802 Naval Air Squadron (802 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 Ai ...
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 ...
.
Early history
802 Squadron was formed on 3 April 1933 aboard by the merger of two independent
Royal Air Force
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 ...
naval units,
408 (Fleet Fighter) Flight and
409 (Fleet Fighter) Flight. By 1939, 802 Squadron was operating from (Dekhelia) in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
where, like all Fleet Air Arm units, it was taken over by the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
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 in July 1941, with B flight serving on in August. In the following month the whole squadron was involved in Gibraltar escort convoys from ''Audacity'' from which it shot down four
Focke-Wulf Fw 200
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'', also known as ''Kurier'' to the Allies (English language, English: Courier), was a Nazi Germany, German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese req ...
's. The squadron was lost on 21 December 1941 when ''Audacity'' was sunk by .
The squadron was re-formed at Yeovilton in February 1942 with
Hawker Sea Hurricane Ibs, before embarking on for escorting Arctic
Convoy PQ 18
Convoy PQ 18 was an Arctic convoy of forty Allied freighters from Scotland and Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany. The convoy departed Loch Ewe, Scotland on 2 September 1942, rendezvoused with more ships an ...
in September during which time five enemy aircraft were shot down and 17 damaged, in conjunction with
883 Squadron. In September, the squadron embarked on ''Avenger'' and provided fighter cover on the
Algerian invasion beaches. While returning to the UK ''Avenger'' was torpedoed and sunk by on 15 November 1942.
The squadron lay dormant till May 1945 when reformed at Arbroath with 24
Supermarine Seafire L.IIIs. By
VJ day
Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...
, the squadron had spent a short period in , and had been anticipated to leave for the
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships ...
with 9th Carrier Air Group.
Post-war service
By the summer of 1947, 802 Squadron had switched to Seafire XVs operating from .
During the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
802 Squadron was assigned to , and equipped with
Hawker Sea Fury
The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft e ...
's. Squadron pilot Lieutenant
"Hoagy" Carmichael shot down a
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...
on 9 August 1952. Carmichael achieved this feat during a dogfight which started when a formation of four Sea Furys under his command were attacked by eight MiGs during a fighter bomber mission over
Chinnampo
Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...
.
By the time of the
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
, 802 Squadron had transferred to , and was equipped with
Sea Hawk FB3s – one of these aircraft lost the front of a drop tank to ground fire while the squadron was embarked aboard in September 1956. 802 Squadron re-equipped with Sea Hawk FB5s before transferring to the ''Ark Royal'' in May 1957. Following a trip to the United States, which included cross-operations with , 802 Squadron completed two tours in the Mediterranean, the second of these starting in September 1958 aboard , and ending with the disbandment of 802 Squadron at
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 ...
on 10 April 1959. Plans to reform 802 Squadron at Yeovilton in 1979 with five
British Aerospace Sea Harrier
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval STOVL, short take-off and vertical landing/VTOL, vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, Aerial reconnaissance, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier jump je ...
s failed to materialise.
[Sturtivant p. 169]
References
Citations
Bibliography
{{Royal Naval Air Squadrons
800 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons
Military units and formations established in 1933