854 Naval Air Squadron was a squadron 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 ...

, first formed on 1 January 1944 at

Squantum Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Squantum was an active naval aviation facility during 1917 and from 1923 until 1953. The original civilian airfield that preceded it, the Harvard Aviation Field, dates back to 1910. The base was sited on Squantum Point in t ...

in the United States. It was disbanded in December 1945, and reformed December 2006 as a helicopter squadron designed for Airborne Surveillance and Control.

History

The squadron was formed during 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 ...

in January 1944 equipped with Grumman Avenger IIs to operate as an anti-shipping squadron. In May 1944, it arrived back in the United Kingdom, to become part of No.157 Wing,

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

. It operated over the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

to carry out anti-shipping patrols in the run-up to the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

Allied invasion of Europe. It left for the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

in September 1944. The squadron carried out operations on board

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

against

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

in December and January 1945. In March and April the squadron attacked targets on the

Sakishima Islands The (or 先島群島, ''Sakishima-guntō'') (Okinawan language, Okinawan: ''Sachishima'', Miyakoan language, Miyako: ''Saksїzїma'', Yaeyama language, Yaeyama: ''Sakїzїma'', Yonaguni language, Yonaguni: ''Satichima'') are an archipelago loca ...

. 854 NAS received new Avenger IIIs in July to join the

3rd Carrier Air Group The 3rd Carrier Air Group of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm was formed on 2 August 1945. It was a spare air group for the British Pacific Fleet based at HMAS Albatross, Australia. It was formed too late for service in the war, and it contained 8 ...

. But shortly afterwards 854 left its Avenger IIIs behind and sailed for the UK, to disband after the war on 8 December 1945. After a ceremony on 13 December 2006 at

RNAS Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS ''Seahawk''; ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy airbase near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall UK, and is one of the largest helicopter bases in Europe. Its main role is ser ...

, the unit reformed with the

Westland Sea King 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 engin ...

ASaC.7, previously A Flight, 849 Squadron. From March to July 2007 the squadron carried out counter-drug operations on board HMS ''Ocean'', and helped to seize a tonne of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

References

*Sturtivant and Ballance (1994), ''The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm'', Air Britain Publications, 480pp, .

External links

Royal Navy 854 Naval Air Squadron

854 __NOTOC__ Year 854 ( DCCCLIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Emperor Lothair I meets his (half) brothers (Louis the German and Charles the Bal ...

Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations in Massachusetts Military of the United Kingdom in Cornwall {{UK-mil-unit-stub