749 Naval Air Squadron (749 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's

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 ...

. It was active from 1941 through to 1945, formed as a Observer Training Squadron, part of No.1 Observer School at RNAS Piarco (HMS Goshawk), located east of

Downtown Port of Spain {{Infobox settlement , name = Downtown Port of Spain , official_name = , other_name= , native_name= , nickname= , settlement_type=District , total_type= , motto= , image_skyline= TnT Port of Spain 2.jpg , imagesize= , image_caption= Down ...

, adjacent to the town of

Piarco Piarco is a town in northern Trinidad and is the site of Piarco International Airport . Geography Piarco is the site of one of the few natural savannas in Trinidad and Tobago, the ''Piarco Savanna''. Most of this savanna land has been incorporate ...

, on the island of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

History of 749 NAS

Observer Training Squadron (1941–1945)

749 Naval Air Squadron formed at RNAS Piarco (HMS Goshawk), Trinidad, on 1 January 1941 as a Observer Training Squadron. The squadron's function, was the training of observers for the Fleet Air Arm and to achieve this, it was equipped with

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 ...

Grumman Goose The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious flying boat designed by Grumman to serve as an eight-seat "commuter" aircraft for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman's first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and i ...

, and

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

aircraft. It formed part of the No. 1 Observer School, operating out of RNAS Piarco alongside two more Observer Training Squadrons:

750 Naval Air Squadron The Royal Navy Observer School grew out of HM Naval Seaplane Training School at RNAS Lee-on-Solent as a result of a series of changes of identity and parent unit. From 1918 until 1939 the Royal Air Force was responsible for naval aviation, includ ...

and

752 Naval Air Squadron 752 Naval Air Squadron (752 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's 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 a ...

, along with an Air Towed Target Unit,

793 Naval Air Squadron 793 Naval Air Squadron (793 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was formed in 1939 at RNAS Ford and remained active throughout to 1945, as an Air Towed Target Unit, as part of No.1 Observer School. From 1940 to di ...

. The

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

and a refrigerated cargo ship, SS Almeda Star, left Liverpool carrying within its passenger complement, 142 members of the

to RNAS Piarco. They consisted of 21 officers and 121 ratings from 749 NAS, 750 NAS and 752 NAS. On 17 January 1941 ''Almeda Star'' was about north of

Rockall Rockall () is an uninhabitable granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. The United Kingdom claims that Rockall lies within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and is part of its territory, but this claim is not recognised by Ireland. ...

when the , commanded by '' Kptlt''

Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock Fregattenkapitän Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (11 December 1911 – 18 April 1986) was a submarine commander in the ''Kriegsmarine'' of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded four U-boats, including , a Type VIIC U-boat, which gained wi ...

, torpedoed her. All 360 people aboard were lost. From 1942 the squadron was also tasked with anti-submarine patrols, depth charges and flares were provided to these flights, until 1944, when US Navy forces took on this responsibility. 749 Naval Air Squadron remained at RNAS Piarco for the duration of World War II, disbanding on 1 October 1945.

Aircraft flown

The squadron has flown a number of different aircraft types, including: *

(Jan 1941 - Oct 1945) * Grumman Goose Mk.IA (Mar 1942 – Oct 1945) * Avro Anson I (Jun 1945 - Oct 1945)

Naval Air Stations

749 Naval Air Squadron operated from a single naval air stations of the Royal Navy, overseas in Trinidad: * Royal Naval Air Station PIARCO (1 January 1941 - 1 October 1945)

Commanding Officers

List of

commanding officers The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitud ...

of 749 Naval Air Squadron with month and year of appointment and end: *Lt ( A) J. C. Moore,

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

(Jan 1941-Dec 1941) *

Lt Cdr Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a Officer (armed forces), commissioned officer military rank, rank in many navy, navies. The rank is superior (hierarchy), superior to a l ...

(A) G. H. Winn, RNVR (Dec 1941-Apr 1943) *Lt Cdr (A) A.E. Worby, RNVR (Apr 1943-Aug 1945) *Lt Cdr (A) P. G. Lee, RNVR (Aug 1945-Oct 1945)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * 700 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II {{UK-navy-stub