814 Naval Air Squadron

814 Naval Air Squadron
814 NAS badge
Active	1938–1942 1944–1970 1973–2000 2001–Present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy
Type	Ship-based squadron
Role	Anti-Submarine Warfare
Garrison/HQ	RNAS Culdrose
Motto(s)	In hoc signo vinces (Latin: "In this sign you will conquer")
Equipment	Merlin HM.2
Battle honours	Atlantic 1940

814 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It was formed in December 1938 and has been disbanded and reformed several times. Its nickname is "the Flying Tigers", not to be confused with the American Volunteer squadron of WWII.

History

A Fairey Barracuda II of 814 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm flying over HMS Venerable and an attendant destroyer, the Italian Alfredo Oriani.

The squadron was formed on December 1938 as a Torpedo plane Squadron equipped with six Fairey Swordfish aircraft.^[1] Originally embarked on HMS Ark Royal, it transferred to HMS Hermes at the outbreak of the Second World War. HMS Hermes helped search for the Graf Spee and taking part in the Battle of Dakar, damaging the French battleship Richelieu on 8 July 1940.^[2] HMS Hermes travelled to the Indian Ocean December 1940, providing support for the land forces in British Somaliland and capturing 5 enemy merchant ships. In May 1941 the squadron provided support to the Royal Air Force in Iraq and later providing convoy protection in the Indian ocean. In April 1942, while the squadron was ashore, HMS Hermes was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Ceylon and 814 subsequently disbanded at Katukurunda in December.^[2] The squadron was reformed in July 1944, equipped with Fairey Barracudas, to embark on HMS Venerable and headed to the Far East for patrols, although seeing no action.

In post-war years, the squadron was equipped with the Fairey Firefly, Grumman Avenger and Fairey Gannet aircraft for anti-submarine warfare onboard HMS Vengeance, receiving the Boyd Trophy for its high standard of operational efficiency in 1951.^[1] In 1960 the Squadron was equipped with its first helicopter, the Westland Whirlwind HAS.7, later replaced with the Westland Wessex HAS.1. The Wessex HAS.3 was introduced in 1967, giving the squadron its first radar-equipped helicopter. During this time, the squadron was embarked on HMS Victorious and HMS Hermes to patrol east of the Suez. It was disbanded in July 1970.^[1]

814 Squadron was reformed in March 1973 with four Westland Sea King HAS.1 helicopters at RNAS Prestwick (HMS Gannet) and embarked on tours of duty with HMS Bulwark and HMS Hermes, during which it assisted with the evacuation of Cyprus.^[1] The Sea King HAS.2 was introduced in 1977, becoming the first Royal Navy Squadron to be fitted with passive sonar equipment. The squadron arrived at RNAS Culdrose on 9 April 1976. In August 1982 the squadron embarked on HMS Illustrious for South Atlantic patrols. It was upgraded to the Sea King HAS.6 on October 1990, embarking onboard HMS Invincible for the Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo Wars. It was disbanded on December 2000.^[1]

Reformed

It was reformed again in October 2001 equipped with the Merlin HM.1, designed to be deployed aboard ships or operate from shore. Training is performed by 824 NAS. It has seen operational service aboard HMS Illustrious, Operation Telic in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf area. In 2012 it was involved in Exercise Joint Warrior off the coast of Scotland again with HMS Illustrious.^[3] 814 NAS alternates duties with 820 NAS.

During 2014 the Merlin HM.1 was replaced by the Merlin HM.2.

Aircraft operated

814 Squadron Merlin HM.2 at the 2015 Malta International Airshow

The squadron operated a variety of different aircraft and versions:^[4]

Fairey Swordfish I
Fairey Barracuda II
Fairey Firefly FR.1, FR.4, 5 & AS.6
Grumman Avenger AS.4 & AS.5
Fairey Gannet AS.4 & T.2
Westland Whirlwind HAS.7
Westland Wessex HAS.1 & HAS.3
Westland Sea King HAS.1, HAS.2/2a, HAS.5 & HAS.6
AgustaWestland Merlin HM.1 & HM.2

References

Citations

Bibliography

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

Royal Navy – 814 Squadron

Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons

Currently active squadrons	700 703 705 727 736 750 814 815 820 824 825 829 845 846 847 849

Inactive squadrons	701 702 704 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 728 728B 728C 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 816 817 818 819 821 822 823 826 827 828 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 840 841 842 848 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 860 861 870 871 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 1700 1701 1702 1703 1770 1771 1772 1790 1791 1792 1820 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853

Display teams	Fred's Five Simon's Sircus Blue Herons Sharks Black Cats

Other units	Royal Navy Historic Flight

Units in bold subsequently commissioned into Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm Units in italics subsequently commissioned into Marine-Luchtvaartdienst

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