819 Naval Air Squadron (819 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.
History
Along with No. 815 Squadron, it performed the successful night attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto on 11 November 1940. The attack was performed with Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious.
More recently, 819 operated the Sea King HAS6 from HMS Gannet at Prestwick Airport, constituted to have two flights supporting RFA ships and one SAR flight. In 2001, 819 NAS was decommissioned; its SAR flight transitioned into HMS Gannet SAR Flight, operating the Sea King 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 contractorization of military SAR.
Aircraft operated
The squadron operated a variety of different aircraft and versions:[3]
- Fairey Swordfish I, II & III
- Grumman Wildcat IV, V & VI
- Westland Whirlwind HAS.7
- Westland Wessex HAS.1 & HAS.3
- Westland Sea King HAS.1, HAS.2/2A, HAS.5 & HAS.6
References
Citations
- ^ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 195.
- ^ "819 squadron". Helis.com. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ a b Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 193.
Bibliography
- Jackson, Robert, The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, Parragon Books, Ltd. 2006 ISBN 1-4054-2465-6
- Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
External links
Media related to 819 Naval Air Squadron at Wikimedia Commons