793 Naval Air Squadron
793 NAS badge
Active25 October 1939 - 10 October 1945[1]
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
TypeFleet Air Arm Second Line Squadron
RoleAir Towed Target Unit
SizeSquadron
Part ofFleet Air Arm
Insignia
Squadron BadgeWhite, a falcon rising holding in its talons a target in military colours pierced in the centre by two arrows gold (1945)[2]
Identification MarkingsW6A+ (Roc ~1943)
W7A+ (Fulmar ~1943)
W8A+ (Martinet ~1943) [3][2]
Aircraft flown
AttackFairey Albacore
FighterBlackburn Roc
Fairey Fulmar
TrainerMiles Martinet
Fairey Albacore, an example of the type used by 793 NAS

793 Naval Air Squadron (793 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded during October 1945. It was formed in October 1939 at RNAS Ford (HMS Peregrine), as an Air Towed Target Unit, as part of No.1 Observer School. From 1940 to disbandment it operated at RNAS Piarco (HMS Goshawk), Trinidad.

History of 793 NAS

Air Towed Target Unit (1939 - 1945)

793 Naval Air Squadron formed at RNAS Ford (HMS Peregrine), located at Ford, in West Sussex, England, on the 25 October 1939, as an Air Towed Target Unit and operating Blackburn Roc Mk.I aircraft, a British naval turret fighter which was used to tow targets for fighter aircraft training. A detachment was provided at RAF Warmwell, in Dorset, to tow targets for fighter aircraft based at RAF Exeter, in Devon, during August 1940.[4]

On the 18 August 1940, a formation of Junkers Ju 87, or Stuka, dive bombers, attacked RNAS Ford as part of a large Luftwaffe force attacking airfields around Hampshire and Sussex. Twenty-eight personnel were killed and seventy-five were wounded in the raid, which also destroyed seventeen aircraft, damaged twenty-six more and caused significant infrastructure damage.[5] The only part of the squadron to escape destruction was the detachment.[6]

The raid prompted 793 Naval Air Squadron to be stood down and moved to RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus), situated in Hampshire, England, in preparation for sailing to relocate to Trinidad and Tobago, located in the Caribbean, operating from RNAS Piarco, on the island of Trinidad, which began on the 18 November 1940.[5]

The squadron's role was to support the training of observers for the Fleet Air Arm. It formed part of the No. 1 Observer School operating out of HMS Goshawk, Royal Naval Air Station Piarco, working alongside three Observer Training Squadrons: 749 Naval Air Squadron,750 Naval Air Squadron and 752 Naval Air Squadron. Here, 793 Naval Air Squadron also operated Miles Martinet T.T.1 for target towing, Fairey Fulmar, a British carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft/fighter aircraft, and Fairey Albacorea single-engine biplane torpedo bomber aircraft.[7]

793 Naval Air Squadron operated from RNAS Piarco for the remainder of the Second World War, finally disbanding there on the 10 October 1945.[7]

Aircraft flown

The squadron has flown a number of different aircraft types, including:[7][2]

793 Naval Air Squadron operated from a number of naval air stations of the Royal Navy, both in the UK and overseas:[8][2]

Commanding Officers

List of commanding officers of 793 Naval Air Squadron with month and year of appointment:[8]

  • Lieutenant (A) J.N.Gladich, RNVR, from October 1939
  • Lieutenant Commander (A) K.D.R. Davis, RNVR, from November 1940
  • Lieutenant Commander (A) F.C. Booth, RNVR, from June 1944
  • Lieutenant Commander (A) F.B. Gardner, RNVR, from December 1944
  • Lieutenant Commander (A) S.J. McDowell, RNVR, from August 1945

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Sturtivant, Ballance 1994, p. 117.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ballance, Howard & Sturtivant 2016, p. 94.
  3. ↑ Wragg 2019, p. 139.
  4. ↑ Wragg 2019, p. 137-138.
  5. 1 2 "RNAS Ford". www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  6. ↑ Wragg 2019, p. 138.
  7. 1 2 3 "RNAS Piarco". www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  8. 1 2 "793 Naval Air Squadron". www.wings-aviation.ch. Retrieved 22 January 2023.

Bibliography

  • Ballance, Theo; Howard, Lee; Sturtivant, Ray (2016). The Squadrons and Units of the Fleet Air Arm. Air Britain Historians Limited. ISBN 978-0-85130-489-2.
  • Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
  • Wragg, David (2019). The Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-1945. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-9303-6.


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