RNAS Merryfield
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RNAS Merryfield
Royal Naval Air Station Merryfield (ICAO: EGDI) is an air station of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm located northwest of Ilminster, Somerset and southeast of Taunton, Somerset, England. History The following squadrons were posted here at some point: * 700 Naval Air Squadron * 766 Naval Air Squadron * 802 Naval Air Squadron * 809 Naval Air Squadron * 891 Naval Air Squadron * 893 Naval Air Squadron * 894 Naval Air Squadron Current use The site is mainly used for helicopter exercises and there are a large number of lettered helicopter landing spots spread across the site on the taxiways. See also * RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron) Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, or RNAS Yeovilton, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airfield of the Royal Navy and British Army, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases (the other being RNAS Culdrose) ... References {{DEFAULTSORT:Merryfield Royal Naval Air Stations in Somerset ...
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RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron)
Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, or RNAS Yeovilton, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airfield of the Royal Navy and British Army, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases (the other being RNAS Culdrose) and is currently home to the Royal Navy Wildcat HMA2 and Army Air Corps Wildcat AH1 helicopters as well as the Royal Navy's Commando Helicopter Force Merlin HCi3/4/4A and Wildcat AH1 helicopters. The site consists of of airfield sites plus ranges and minor estates. Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton is a large multi-role air station with an annual budget of some £61 million. The airfield is also home to the Fleet Air Arm Museum and the station hosts an annual Air Day in July. History In 1938, the potential of the land at Yeovilton for use as an airfield was spotted by Westland Aircraft's chief test pilot Harald Penrose and an offer was made to buy the land. The owners, howeverthe Ecclesiastical Commissioners of the Church o ...
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Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497, Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685 the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England here in a rebellion, defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Judge Jeffreys led the Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall. The Grand Western Canal reached Taunton in 1839 and the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1842. Today it hosts Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset County Cricket Club, is the base of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, and is home to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office on Admiralty Way. The popular Taunton flow ...
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893 Naval Air Squadron
893 Naval Air Squadron (893 NAS) was a List of Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons, Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. References

800 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II {{UK-navy-stub ...
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891 Naval Air Squadron
891 Naval Air Squadron was a fighter squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. In August 1942 the squadron transferred from RNAS Lee-on-Solent where it had been formed in July to RNAS Charlton Horethorne with six Sea Hurricanes to prepare for carrier operations, later transferring to RNAS St Merryn and then embarking on to take part in Operation Torch. The squadron was disbanded in April 1943, but was reformed in June 1945 and equipped with Hellcat IIs in order to operate in the Pacific, but the war ended before they could be deployed. The squadron was disbanded in September 1945. On 8 November 1954 891 NAS was recommissioned with de Havilland Sea Venom FAW 20s under the command of Lt.Cmdr. M. A. Birrell, DSC. The squadron was initially equipped with two Sea Venoms and four Sea Vampire T22s, then on 1 March 1955 the squadron formed an 'X' flight commanded by Lt.-Cmdr. G. M. Jude, Royal Australian Navy, to train RAN crews in preparation for the formation ...
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809 Naval Air Squadron
809 Naval Air Squadron (809 NAS) is a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the United Kingdom. It was first formed in 1941 and flew in the Soviet Union, the Mediterranean and the Far East during the Second World War. After active service during the Suez Crisis, 809 was disbanded in 1959. Reformed in 1963 to fly Blackburn Buccaneers, the squadron was disbanded briefly in 1965-66, and then again in 1978. A brief period during the Falklands War saw 809 reformed to bring Sea Harrier FRS.1 aircraft south to the UK task group and to fly from ''Illustrious''. In September 2013, it was announced that the first Royal Navy squadron equipped with the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning would be named 809 Naval Air Squadron with the nickname ''"Immortals"''. In 2016 it had been planned that the squadron would re-commission in April 2023 as the UK's second operational F-35B squadron after No. 617 Squadron RAF. However, as of 2021 it was no longer clear that this objective would be met and a spec ...
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802 Naval Air Squadron
802 Naval Air Squadron (802 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Early history 802 Squadron was formed on 3 April 1933 aboard by the merger of two independent Royal Air Force naval units, 408 (Fleet Fighter) Flight and 409 (Fleet Fighter) Flight. By 1939, 802 Squadron was operating from (Dekhelia) in Egypt where, like all Fleet Air Arm units, it was taken over by the Admiralty on 24 May 1939. Aircraft * Nimrod I S1579 571 * Osprey I K2783 * Osprey III K3643 549 * Osprey III Seaplane K3644 590 Second World War In April 1940 802 Squadron was serving aboard ''Glorious'' with twelve Gloster Sea Gladiators when the ship was recalled to participate in the defence of Norway. The squadron ceased to exist after ''Glorious'' was sunk by the German battleships '' Scharnhorst'' and '' Gneisenau'' on 8 June 1940 during the defence of Norway. Reformed from part of 804 Squadron on 21 November 1940 with Martlet Is, the squadron sub-flights embarked on ...
