819 Naval Air Squadron (819 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 Wi ...

History

Along with No. 815 Squadron, it performed the successful night attack on the Italian fleet at

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label=Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important comme ...

on 11 November 1940. The attack was performed with

Swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordf ...

torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier '' Illustrious''. More recently, 819 operated Sea Kings HAS6 from

HMS Gannet Nine ships and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Gannet'', after the seabird the Gannet: Ships * was a 16-gun brig-sloop purchased in 1800 and sold in 1814. * was an 18-gun brig-sloop launched in 1814 and so ...

Prestwick Airport Glasgow Prestwick Airport () is an international airport serving the west of Scotland, situated northeast of the town of Prestwick in South Ayrshire and southwest of Glasgow. It is the less busy of the two airports serving the western part of ...

. Constituted to have two flights supporting RFA ships and one SAR flight. In 2001, 819 NAS was decommissioned; its SAR flight transitioning into annet SAR Flightand now operating the Sea Kings HU5. Gannet SAR Flight went on to be one of the busiest SAR flights in the UK and holds the record for the most callouts in a single year. It decommissioned on 1 January 2016 as part of the contractorisation of military SAR.

Aircraft operated

The squadron operated a variety of different aircraft and versions: *

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also us ...

I, II & III *

Grumman Wildcat The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atlant ...

IV, V & VI * Westland Whirlwind HAS.7 *

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main chang ...

HAS.1 & HAS.3 *

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 engi ...

HAS.1, HAS.2/2A, HAS.5 & HAS.6

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Jackson, Robert, ''The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft,'' Parragon Books, Ltd. 2006 * 800 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons {{UK-navy-stub