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 RNAS Hatston, also called HMS ''Sparrowhawk'', was a Royal Naval Air Station, one mile to the north west of Kirkwall on the island of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It was located near the strategically vital naval base of Scapa Flow, which for mo ...

(HMS ''Sparrowhawk'') in

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

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

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s and

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

s - chiefly the

Supermarine Walrus The Supermarine Walrus (originally designated the Supermarine Seagull V) was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and manufactured by Supermarine at Woolston, Southampton. The Walrus f ...

flying boat, together with the Fairey Seafox and Fairey Swordfish

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

s. Initial equipment comprised 42 Walruses together with 11 Seafoxes and 12 Swordfishes. On 21 June 1940, a Walrus (''P5666'') of 700 Squadron on the

found the German

''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 Strait The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a naval engagement in the Second World War, which took place on 24 May 1941 between ships of the Royal Navy and the ''Kriegsmarine''. The British battleship and the battlecruiser fought the German battlesh ...

, Walrus ''L2184'' of 700 NAS from was damaged by shellfire from '' Prinz Eugen'' in the Denmark Strait on 23 May 1941 while still on its catapult. The final successful attack on an enemy

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

by a Walrus was on 11 July 1942, when Walrus ''W2709'' of 700 (Levant) NAS sank the Italian submarine ''Ondina'', in conjuction with the South African surface vessels ''Protea'' and trawler HMSAS ''Southern Maid'', east of Cyprus. There were at least 5 confirmed enemy submarines sunk or damaged by Walruses during the Second World War, including the

Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

submarine ''Poncelet'' which was bombed by Walrus ''L2268'' of 700 NAS from and attacked by on 7 November 1940 off the Cameroons. The submarine was damaged and forced to surrender, and later scuttled off the Gulf of Guinea. The crew of Petty Officer P H Parsons, Sub Lt A D Corkhill and N A Evans were all awarded gallantry medals. 700 NAS was disbanded in March 1944, pilots transferring into

771 Naval Air Squadron 771 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm was formed on 24 May 1939 at Lee-on-Solent as a Fleet Requirements Unit with 14 Fairey Swordfish TSR biplanes. The Squadron carried out various exercises with ships and provided towed targets for naval a ...

, but it was reformed as a Test Pilot School in October 1944. 700 NAS re-emerged in August 1955 as a Fleet Requirements unit and from 1957 was based out of

RNAS Lee-on-Solent Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus'') was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and ad ...

to introduce the

Westland Whirlwind Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila, ...

HAS.7.

Intensive Flying Trials Units (IFTU)

;700H NAS:1955-57,

, Westland Whirlwind HAS.7 ;700X NAS:1957-58,

Supermarine Scimitar F.1 The Supermarine Scimitar was a single-seat naval strike aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. Operated exclusively by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, it was the final aircraft to be entirely designed a ...

;700Y NAS:1958-59, RNAS Yeovilton,

de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen FAW.1 The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen is a British twin-engine, twin boom-tailed, two-seat, carrier-based fleet air-defence fighter flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during the 1950s through to the early 1970s. The Sea Vixen was designed by ...

;700X NAS:1959-61, RNAS Yeovilton,

Saro P.531 The Saro P.531 (or Saunders-Roe P.531) is a British all-metal five-seat helicopter designed and built by Saunders-Roe, Saunders-Roe Limited (Saro). Development Design of the P.531Jackson 1974, p 295 and 329 was started in November 1957 as a p ...

;700H NAS:1960-61, , Fairey Gannet and Hawker Sea Hawk deck and launch trials ;700H NAS:1960-?,

Westland Wessex HAS.1 The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes ...

;700Z NAS:1961-63,

RNAS Lossiemouth Lossiemouth ( gd, Inbhir Losaidh) is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over ...

Blackburn Buccaneer S.1 The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough Aerodrome, Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker ...

;700V NAS:1963-64, Westland Wessex HU.5 ;700W NAS:1963-64, Westland Wasp HAS.1 ;700B NAS:1965-?,

, Blackburn Buccaneer S.2 ;700H NAS:1967-?, Westland Wessex HAS.3 ;700P NAS:1968-69, McDonnell Douglas F-4K Phantom II FG.1 ;700S NAS:1969-70,

Westland Sea King HAS.1 The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engine ...

