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774 Naval Air Squadron

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774 Naval Air Squadron
Active10 November 1939 - 1 August 1945[1]
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
TypeFleet Air Arm Second Line Squadron
RoleArmament Training Squadron
SizeSquadron
Part ofFleet Air Arm
Home stationSee Naval air stations section for full list.
AircraftSee Aircraft operated section for full list.
Insignia
Identification MarkingsO4A+ (all types 1939)
single letters (1940 - 1941)
S6A+ (1942 - 1944)
AT5A+ (1945)[2][3]
Three rocket-armed Fairey Swordfish of 774 NAS during a training flight from RNAS St. Merryn

774 Naval Air Squadron (774 NAS) was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN) which last disbanded in August 1945. 774 Naval Air Squadron formed at HMS Kestrel, RNAS Worthy Down, in November 1939 as an Armament Training Squadron for Observers and TAGs. Aircraft were assigned from storage and a couple of other naval air squadrons. It moved a week later to RAF Aldergrove, and was attached to No.3 Bombing and Gunnery School. In July 1940 it moved to HMS Fieldfare, RNAS Evanton, and then in September to HMS Vulture, RNAS St Merryn, Throughout the next few years, the older aircraft were withdrawn and replaced with newer types and variants. 774 NAS moved to HMS Merganser, RNAS Rattray in October 1944, where it became a target-towing unit.

History of 774 NAS

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Armament Training Squadron

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774 Naval Air Squadron formed on 10 November 1939 at RNAS Worthy Down (HMS Kestrel), in Hampshire, England.[4] It was formed as an Armament Training Squadron for Air Observers and Telegraphist Air Gunners.[2] The squadron was equipped with aircraft taken from 815 and 782 Naval Air Squadrons, along with other airframes from storage[3] and the initial number of aircraft consisted three Blackburn Skua, a dive bomber and fighter aircraft, three Blackburn Roc turret fighter aircraft (for turret conversion course), four Blackburn Shark, a torpedo/spotter/reconnaissance aircraft for target tugs and four Fairey Swordfish, a biplane torpedo bomber.[2] Six days later, on 16 November the squadron moved to RAF Aldergrove, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland,[4] as part of No. 3 Bombing and Gunnery School RAF.[2]

On 3 July, 774 Naval Air Squadron relocated to RAF Evanton, in Ross and Cromarty, Scotland[3] and on 17 September, it moved south to RNAS St Merryn (HMS Vulture), in Cornwall, England.[5] Here the squadron received Fairey Albacore, a single-engine biplane torpedo bomber. The following year both the Blackburn Roc and Blackburn Skua were withdrawn from squadron use and during 1942 the Blackburn Shark left. Fairey Barracuda, a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber, arrived in 1943 and replaced both the Fairey Albacore and Fairey Swordfish and the squadron also received some Boulton Paul Defiant target tug variant aircraft along with a number of Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised version of the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft.[2]

On 24 October 1944, 774 Naval Air Squadron moved to RNAS Rattray (HMS Merganser), Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It became a target-towing unit, and disbanded there on 1 August 1945.[3]

Aircraft operated

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The squadron operated a variety of different aircraft and versions:[3]

Fairey Albacore
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774 Naval Air Squadron operated from a number of naval air stations of the Royal Navy, in England:[3]

Commanding Officers

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List of commanding officers of 774 Naval Air Squadron with day, month and year of appointment:[2]

  • Lieutenant Commander S. Borrett, RN, from 16 November 1939
  • Lieutenant Commander W.G.C. Stokes, RN, from 24 November 1939
  • Lieutenant Commander P.L. Mortimer, RN, from 30 August 1940
  • Lieutenant Commander(A) J.H. Gibbons, RN, from 15 March 1941
  • Lieutenant Commander L. Gilbert, RNVR, from October 1942
  • Lieutenant Commander P.P. Pardoe-Matthews, RNR, from 16 August 1943
  • Lieutenant(A) J.O. Sparke, RNVR, from 7 October 1944
  • disbanded - 1 August 1945

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 95.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Wragg 2019, p. 132.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Ballance, Howard & Sturtivant 2016, p. 78.
  4. ^ a b "Worthy Down". Royal Navy Research Archive - Fleet Air Arm Bases 1939 - present day. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  5. ^ "St. Merryn". Royal Navy Research Archive - Fleet Air Arm Bases 1939 - present day. Retrieved 18 February 2024.

Bibliography

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