851 Squadron was a
Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron. The squadron operated over two periods between 1954 and 1984, mainly in the training and transport roles.
History
851 Squadron was formed at
HMAS ''Albatross'' based at RANAS Nowra as a land-based training and fleet support squadron on 3 August 1954.
[.] Its first commanding officer was Lieutenant D. Johns and it was initially equipped with
Fairey Fireflies and
C-47 Dakota
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...
s. It was tasked primarily with training pilots and observers on the Firefly, and in this role the squadron's Dakotas were used as an observer training platform; they were also used to provide a transport and communications capability. Throughout March 1956 the squadron was embarked upon
HMAS ''Sydney'', however, this was the squadron's only stint at sea as it was confined mainly to its training role.
[
The squadron was disbanded on 13 January 1958 following the reduction of the ]Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
's aircraft carrier fleet, which reduced the Navy's training requirements. It remained off the order of battle until it was re-formed at Nowra as a training and transport unit on 2 September 1968, equipped with Dakotas and Grumman Tracker
The Grumman S-2 Tracker (S2F prior to 1962) was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft to enter service with the United States Navy. Designed and initially built by Grumman, the Tracker was of conventiona ...
s. It also operated in the VIP and fleet requirements roles, with the latter role sometimes seeing the squadron undertake search and rescue tasks, as well as patrolling the Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...
to maintain security around the economically important oil facilities there. A detachment was also sent to operate out of Darwin and Broome, to undertake fishery protection patrols. The Dakotas were replaced by Hawker-Siddeley 748s in 1973.[
The squadron amalgamated with ]816 Squadron RAN
816 Squadron is a Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron that started out as a Royal Navy unit, 816 Naval Air Squadron.
Current roles
816 is currently active as a helicopter squadron equipped with MH-60R helicopters. The Squadron is based ...
in July 1982 before being disbanded for a second, and final, time on 31 August 1984.[.]
Aircraft operated
The squadron operated the following aircraft:
* Fairey Firefly
The Fairey Firefly is a Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft that was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was developed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviatio ...
(August 1954 – January 1958);
* C-47 Dakota
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...
(August 1954 – January 1958, September 1968 – 1973);
* Grumman Tracker
The Grumman S-2 Tracker (S2F prior to 1962) was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft to enter service with the United States Navy. Designed and initially built by Grumman, the Tracker was of conventiona ...
(September 1968 – August 1984); and
* Hawker-Siddeley 748 (1973 – August 1984).[
]
See also
* 851 Naval Air Squadron
851 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm squadron of the Royal Navy, first formed in October 1943 at Squantum Naval Air Station in Massachusetts, United States as a MAC-ship escort squadron. It was later disbanded around December 1945.
It w ...
, RN
Notes
References
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{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Flying squadrons of the Royal Australian Navy
Military units and formations established in 1954
Military units and formations disestablished in 1984