HMS ''Daedalus II'' was a British

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 ...

air station and training establishment between 1940 and 1946. The name applied to four different locations with the United Kingdom at various times 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 ...

. The establishment was formed to free up space at RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus''). The first location was former

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 ...

(RAF) station at

Lympne Airport Lympne Airport , was a military and later civil airfield , at Lympne, Kent, United Kingdom, which operated from 1916 to 1984. During the First World War RFC Lympne was originally an acceptance point for aircraft being delivered to, and returni ...

. This RAF station was taken over by the

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 ...

in July 1939 and commissioned as HMS ''Buzzard'' for use as a training establishment for mechanics from HMS ''Daedalus''. It was renamed as HMS ''Daedalus II'' in January 1940 but the airfield was transferred back to the RAF in May 1940. As the airfield in Kent was being transferred back to the RAF an

air-sea rescue Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and International Maritime Organization, IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergenc ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

base and aircrew training centre was established at the Royal Motor Yacht Club at

Sandbanks Sandbanks is an affluent neighbourhood of Poole, Dorset, on the south coast of England, situated on a narrow spit of around 1 km2 or 0.39 sq mi extending into the mouth of Poole Harbour. It is known for its high property prices and for it ...

in Dorset and this base was formally commissioned as HMS ''Daedalus II'' on 15 May 1940.

764 __NOTOC__ Year 764 ( DCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 764 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...

765 __NOTOC__ Year 765 (Roman numerals, DCCLXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 765 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domi ...

Naval Air Squadrons (NAS) were based there with their

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 ...

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 used ...

and

Fairey Seafox The Fairey Seafox was a 1930s British reconnaissance floatplane designed and built by Fairey for the Fleet Air Arm. It was designed to be catapulted from the deck of a light cruiser and served in the Second World War. Sixty-six were built, w ...

aircraft. This station was also known as RNAS Sandbanks. Concurrently the training establishment formerly at Lympne was moved to Clayton Hall,

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...

as a base to train artificers but also retained the name ''Daedalus II''. In 1942 an outstation of the Sandbanks base was opened at RNAS Lawrenny Ferry in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

and 764 NAS was moved there as an operational conversion unit. 764 NAS remained at Lawrenny Ferry until October 1943 when the squadron was disbanded and the base reduced to care and maintenance status. Sandbanks was also reduced to care and maintenance status in October 1943 and 765 NAS was also disbanded. The base at Sandbanks later became part of the

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

base . By Christmas 1943, Clayton Hall was the only remaining site of HMS ''Daedalus II'' and continued to train aircraft artificers throughout the war until January 1946 when HMS ''Daedalus II'' was decommissioned.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Royal Naval Air Stations Royal Navy bases in England Royal Navy bases in Wales Royal Navy shore establishments Military installations established in 1940 Military installations closed in 1946