandy 1944". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ "East Indies 1940-45". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ "Burma 1944-45". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ "Korea 1950-53". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
Bibliography
[edit]- Angelucci, Enzo. The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present. New York: Orion Books, 1987. ISBN 0-517-56588-9.
- Ballance, Theo; Howard, Lee; Sturtivant, Ray (2016). The Squadrons and Units of the Fleet Air Arm. Air Britain Historians Limited. ISBN 978-0-85130-489-2.
- Scimitar by D. Gibbings & J. A. Gorman, ISBN 0-948251-39-5
- Jackson, Robert "The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft" Parragon Books, Ltd. 2006 ISBN 1-4054-2465-6
- Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.