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766 Naval Air Squadron
766 Naval Air Squadron (766 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was to have initially formed in 1939 at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as a Seaplane School, however, it formed at RNAS Machrihannish as a Night ALT (Attack Light Torpedo) Course, in 1942. It moved to RNAS Inskip, in 1943, to become part of No. 1 Naval Operational Training Unit. By 1944, it was operating over 30 swordfish aircraft, but, during the year, also acquired Firefly aircraft from 1772 NAS, and Sea Hurricane aircraft from 760 NAS. It moved to RNAS Rattray early in 1946, but later that year, moved to RNAS Lossiemouth where it received Seafire aircraft, along with being Part 1 of the Operational Flying School. By late 1951, Sea Fury trainer aircraft were also added to its varied list of types operated. In 1953, the squadron moved to RNAS Culdrose, where it disbanded in 1954. In 1955, it reformed at RNAS Yeovilton, with Sea Venom aircraft from 890 NAS, to form an All Weather Fighter Pool. Y ...
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700 Naval Air Squadron
700 Naval Air Squadron (700 NAS) is an experimental test squadron in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. History 700 NAS was originally formed on 21 January 1940 at RNAS Hatston (HMS ''Sparrowhawk'') in Orkney in a plan to centralise the operations of the 700 series "Catapult" flights attached to catapult units and to act as a pool and Headquarters for all catapult aircraft embarked on battleships and cruisers - chiefly the Supermarine Walrus flying boat, together with the Fairey Seafox and Fairey Swordfish floatplanes. Initial equipment comprised 42 Walruses together with 11 Seafoxes and 12 Swordfishes. On 21 June 1940, a Walrus (''P5666'') of 700 Squadron on the cruiser found the German battleship ''Scharnhorst'' but ''Manchester'' did not engage. 25 September 1940, Walrus L2247, embarked on HMAS Australia, was shot down by French Vichy fighters at Dakar and crashed into the sea all 3 crew perished. Trailing German capital ships in the lead up to the Battle of the Denmark Stra ...
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Ilminster
Ilminster is a minster town and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town now lies just east of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) and the A358 (Taunton to Chard and Axminster). The parish includes the hamlet of Sea. History Ilminster is mentioned in documents dating from 725 and in a Charter granted to Muchelney Abbey ( to the north) by Æthelred the Unready in 995. Ilminster is also mentioned in ''Domesday Book'' (1086) as Ileminstre meaning 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle and mynster. By this period Ilminster was a flourishing community and was granted the right to hold a weekly market, which it still does. Ilminster was part of the hundred of Abdick and Bulstone. In 1645 during the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of a skirmish between parliamentary troops under Edward Massie and Royalist forces under Lord Goring who fought for control of the bridge ...
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Ilton
Ilton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south-east of Taunton, and north of Ilminster in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 854. The parish includes the hamlets of Ilford and Cad Green with its 16th-century almshouses. History "The settlement on the River Isle" was one of the possessions of Athelney Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries. The current hamstone Ilford Bridge probably dates from the early 18th century when it was on the Curry Rivel to Chard turnpike road. The current A303 is just south of the village. Historic estates Merryfield About 1 mile west-north-west of the parish church, situated between the disused railway line and the disused Chard Canal, is a moated site which is all that remains of the medieval fortified manor house of Merryfield (or Muryfield), which was the seat of the ancient Wadham family. The last of the family in the direct male line was Nicholas Wadham who, with his wife Dorot ...
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Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wildcat and AW101 Merlin for commando and anti-submarine warfare and the BAE Hawk as an aggressor. The Fleet Air Arm today is a predominantly rotary force, with helicopters undertaking roles once performed by biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish. The Fleet Air Arm was formed in 1924 as an organisational unit of the Royal Air Force, which was then operating the aircraft embarked on RN ships—the Royal Naval Air Service having been merged with the Army's Royal Flying Corps in 1918 to form the Royal Air Force—and did not come under the direct control of the Admiralty until mid-1939. During the Second World War, the Fleet Air Arm operated aircraft on ships as well as land-based aircraft that defended the Royal Navy's shore establishments a ...
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Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to ref ...
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