703 Naval Air Squadron of 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 ...

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 ...

was formed as a long-range catapult squadron on 3 March 1942 at

RNAS Lee-on-Solent Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus'') was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and ad ...

. During the Cold War, it was reformed as an experimental trials unit, and then as a helicopter training squadron. Since 2003, the squadron has formed the Royal Naval wing of the Defence Elementary Flying Training School at

RAF Barkston Heath Royal Air Force Barkston Heath or RAF Barkston Heath is a Royal Air Force station near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. RAF Barkston Heath has the Naval Element of No. 3 Flying Training School RAF (No. 3 FTS) which, for a period between appr ...

History

World War II

On 3 June 1942, 703 Naval Air Squadron was formed at

to operate floatplanes off catapult-equipped Armed Merchant Cruisers. It was initially equipped with Vought Kingfishers, supplementing these with

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 ...

and

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 ...

floatplanes. The squadron also operated three Supermarine Walrus amphibian aircraft from

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...

in southern Africa. On 1 May 1944, the squadron was disbanded.

Air Sea Warfare Development Unit (1945 - 1950)

In April 1945, the squadron was reformed as the naval component of the RAF's Air Sea Warfare Development Unit (ASWDU) at

RAF Thorney Island Royal Air Force Thorney Island or more simply RAF Thorney Island is a former Royal Air Force station located on Thorney Island, West Sussex, England, west of Chichester and east of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Station history The airfield was bu ...

, to conduct experimental trials on a large variety of aircraft including the

Grumman Avenger The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American World War II-era torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval a ...

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 ...

Fairey Firefly The Fairey Firefly is a Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft that was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was developed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Avia ...

and de Havilland Sea Mosquito. The squadron moved to

in May 1948, absorbing

778 Naval Air Squadron 778 Naval Air Squadron (778 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. History During the Second World War the squadron was a Service Trials Unit (STU) initially based at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, England before movin ...

and adding 778's Service Trials Unit role to its existing duties. In 1948–49, the squadron tested plans to land jet aircraft on to a flexible deck, without the use of an undercarriage;trials were conducted by the squadron using a

de Havilland Sea Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by a s ...

Service Trials Unit (1950 - 1955)

In April 1950, the squadron moved to RAF Ford (now the site of HM Prison Ford), concentrating on the Service Trials Unit role and became known as the STU. It was further strengthened on 12 July 1950, when 739 Naval Air Squadron, a unit specialising in development of photographic reconnaissance was merged with 703 Squadron. At Ford it experimented with British innovations in aircraft carrier operations, including the

mirror landing aid An optical landing system (OLS) (nicknamed "meatball" or simply "ball") is used to give glidepath information to pilots in the terminal phase of landing on an aircraft carrier. From the beginning of aircraft landing on ships in the 1920s to the ...

and the

steam catapult An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...

. Independent flights were set up for a number of specialist trials. From February to June 1954, "A" Flight was based at

RNAS Arbroath RM Condor is a large Royal Marines base located near Arbroath in East Angus, Scotland. The base also houses 7 (Sphinx) Battery Royal Artillery, part of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery. History The base was first constructed as a Fleet ...

for tests of a new controlled approach sysetm for aircraft carriers, while 703X Flight carried out trials on the Fairey Gannet AS1 from March to December 1954 and 703W Flight tested the

Westland Wyvern The Westland Wyvern was a British single-seat carrier-based multi-role strike aircraft built by Westland Aircraft that served in the 1950s, seeing active service in the 1956 Suez Crisis. Production Wyverns were powered by a turboprop engine dri ...

. In August 1955, 703 NAS and 771 NAS amalgamated to form 700 Naval Air Squadron.

Wasp training squadron (1972 - 1981)

On 22 January 1972, 703 NAS was re-formed at

RNAS Portland RNAS Portland (ICAO: EGDP) was an air station of the Royal Navy, situated at the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It was established in 1917 on the western edge of Portland Harbour as HMS ''Sarepta''. From 1959 the station shared the name ...

to conduct training on the

Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the earlier piston-e ...

, including from February 1975 advanced training, a role it took over from

706 Naval Air Squadron 706 Naval Air Squadron (706 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Established as a fighter and torpedo-bomber training unit in Australia at the end of World War Two, it was briefly reformed as a helicopter squadron in th ...

. On 1 January 1981, after 9 years of training aircrew on the Wasp, the squadron was disbanded.

Elementary Flying Training (2003 - present)

ZM320 Grob G120TP-A Prefect T1 (27903385637)

In 1993, the RAF and RN Elementary Flying Training was merged to form a single school at

RAF Topcliffe Royal Air Force Topcliffe or RAF Topcliffe is a Royal Air Force station in North Yorkshire, England. It was established as a RAF Bomber Command station in 1940. The British Army took over a large part of the site in 1974 and the airfield beca ...

, and from 1995, at

. In 1996, after taking on Army Air Corps training, the unit was renamed the Joint Elementary Flying Training School (JEFTS). In 2003, the RAF withdrew from the organisation, and the unit was renamed the Defence Elementary Flying Training School (DEFTS) operating the

Slingsby Firefly The Slingsby T67 Firefly, originally produced as the Fournier RF-6, is a two-seat aerobatic training aircraft, built by Slingsby Aviation in Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire, England. It has been used as a trainer aircraft by several armed forces, as ...

until 2006. At this time, the Royal Naval element was organised as 703 Naval Air Squadron, and the Army element became 674 Squadron Army Air Corps. 703 NAS trains about 60 Royal Navy pilots every year. The Squadron previously used the

Grob Tutor The Grob G 115 is a general aviation fixed-wing aircraft, primarily used for flight training. It is built in Germany by Grob Aircraft (Grob Aerospace before January 2009). The E variant with a 3-blade variable pitch propeller is in service wi ...

up until 2018, before transitioning to the Grob Prefect, a Turboprop trainer provided under the new UKMFTS contract.

Aircraft flown

Largely because of its role as a trials unit in the 1950s, 703 Naval Air Squadron has flown a large number of aircraft types, including: * Vought Kingfisher *

* de Havilland Sea Mosquito *

* Fairey Gannet AS1 *

Slingsby T-67 Firefly The Slingsby T67 Firefly, originally produced as the Fournier RF-6, is a two-seat aerobatic training aircraft, built by Slingsby Aviation in Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire, England. It has been used as a trainer aircraft by several armed forces, ...

* Grob Tutor T1 * Grob Prefect T1

References

External links

703 NAS Elementary Flying Training Website703 NAS Observer Training Flight Website
{{Royal Naval Air Squadrons Air squadrons of the Royal Navy in World War II Education in Lincolnshire Flying training squadrons 700 series Fleet Air Arm squadrons Military units and formations established in 1945 South Kesteven District