786 Naval Air Squadron (786 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 Air ...

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 ...

which last disbanded in late 1945, absorbed by 785 Naval Air Squadron. 786 NAS formed at HMS ''Jackdaw'', RNAS Crail, in November 1940, as a Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance squadron. It operated a few different types of torpedo bomber aircraft, initially equipped with Fairey Albacore and shortly afterwards joined by Fairey Swordfish, these aircraft were replaced by Fairey Barracuda at the of 1942.

History of 786 NAS

Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron

786 Naval Air Squadron formed as a Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance squadron at RNAS Crail (HMS ''Jackdaw''), in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland, on 4 November 1940, out of the naval element of the Torpedo Training Unit RAF, from RAF Abbotsinch, in Renfrewshire. It was initially equipped with nine Fairey Albacore, a British

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

torpedo bomber, which was later augmented with Fairey Swordfish, also a British biplane torpedo bomber. In December 1942 the squadron started to receive

Fairey Barracuda The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) to be fabricated entirely from metal. The Barracuda ...

, a British

carrier-borne Carrier-based aircraft, sometimes known as carrier-capable aircraft or carrier-borne aircraft, are naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. They must be able to launch in a short distance and be sturdy enough to withstand ...

torpedo and

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

, and over the next month these replaced the Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Albacore aircraft. At the end of summer during 1944 the squadron received a number of

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

, a multirole aircraft, which were fitted out as

Air-to-Surface Vessel radar Radar, Air-to-Surface Vessel, or ASV radar for short, is a classification used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to refer to a series of aircraft-mounted radar systems used to scan the surface of the ocean to locate ships and surfaced submarines. The fi ...

(ASV) ‘classroom’ trainer aircraft. 786 Naval Air Squadron disbanded into

785 Naval Air Squadron 785 Naval Air Squadron (785 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron 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 a ...

at RNAS Crail (HMS ''Jackdaw''), on 21 December 1945.

Aircraft operated

The squadron operated a number of different aircraft types, including: * Fairey Albacore torpedo bomber (November 1940 - December 1942) * Fairey Swordfish I torpedo bomber (May 1941 - December 1942) * Fairey Swordfish II torpedo bomber (May 1942 - January 1943) *

Mk I torpedo and

(December 1942 - December 1943) * Fairey Barracuda Mk II torpedo and dive bomber (December 1943 - December 1945) *

Mk I multirole aircraft (August 1944 - December 1945)

Naval Air Stations

786 Naval Air Squadron operated from a single naval air station of the Royal Navy, in Scotland: * Royal Naval Air Station CRAIL (HMS ''Jackdaw'') (satellite Royal Naval Air Station DUNINO (HMS ''Jackdaw'' II)) (4 November 1940 - 21 December 1945) * ''disbanded'' - (21 December 1945)

Commanding Officers

List of

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

s of 786 Naval Air Squadron with day, month and year of appointment: *

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

F.W. Brown, RM, from 6 December 1940 *

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

( A) S. Keane, RN, from 28 July 1941 * Lieutenant R.W. Little, RN, from November 1941 * Lieutenant R.C.B. Stallard-Peyre, RN, from 23 February 1942 * Lieutenant Commander B.E. Boulding, , RN, from 15 October 1942 * Lieutenant Commander D. Norcock, RN, from 10 August 1943 * Lieutenant Commander(A) R.J. Fisher, RNZNVR, from 30 June 1944 * Lieutenant Commander(A) F.H. Franklin,

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 ...

, from 30 October 1944 * Lieutenant Commander L.C. Watson, DSC, RN, from 13 June 1945 * ''disbanded'' - 21 December 1945

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{Royal Naval Air Squadrons 700 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II