734 Naval Air Squadron (734 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 ...

. It was active between 1944 and 1946, formed as a naval Engine Handling Unit. Initially operating out of RNAS Worthy Down, it subsequently relocated to RNAS Peplow, where it eventually disbanded.

History of 734 NAS

Engine Handling Unit (1944 - 1946)

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley MkVII RAF c1942

734 Naval Air Squadron was formed on the 14 February 1944, at RNAS Worthy Down (HMS Kestrel), located north of Winchester, Hampshire, England, as an Engine Handling Unit, where the squadron operated Whitley Mk VII aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm used modified, ex-Royal Air Force Mk VIIs, to train the aircrew, having previously evaluated the Whitley. The pre-war designed bombers were fitted out to become a flying 'class room', with instrumentation and fuel flow meters, to give student pilots an understanding of throttle and boost settings, to enable those aircrew, converting from biplanes, the correct way to handle the

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was late ...

-powered

Barracuda A barracuda, or cuda for short, is a large, predatory, ray-finned fish known for its fearsome appearance and ferocious behaviour. The barracuda is a saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was ...

aircraft. On the 21 August 1945, 734 NAS moved from RNAS Worthy Down to RNAS Hinstock (HMS Godwit), located in

Hinstock Hinstock is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It appeared in the Domesday book survey as "Stoche" (from Old English ''stoc'', "dependent settlement"); the present version of its name was created in the mediaeval period by prefix ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, however, it operated out of Hinstock's satellite airfield, RNAS Peplow (HMS Godwit), also located in

, which was a 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) an ...

bomber base, with long runways, that could easily accommodate the Whitley. In November 1945 six Avro Lancaster aircraft were transferred from the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

to 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 ...

, intended to replace the Armstrong Whitley operated by 734 NAS. The squadron was to also have been the only Fleet Air Arm unit to receive Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, however, none of this came to fruition with the squadron being disbanded on 21 February 1946 and the Lancasters were instead issued to 780 NAS Advanced Flying Training Squadron.

Aircraft flown

The squadron only flew one aircraft type: * Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk VII (Feb 1944-Feb 1946)

Naval Air Stations

734 Naval Air Squadron operated from a couple of naval air stations of the Royal Navy, in England: * Royal Naval Air Station WORTHY DOWN (14 February 1944 - 21 August 1945) * Royal Naval Air Station HINSTOCK (21 August 1945 - 21 February 1946)

Commanding Officers

List of commanding officers of 734 Naval Air Squadron with month and year of appointment and end: * Lt-Cdr( A) R. C. Cockburn, DSO,

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

(Feb 1944 – Dec 1945) * Lt-Cdr(A) R. G. Parkes, RNVR (Dec 1945 – Feb 1946)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* 700 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II {{UK-navy-stub