;700L NAS:1976-77, RNAS Yeovilton, Westland Lynx HAS.2 ;700A NAS:1979-80, RNAS Yeovilton, BAe Sea Harrier FRS.1 ;700L NAS:1990-92, RNAS Yeovilton, Westland Lynx HAS.2, (Lynx CTS Trials) ;700M NAS:1998-2008, RNAS Culdrose, AgustaWestland Merlin HM.1 ;700W NAS:2009-2014, RNAS Yeovilton, AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 ;700X NAS:2014-, RNAS Culdrose, Boeing Insitu ScanEagle, AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma QinetiQ Banshee Jet 80+ The Squadron carried on trials of de Havilland Sea Vixens on and during 1958 and from October 1959 formed at

Yeovilton Yeovilton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Yeovilton and District, in Somerset, England, east of Ilchester and north of Yeovil, in South Somerset district. The parish had a population of 1,226 in the 2011 census, est ...

with the Saunders Roe P.531 to investigate what would be needed to introduce a whole new form of helicopter operation to the Fleet – which led to the Westland Wasp. In October 1960 flight tests of landing and take-offs from with 27 launchings of the turboprop Fairey Gannet and 34 with the Hawker Sea Hawk. Buccaneer 700Z Lossiemouth NAN3 62

700 NAS disbanded again at RNAS Yeovilton in July 1961. However, a number of Intensive Flying Trials Units were subsequently formed under the "700 NAS" title, to prepare for new aircraft types coming into service. These operated as independent units, each being identified by a suffix letter after the squadron number (e.g. "700B"). Several of these IFTUs were formed for the introduction of the Westland Wessex,

Blackburn Buccaneer The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccanee ...

, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, Westland Sea King, Westland Lynx and BAe Sea Harrier into the Fleet Air Arm. More recently, the squadron was re-commissioned at RNAS Culdrose in December 1998 as 700M Squadron, with a primary role of testing and evaluating the AgustaWestland Merlin HM.1 helicopter. 700M disbanded on 31 March 2008, transferring its aircraft and personnel to 824 Naval Air Squadron and also forming a new flight, 824 OEU. The squadron reformed again as 700W NAS in May 2009 at Yeovilton as the

Lynx Wildcat The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat (previously called the Future Lynx and Lynx Wildcat) is a British military helicopter. It is an improved version of the Westland Super Lynx designed to serve in the battlefield utility, search and rescue and an ...

Fielding Squadron. 700W expects to receive up to five Wildcats from January 2013 for operational evaluation and conversion training. The squadron was disbanded in July 2014 when it was merged with 702 NAS to form 825 Naval Air Squadron, the first operational Wildcat unit.

Present day

The Squadron currently operates as 700X NAS and undertakes RPAS trials, and also acts as a parent unit for the various ship-based flights operating the Insitu Scan Eagle UAV. In November 2019, 700 NAS tested two new UAS, namely, the AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma and the AeroVironment Wasp III.

Aircraft operated

AgustaWestland Merlin The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter in military and civil use. First flown in 1987, it was developed by a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the United Kingdom and Agusta in Italy in response to national requiremen ...

* Westland Lynx (introduction to service) *

(tests) * De Havilland Sea Vixen * Fairey Gannet (tests) * Hawker Sea Hawk (tests) *

Saunders-Roe P.531 The Saro P.531 (or Saunders-Roe P.531) is a British all-metal five-seat helicopter designed and built by Saunders-Roe Limited (Saro). Development Design of the P.531Jackson 1974, p 295 and 329 was started in November 1957 as a private ventur ...

(tests) (only 6 built) * Westland Wasp (introduction to service) * Westland Sea King (introduction to service) * Boeing Insitu Scaneagle (introduction to service)

References

External links

700X Naval Air Squadron at Royal Navy.mod.uk

Helicopter History of 700 Squadron
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 700 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1940 Air squadrons of the Royal Navy in World War II Military of the United Kingdom in Cornwall