715 Naval Air Squadron (715 NAS) was a

Naval Air Squadron A naval air squadron (NAS) is the title of naval aviation squadrons in some countries. Poland The Polish ''Morski Dywizjon Lotniczy'' #Naval Air Squadron# was formed in 1920 with two ''Escadrille''s# United Kingdom The squadrons of the Fleet Air ...

of the

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 F ...

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 Wil ...

created on 15 July 1936 to serve as a Catapult Flight of the Fleet Air Arm of the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. It was elevated to Squadron status at the end of 1937, before being disbanded on 21 January 1940. It was re-formed on 17 August 1944 to operate as the Fighter Wing of the School of Air Combat, before being disbanded for good on 31 March 1946, and absorbed into

736 Naval Air Squadron 736 Naval Air Squadron (736 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy. It was most recently recommissioned at RNAS Culdrose on 6 June 2013 to fly the BAE Systems Hawk T1, following the disbandment of the Fleet Requirements and Aircraft Di ...

History

Initial Formation

The Flight originally came into being following a renumbering of the No. 403 (Catapult) Flight and operated in the

5th Cruiser Squadron The 5th Cruiser Squadron and also known as Cruiser Force D was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1907 to 1915 and then again from 1939 to 1946. History First formation The squadron was first established in 1907, it was att ...

in the China Station under the command of Lt. Cdr E. O. F. Price, RN. Its shore-based headquarters was at

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, but it also had a satellite at

Wei-Hai-Wei Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popula ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The Flight was initially equipped with Hawker Osprey III seaplanes and was stationed aboard the County-class Cruisers HMS Berwick, HMS Dorsetshire, and HMS Kent. it was re-equipped with Supermarine Walruses in September 1936, and the last Osprey III left the Flight in July 1937. In 1937, HMS Berwick and HMS Kent left the

for major refits, and the Flight was rebased onto HMS Birmingham, HMS Cornwall, HMS Cumberland, and HMS Suffolk. At the end of this year, it was elevated from

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

Squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

status. On 24 May 1939 the Squadron was transferred to the Admiralty control, and operated from shore bases at

Kai Tak Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

and

Seletar Seletar is an area located in the north-east of Singapore. Its name can also refer to the Seletar Planning Area (as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority), situated in the North-East Region of Singapore. The place name was derived from th ...

with 7 Supermarine Walruses on 5 Cruisers. Supermarine Type 377 Seafire Mk

The Squadron was disbanded at

RAF Kai Tak RAF Kai Tak was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Hong Kong, based at Kai Tak Airport. It was opened in 1927 and used for seaplanes. The RAF flight operated a few land based aircraft as well as having spare aircraft for naval units. History ...

on 21 January 1940 when all Catapult Squadrons were merged into No. 700 Squadron.

Re-formation

On 17 August 1944 the Squadron was re-formed at RNAS St. Merryn to operate Fighter Air Combat Instructor and Fighter Leaders Courses, under the command of Lt. Cdr (A) R.E. Gardner DSC, RNVR. They used a collection of planes including the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

Supermarine Seafire The Supermarine Seafire is a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. It was analogous in concept to the Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised version of the Spitfire's stablemate, the Hawker Hurri ...

, and

Vought F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

but also had access to a few

Miles M.9 Master The Miles M.9 Master was a British two-seat monoplane advanced trainer designed and built by aviation company Miles Aircraft Ltd. It was inducted in large numbers into both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during the Second Worl ...

and

North American Harvard IIB The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

trainer aircraft. On 12 December 1944 the command was passed on to Lt. Cdr D.G. Carlisle DSC, SANF(V), and then to Lt. Cdr F.R.A. Turnbull DSC & Bar RN on 28 June 1945. Following the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

training continued for several months, but on 31 March 1946 the Squadron was disbanded for the final time and reabsorbed into No. 736 Squadron.

Aircraft Operated

The squadron operated a variety of different aircraft and versions: * Osprey III/SP * Walrus I * Master II * Corsair III *

Corsair IV A corsair is a privateer or pirate, especially: * Barbary corsair, Ottoman and Berber pirates and privateers operating from North Africa * French corsairs, privateers operating on behalf of the French crown Corsair may also refer to: Arts and ...

* Seafire VA * Seafire lB * Seafire III * Seafire XVII * Harvard IlB * Harvard III

References

Citations

Bibliography

* 700 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1936 Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II 1936 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-navy-stub